Advancing Curriculums and Advancing Technology

Every year, K-12 curriculum’s are getting more and more advanced.  Students are always being expected to learn more at a younger age.  But with these advances in materials taught, should there also be advances in technology in the classroom?  While some classrooms are the exception, most classes have not had technology inclusion.  By the time K-12 students make it into the workforce the vast majority of jobs will include some form of technology that most likely wasn’t around before they graduated.  That being said, schools must keep classrooms up to date with all new technologies.  Doing this will prepare them for the technologies they will face in the work place.  Equipment like overhead projectors and document cameras are a start, but there must be more.  A great addition to the classrooms would be class sets of iPads.  These iPads, in conjunction with Apple’s iBooks, would let students see information in ways that were not possible five years ago.  On top of the simplicity of having all resources and learning materials in a digital format, students would be able to challenge themselves while learning and studying the information in ways that are not possible with a standard textbook.  Quizzes and tests could be administered via the tablets giving the instructor the most amount of flexibility and ease in creating the exams.  To prevent students from accessing certain areas of the device, like the internet and apps store, apps can be made to give the teacher complete control of the devices.  Apps like the aforementioned can also be used to combat cheating on exams.