READING, WRITING AND SWIPING
Province touts more tech in schools
Alberta’s education minister is supporting the use of more personal devices in the classroom — and also allowing students to bring smartphones, tablets and laptops to school — in an effort to expand technology education across the province.
But parents are still concerned about the lack of consistency in what is offered in schools to better prepare kids for careers in science, technology, engineering and math.
During a tour of St. Martha School, a Catholic K-9 facility in the community of Marlborough, Education Minister David Eggen said there are financial challenges in providing enough up-to-date computers for students throughout the system.
But with the high cost of technology — and the way it changes and updates so rapidly — allowing more personal devices is an idea that has a lot of merit, Eggen said.
“It’s something we need to look at as we set the table for a new curriculum. There hasn’t been a better time or opportunity to introduce more technology into all of our core subject areas.”
Officials with the Calgary Catholic School District say they’re providing an increasing number of students with opportunities to learn higher levels of technology as part of the Career and Technology Foundations program. Students with the Calgary Board of Education are also seeing similar opportunities, particularly at the high-school level, through digital citizenship learning and bring-your-own-device programs.
St. Martha’s students in grades 7 to 9 can now sign up for options such as computer technology, robotics, communication design and electronic music composition.
But officials admit not all schools across the province are able to offer the same opportunities, teacher expertise or the same number of up-to-date computers in labs, libraries or classrooms.
Gary Strother, CCSD superintendent, said parents at some schools have to raise funds to purchase more computers, or just to replace outdated technology.
And as the province continues to face a weak economy and growing debt, officials say it’s time to be more creative to keep technology growing and up to date, including the use of more personal devices.
“With the availability of Wi-Fi in our schools, why not use more wireless devices, and teachers can help support that?” Strother asked.
But Susannah Thomsen, who has two elementary-aged students in the CBE, said the solutions to bringing better technology learning to younger grades go much deeper than just bringing devices into classrooms.
“There is a serious lack of a robust STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program being in existence at all,” Thomsen said. “The effort is there, but it’s only happening in very small pockets, in some schools.”
Thomsen’s daughter’s Grade 5 classroom, for instance, can use school laptops only on certain days, when the teacher can book them. And there have been cases in which only a handful were able to connect to the school’s weak Wi-Fi signal.
Meanwhile, she says, she is aware of other elementary schools within the CBE that provide laptops to students every day, with very strong leadership among teachers and administrators.
“We need to really do a lot more here than just ‘bring your own device.’ ”
Sheri Bolitho, who also had kids in the CBE, says Alberta Education needs to develop an across-theboard curriculum that ensures every student has access to highlevel technology learning, from coding to design, even in elementary grades.
“There’s no congruency. You’re lucky if you get one year with some technology, but the next year you may get nothing at all,” Bolitho said.
Bolitho recalled a presentation at her child’s school last year, for instance, outlining the innovative technology learning unit that one teacher was offering, while her child who was in the same grade was receiving none of it.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that’s great, but my kid isn’t in that class.’ ”
Lisa Davis, spokeswoman for the Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils, said Alberta Education’s efforts to bring technology into schools has been haphazard, and parents are frustrated they may have to wait another four years, until the curriculum overhaul is complete, before the problem is solved.
“We are well aware that some schools are offering strong STEM programming, but it’s nowhere near accessible to all students,” she said.
“And the ‘bring your own device’ idea is a hodgepodge approach. It downloads the problem to families that are already struggling financially, and once again creates have and have-not schools.”
Alberta Education has embarked on a $64-million, multi-year curriculum overhaul, after parts of the provincewide curriculum have remained unchanged for more than 30 years.
Public engagement sessions and online surveys will be set up over the next few weeks inviting all Albertans to participate in the process of updating programs and finding more ways to include technology in the curriculum.