Computer Labs and Labrador Ducks

Computer Labs and Labrador Ducks

Guest Post by Mr. Mark Kennedy, ACSI Canada

They’re extinct now, Labrador Ducks. And they hold the dubious distinction of being the first North American species on record to disappear from the continent, beating out the passenger pigeon by some 36 years. It wasn’t that they were over hunted. They tasted bad so weren’t worth shooting. It appears that they simply couldn’t adapt to the changing environment around them.

School computer labs may be heading in the same direction because of the changing technological environment in education. For many students, the things we’ve been teaching in those labs are redundant. Students already know them and are sometimes way ahead of us. The adaption that is most appropriate for schools serving a tech savvy generation is integrating technology into every subject. It isn’t just a matter of giving a laptop, or notebook or tablet to every student, although that would be a good start. It’s about training, or in some cases, retraining our teachers to make the most effective use of technology in order to improve student learning and raise the quality of Christian school education.

I don’t think technological change in education is going to disappear any time soon. But if we don’t learn to adapt to it our schools just might. Sort of like the Labrador Duck.