Integrating Traditional and Digital Learning among the US Elementary, Middle, and High School

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Integrating Traditional and Digital Learning among the US Elementary, Middle, and High School
Introduction
My uncle Jim is a tech guy working for Google in Silicon Valley. He has two kids, a boy, and a girl, aged 9 and ten respectively. Both his kids attend the Waldorf School of the Peninsula in the heart of Silicon Valley. Despite its setting at the heart of America's and arguably the world's digital center, there is not a single technological device, iPads, smartphones, screens, etc. available or allowed at the school. Instead, instructors at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula favor a more hands-on, experiential approach to teaching that is in stark contrast to the recent haste to fill schools with the latest technological devices.
After a further inquiry into the situation, I discovered that Uncle Jim is not the only tech guy who does not like his kids learning in a digital environment. There is a host of other parents working in Silicon Valley who have decided that digital learning at elementary and middle school levels is not the best option for their children. This has left me wondering why employees of some of the biggest tech companies would prefer taking their children to a school that has not embraced technology. This may seem ironic, but it no longer seems so when you understand the logic behind the teaching process at this unique school and numerous others across the country. The approach taken by the Waldorf School of the Peninsula puts much emphasis on the role of imagination in the learning process and employs a holistic method that assimilates the intellectual, hands-on, and innovative growth of students.
More anti-tech middle and elementary schools like the Waldorf School of the Peninsula are springing up across the United States. This has been triggered by the various negative opinions on the impact of digital learning on pre-college level students. In this paper, I argue that despite the many challenges and drawbacks it has faced since its first implementation, digital learning has numerous advantages that can never be overlooked. Therefore, I propose that the appropriate solution to the various arguments surrounding digital learning is a proper implementation of the technology to ensure the negative impacts of digital learning are minimized while also allowing students to reap the many benefits offered by the technology.
Narration
The fact that parents working for global tech giants are questioning the value of technology in edification begs the question – is the popular dream of high-tech classrooms exactly in the best interest of future generations? The main argument made by parents who have opted to take their kids to schools that have not embraced the digital learning craze is that schools that have integrated it have not shown significant improvement in performances and some cases, inappropriate integration of digital learning tools has led to a situation where the technologies are seemingly replacing instructors. Another concern that has been raised with digital learning is about the possible negative influence of social media on the youth. Additionally, digital learning tools have been shown to have a negative impact on student’s social development. The question that we remain with is – how can we properly integrate digital learning tools into the education system to reap their maximum benefits? In this essay, I argue that digital learning is such a valuable tool that needs full integration into the education system. However, it is an integrative practice that can never work on its own and therefore, its incorporation into the education system should be carried out in such a way that it does not play as a replacement or substitute to teachers but rather as a supplement to traditional teacher’s teaching methods.
Digital learning is the current trend in most education systems the world over. The modern classroom has been equipped with various technologies such as computers, iPads, and other digital learning tools to supplement the education offered by tutors. However, as recent evidence suggests these technologies are yet to reap the desired rewards in the school curriculum. According to a global report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), schools that have made heavy investments in digital learning are yet to see a noticeable improvement in their performances in mathematics and sciences in the Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa) tests (Jenkin). In the words of the OECD director of education, Andreas Schleicher, “Those students who use tablets and computers very often tend to do worse than those who use them moderately (Coughlan).”
Partition
While the growing anxiety and the issues that have been raised about overexposure of students to technology are legitimate, I argue that digital learning is such a valuable tool that cannot just be taken for granted and that parents who are taking their children are disadvantaging their children. To support this viewpoint, I will first establish the successful digital learning has had in the education system. I will then show the importance of technology in today’s world to prove that parents who are denying their children to learn digitally are making a huge mistake. Finally, I will suggest a practical integration of digital learning tools into the school curriculum that will minimize the negative impacts of technology in the classroom.
Confirmation
Digital learning has attracted numerous arguments in recent years regarding its impact on the learner’s performance. The main method that has been employed to evaluate the impact of digital learning on the teaching process has been where students performances across a range of tested course outcomes have been interconnected with the quality and extent of technology availed to the students or which was practiced in their schools. While most studies have found no significant difference between traditional learning methods and digital learning methods regarding academic performance, (example see Chou et al. 73) and Rashid and Hanan 604), there are other positive impacts on the learner that have been attributed to digital learning. For example, in their research on technology use, self-directed learning, student engagement and academic performance, (Chou et al. 73; Sadik 487) found that digital learning has positive impacts on self-directed learning, and student engagement. This means that students attending schools that have not embraced technology are disadvantaged on some key aspects of the learning process.
In another research, whose focus was not on the negative or positive relationship of technology with academic performance, Vigdor et al. (1103) found that computers can have both beneficial and detrimental uses for learners. On the one hand, learners can use computers to complete school assignments more effectively, for example by using dedicated educational software. On the other hand, students can also use computers for numerous non-productive activities (Fulton 12). Therefore, students who have access to computers have the advantage of an effective learning process as long as their use is managed to ensure that they do not engage in non-productive activities. It is at the management part where parents, teachers and the government come in since most young kids will not be able to tell where they are going wrong. Therefore, it is the role of those around them to keep an eye on them to ensure digital learning tools are only used for education, not ding other stuff such as playing games or watching movies. However, since all work and no play makes Tom a dull boy, it would be thoughtful to create some sessions in the course of the week when the young ones can be allowed to have fun with their gadgets. However, as I have insisted throughout this paper, management is the ultimate determining factor on the influence a technology is going to have on young kids.
The increased availability of digital devices with incredible functionalities in the modern classroom means that students are now able to access learning content availed by tutors, peers or other individuals and organizations the world over. This can be done in ways that were previously unimaginable before the advent of the internet. Digitization of learning has brought about a fundamental shift in the methods used to avail education to learners. Learners are now able to get an education in ways that would not have been possible without technology, for example, massive open online courses (MOOCs) are a new learning method that has been enabled by the digitization of the education sector (Sadik 487). MOOCs are courses offered on online platforms and can be taken remotely. This increased freedom has revolutionized the learning environment.
Digital learning tools have increased the flexibility of learning to the point where one can choose the place, the...