LANSING – Using high technology in education is not about the technology but using it to help children learn better, Governor Rick Snyder said Wednesday at a gathering on using the Internet to convert education.
And former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise, now president of the Washington-based Alliance for Excellent Education, said states and local schools cannot say they have a strategy to use high technology in education by simply “putting a netbook on a textbook.”
Both men spoke at a luncheon on the issue sponsored by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Wise said when the first reform to have students attend school for 180 days was developed in the early 20th century it was a major innovation because it assured all children got a standard length for education.
But past innovations can become current hindrances, Wise said. And both he and Snyder said structures such as the school calendar can stand in the way of meeting the needs of school children.
Snyder recently signed controversial legislation that expands the use of so-called cyber charter schools. The legislation limits the number of students that can be taught under those circumstances to no more than 2 percent the state’s total school population, though critics worry more students would be in school structures that are not monitored.
But Snyder said the legislation will allow students to be able to fill in missing blocks of their education to allow them to master concepts and qualify for various programs.
It will also help teachers work with individual students better while they are managing an entire class, he said.
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