Pen and paper can still triumph

Those who know me well would know that I love new technology. I have always been transfixed by innovation and devices that promise to change the world.

I think the genesis of this was when in the late 1980s my parents decided to buy their first personal computer. I spent lots of time tinkering and exploring how it worked. Eventually I tinkered too far and I inadvertently deleted the operating system - in those days this was not native to the device and needed to be manually installed. This rendered the PC useless and I needed to seek help from a family friend who showed me where I’d gone wrong and what I needed to do to fix it.

This unlocked a new world for me and since then I have to varying degrees of success been an unofficial Tech guy for family and friends. I have been a bit of an early adopter and have been an advocate for technological solutions whether they be robotic vacuums or electric cars with lots of automated controls.  

However, I have been thinking about technological over-reliance this week as schools across the country were plunged into confusion and frustration when the NAPLAN tests were interrupted due to technological issues. NAPLAN was traditionally a paper and pen based assessment but over recent years the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) have opted for computer based assessments.

So when the system crashed this week it occurred to me that there are many times when we allow for technology to enter our world and replace tasks that may be more simply achieved without the technology. In this case, the Year 3 test, which is still handwritten, was unaffected. However, we needed to abandon the Yrs 5, 7 and 9 ones until ACARA could overcome the glitch.

There are many areas in life where our reliance on technology has replaced core abilities. These days I can barely remember my own telephone number but as a child I had a rote memory of all my family and friends’ phone numbers on hand. Similarly, my adherence to turn-by-turn directional dictates from Google Maps, can allow me to drive to distant areas without having to utilise geographical knowledge or mapping skills. I have noticed a diminution in my ability to visualise locations or directions, or even to recall which direction I drove as I have handed over this aspect of cognition to my device.

While I’m not espousing a return to the good old dinosaur days, and will continue to be fascinated by technology, I think we have to be sparing and judicious about when and how it is used. In a school setting, we must be careful to utilise technology in ways that enhance learning.

We are surrounded by “everything devices” which provide access to worlds of possibility at all times.  These come with enormous potential but can also be inhibitors to learning when they are misused or when the “wow factor” of the automation actually removes the hard work required to lock down new concepts, knowledge or skills.

As many schools around Australia experienced this week, pen and paper still plays a vital role in learning and will do for the foreseeable future.

Shabbat Shalom, Marc Light