“Mam, Dad, what’s a pen?”

Picture the scene in ten years time...Your car tax is gone up to €5000, the IMF are still here, the Dubs are looking for a new manager...some things never change.

Well, maybe. But in education things are changing rapidly. Even in the next couple of years the way students learn will change rapidly. The old reliance on pen and paper will be increasingly less common.

Already most students are as good if not better with technology that adults. However some experts now argue that technology is changing not only the way students learn but also the way they think.

The task for parents and educators is to strike the right balance regarding technology. Technology nowadays is simply brilliant. The internet allows us to access information instantly, making life immeasurably easier for children  in the classroom. Social media like blogs, twitter etc. are a fantastic communication tool. New developments in IT have been a godsend especially for children with learning and emotional needs.

Literacy for the 21^st Century requires us to teach a lot more than traditional reading and writing:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/30757842?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0 

However, we must continue to ensure that students do not disappear into the virtual world completely. One of the world’s foremost experts on the effects of technology on humans and the brain is Susan Greenfield.

She warns about the dangers of overuse of technology as seen in the video from her website “The Effects of Computers”  http://www.susangreenfield.com/

She quotes an interesting statistic from the USA, whereby 50% of children aged from 13-17 spend more than 30 hours a week on a computer outside of school hours. She counsels that too much time spent in this way can affect a child’s social skills or ability to empathise with others. She makes a similar point in this BBC article:  "Could it be,and thus is just a suggestion which I think we should look into, could it be if a small child is sitting in front of a screen pressing buttons and getting reactions more quickly for many hours, they get used to it and their brains get used to rapid responses?" she said.

If children do not have stories read to them and have little practice of concentrating for long periods this could effect how they handle the sedate pace of school life, said Baroness Greenfield.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7564152.stm    “Is computer use changing children?”

It’s certainly worth considering. Adults often fall into two camps; those who hate and ignore technology, and those who overindulge in it, often wasting unnecessary hours on the web or on mobiles.

So finally as per Oscar Wilde, everything in moderation, and occasionally moderation itself.

For those of us of an older vintage relatively new to technology, check out this little game, which will “read” your mind.............  

 http://en.akinator.com/