The Harrisburg and Hanson school districts are among the best schools in the nation at integrating technology in education, according to a survey by the Center for Digital Education. Harrisburg placed fourth among mid-sized school districts (3,000-12,000 students), while Hanson placed ninth among small schools (under 3,000 students).
Harrisburg and Hanson have each popped up in this Digital School Districts Survey before. Hanson has pushed to integrate interactive whiteboards in its classrooms and to acquire high-tech tools for its industrial technology program. Harrisburg is a bright shiny Mac environment, but the biggest innovation they have in the chute isn't technological, but logistical: the Modular Customized Learning schedule they are implementing in the upcoming school year. Students attend classes in "mods", 20-minute blocks arranged one to four at a time, with classes happening at different times each day. I'm eager to see how the mod schedule works... but I have a feeling it will rely heavily on technology to make all the pieces fit and to keep students and teachers in contact.
We should note that this survey does not appear to be an exhaustive survey of all school districts in the nation; schools choose to enter. So there may be some other districts doing more than Hanson and Harrisburg with their tech tools but not alerting the Center for Digital Education to their efforts.
Among the tech efforts this survey rewards is use of social networking tools. CDE says 69% of districts use Twitter and other micro blogs, and 76% of districts maintain a presence on one or more social networking sites. CDE does not indicate in its summary the extent to which schools allow teachers to interact with parents and students in those social networks.
More striking is the number of districts in the survey embracing the "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) concept. Instead of restricting students to use of school computers, schools are moving toward allowing students (and, I hope, teachers!) to use their own computers, tablets, and phones in school. 41% of the schools have implemented BYOD policies. 50% are working toward BYOD policies. Only 9% have no BYOD policy in the works. My employer, the Spearfish school district, is one of those 9%. Our tech guys run a nicely secure network—for what it's worth, I haven't had a virus outbreak in my classroom once—and they aren't ready to risk that solid security record by opening our network to devices they don't control. But apparently a large majority of school districts are deciding that security risks are outweighed by the practical, educational benefits of training kids to integrate their own tech tools into their learning routine.
What part does social media play in teaching kids history, math or classic literature?
As a parent and taxpayer, I expect students to be attentive to the teacher in the classroom and actively learning and not playing games or tweeting.