After reading Rob Paterson’s blog yesterday about the lack of jobs on PEI on for young people, it reminded me of my recent trip to Indonesia and touring the International School where my brother and sister-in-law teach. To say that I was a bit jealous of the facilities and resources available to the students of JIS is fairly accurate, however, it was more so of a wake-up call to what can be available to children, educators and parents if only they KNEW of the resources that are available.

Upon my tweet of the sad reality of PEI’s situation, I received a note from an acquaintance who said,

“time to xplore! w’today’s comm tech prosperity should have no boundaries example skype is in Tallin, Estonia!”

This is true. PEI appers to be behind the curve, lacking in educational rescoures and capabilities which is manifested in our provnice’s low scores in most academic national surveys, I believe that it doesn’t have to be this way.  Since I’ve arrived home and had endless conversations about technology and education, I’ve discovered a lot.

Here are a few tidbits:

- in Maine middle schools, every student has a Mac laptop. This is referred to as one-on-one laptops.  Here is an excellent research report on the impact of the one-to-one laptop program:www.bryan.k12.oh.us/Forms/MLTIPhaseOne.pdf

- my friend in Australia posted, in reply to a Facebook update in which I was exclaiming my excitement about my kids’ school receiving their first Smartboard, “my son’s kindergarten school has one in every class!”

- the children in my son’s grade 5 class at Glen Stewart Elementary School, get 45 minutes in the computer lab every 6th day.

- the kids in my brother’s grade 3 class have access to a mobile computer lab, 18 laptops, whenever they want and have used this time to use Google Sketch Up to build 3D cities with rivers running through it on this auto-cad, architectural design program that Google has released.

- my son in grade 1 has four computers in his class but from what I understand, no formal time allotted to using them.

- in the new school in Stratford, the classrooms are all being wired for Smart boards but no official word as of yet if the classrooms will actually have Smart boards.

- every high school classroom on PEI will have Smart boards soon.

- the cost of text books that the schools have to get every year is relative to the cost of a laptop for every student.  Here is a list of other benefits from a wiki about NB’s one-to-one laptop program.

In comparison to traditional, non-technical classrooms, studies show that laptop students:

• spend more time working collaboratively, which is an important 21st century skill
• are producing higher quality writing than ever before
• have improved research skills and are more adept at finding relevant information
• have a more positive outlook on school and learning
• participate more in class
• have better technical skills
• have less discipline problems
• bond better with teachers
• show signs of higher order thinking and problem solving
• attend school more often

There is a massive gap to bridge right now and I think we, as parents and educators, are caught in a situation where we don’t know what to do.  Our children are so adept at navigating things like iPods, iPad touches, the internet, Facebook, etc. that we feel at a loss as to how to a) keep up with them with technology and the internet b) engage them with the tools available c) keep up-to-date with what is available for education.

I understand from speaking to the principal and vice-principal of my kids’ school, that the educators who have recently graduated with their teaching degrees are very informed and keen to use the new tools and resources available to them from the internet. My brother, who just graduated with his Master’s in education from a university in Spain, was taught how to use wikis, blogs, and countless resources on the web, to engage and teach students and hw is implementing them with his grade 3 class.

So, the question is – how do we bridge the gap?  My gut instinct is that it’s only going to widen.  What about courses, workshops and seminars for parents and educators on bridging the gap?  What about introducing more formal opportunities for our children to learn more from computers?

I had a great conversation with Rob Paterson yesterday about some of these issues (great to meet in person after following his blog for so many years!) and he gave me the names of a few people to talk to who are feeling the same way and taking steps to alleviate the lack. I’ve met with the principal and vice-principal of Glen Stewart and they gave me a list of people to contact. I met with the chair our Home and School Association and she gave me some ideas.

I’ve contacted the Board of Education but have not heard back from them. I’m on a bit of a mission…. hopefully something will come to fruition.  Please send your thoughts or comments along if you have anything to share.