New Year Reflection: Too Much Screentime?

There have been many articles published lately about kids having too much screen time. I couldn’t agree more. Really? A tech coach writing about too much screentime? Hear me out. Screen time can be mindful and also mindless. There are times when we wander the interwebs aimlessly and other times when we seek specific information such as how to fix a leaky faucet or train a new puppy. Is it all worthless screen time? No. But while we all need to take a brain break now and then, we also need to closely examine how we are spending the majority of our personal time online. 

The same can be said about the use of screens in school. Are we using devices in ways that add depth of meaning to student learning? Or are we simply replacing pencils with keyboards? (Think SAMR model.) For example, are we replacing paper worksheets with digital ones or are we having students create projects and use information in meaningful ways? What’s the best instructional method that will lead to a deeper understanding and a desire to learn more? I believe Bloom had some relevant opinions about this.

Recently, one of our high school French teachers had her students use Adobe Spark Video to create commercials. All acting and narration needed to be done in French. One of our elementary science teachers had her students create news broadcasts about weather events using the Do Ink a green-screen app on iPads. Pictures of hurricanes, blizzards and tornadoes were featured behind the newscasters as they explained each event. By the way, the students were very enthusiastic reporters.

Did both of the above examples require a significant amount of screen time? YES. Did their projects require them to attain a certain level of content mastery in order to complete them? YES. Were students required to collaborate, communicate and think critically in order to complete the task? YES. Could those teachers also have used a scantron to assess their students’ mastery of the content? YES - but would it have resulted in meaningful learning and application of content and --dare I say it -- perhaps the desire to learn more? Probably not. 

I would agree that it's important for students to learn how to take notes using pencil and paper. Some students may prefer to read articles and stories using paper books as opposed to screens.  However, as educators, I feel that it's necessary to introduce student to a variety of learning strategies and help them to determine which are most effective for them. This is especially true when it comes to accessibility. We would be remiss to exclude the introduction of text to speech or voice typing to students who would benefit. Might many of those strategies involve increased screen time in the classroom? Perhaps, but what we need to remember is that the use of screen-based devices can be highly valuable, allowing us to do things in the classroom that would otherwise never be possible. Consideration for screen time can be should focus on the quality of our device usage.  Most importantly, we should aim to strike a balance, guiding students to find their preferred mode of learning and offering choices between digital and traditional learning strategies.