The Right Dynamic Learnspace Will Make Handheld Bans Obsolete

By Bob Longo, Executive Vice President of Studywiz Spark, the Dynamic LearnSpace Company and U.S. arm of Etech Group

We can understand how it has come to be that in New York City public schools there is now a ban on cell phone use. As with any communication device, abuse occurs.

But simultaneously, there is a wave of interest in education in 1:1 learning, meaning that educators recognize that students are more than just engaged by technology, it is a part of their natural habitat.

Unfortunately, to-date many of the virtual learning platforms that have been available to schools were built for university settings, designed to manage large numbers of students subscribing to courses, and not ideal for this kind of individual K–12 learning. These platforms also require K–12 teachers, with a limited set of instructional minutes at their disposal, to learn to implement the learning spaces practically from scratch.

As such, many of our schools haven’t seen the value in 1:1 initiatives and often these initiatives become focused on computer literacy skills, instead of the enhanced learning opportunities that multimedia brings.

In that scenario, it makes sense that we would overlook convergence of handhelds and computers. But let’s look at the way we deliver the content to students, through whatever device, and perhaps we’ll be more comfortable opening up a range of devices to students again.

K–12 Relevance, Content & Value
Through a dynamic learnspace, such as Studywiz Spark for K–12, the differences from a typical virtual learning environment built for the college-aged student run deep. Some examples of the differences include:

• No class registration: The students don’t have the responsibility for building out their schedules, and even the teacher has support in building this initial introduction for the students.
  The primary version looks different from the middle and high school versions: In the same way that textbooks for K–5 will use larger text than for higher grades, more pictures, graphics in larger format and more colors, Studywiz Spark is presented in a customized manner to younger students.
• Individualized learning: Where college students, through the virtue of admissions processes, are often of nearly equal intellectual caliber in each classroom, a K–12 teacher is faced with the challenge of sometimes teaching gifted students and special education students in the same group. With Studywiz Spark, teachers can tailor the curriculum by group, and even by individual, all in a very private setting, so no student is aware of the differences in their content from another student’s.
• More security: Instead of sending students out to the Web, elements of the Web are brought in, without potential dangers of the rest of the Internet.
  Parent involvement: When all assignments are posted on Studywiz Spark, the parent can be more involved in enforcing a work ethic and can also better access what is being learned at any given time.