We asked, you answered: technology in a classroom should have a purpose

On Monday, we asked you, “What role should technology play in the classroom and how much ‘screen time’ should a student have?”

We asked that question based on a new report about personalized learning we shared with you earlier. Personalized learning maybe very dependent on technology.

Here’s a look at what some of our readers had to say.

Jon Wolfer, a teacher in Boulder, emailed us:

What a timely question for Chalkbeat to ask, as we are in the midst of addressing this question at my elementary school in Boulder. These are my personal thoughts, not necessarily representative of the entire school or district. First, students in second grade and below, in my opinion, should have limited screen time in the classroom. By limited, I would suggest an hour a week! Students in third through fifth grade are doing an amazing job of word processing in the classroom, so as long as the work is meaningful and not screen time for entertainment purposes, I don’t know what limit needs to be set there. We are also finding students successful in e-readers like Kindles or Nooks, and again, as long as they are actually engaged in reading, read on. The answer to this question is developmental – not sure how meaningful screen time is to education in 7 year olds and younger – and practical – what are the kids doing on the screen? Sit-and-getting or engaged in reading, writing and/or research?

On Twitter, Scott Esserman shared this:

Laurie Seiler, an advocate at Touchstone Health Partners in Fort Collins, wrote:

Technology is a very real and significant part of modern life, and as such it should be included in the tools that our students learn to use effectively.  They should also know how to use a phone book, look up a word in the dictionary, or use a map (for example) for times when the computer system is down for one reason or another.  Our students need both common sense knowledge and experience, as well as technology knowledge and experience, just as they will need both in the workplace and in “real life.”

Check back on Monday for next week’s question. As always, we invite you to join the conversation on our website, Facebook page, or onTwitter.