Will Richardson

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“Amplifying” Education…Not

July 25, 2012 By Will Richardson

So here’s the latest salvo over the education bridge by people who have a vastly different ideas of how to improve “learning” than the progressive minority:

Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate that owns FOX News and the Wall Street Journal, among other properties—on July 23 unveiled its new K-12 education business, called Amplify, and said it was partnering with AT&T to fund a pilot project that aims to put tablet computers in students’ hands in the coming school year.

But it’s not just about the hardware, which will be free to selected schools:

The idea is to put tablet computers into the hands of students for use at school and at home. The system tracks their progress and is meant to tailor lessons to each student’s level.

The idea 

…brings together the student assessment software business Wireless Generation with a new curriculum it is developing.

And as you read on, you see there are whole bunches of ways to make money in this deal down the road:

Wireless Generation founder Larry Berger said the pilot project was not just meant to convert participating schools into future customers. He said it was a way to improve the system and prove it works.  “There’s no way to do high-quality research and development without working in schools,” he said. Once the pilot project is complete, the company hopes to market its services to as many schools as possible.

Again, I don’t begrudge businesses making money. My struggle here is with the thinking that would move schools and boards to work with these folks to try to layer technology onto an outdated delivery model for narrow, increasingly irrelevant curricular goals that are now being used to pit schools against schools, teachers against teachers, and kids against kids. 

Makes total sense, right?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: education, learning, technology

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