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<\/p>\nWho has two hands and a device always glued to one of them? Almost every member of the younger generation.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s generation of students and young professionals are digital natives\u2014they can hardly imagine a world before smartphones, Google, YouTube, or instant access to virtually any information. If they have a question, need directions, or want to remember something, they\u2019re not reaching for an encyclopedia, map, or notepad. They are reaching for their phones. In effect, today\u2019s youth have gone paperless.<\/p>\n
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For most districts, in-school access to internet and devices is making a prolific rise. In 2016, an EducationSuperHighway report<\/a> gathered data from more than 10,000 public schools (roughly 80% of all U.S. public schools). The study revealed major trends supporting the move away from textbooks:<\/p>\n Admittedly, at-home internet and computer access lag behind, though public libraries and community organizations can help fill some of that gap. But for communities with adequate and equal internet access in school and at home, the time has come to retire textbooks in favor of modern digital resources.<\/p>\n Tech is interactive.<\/strong> Foreign languages should not be taught passively. Languages are meant to be heard, spoken, read, and written\u2014to learn a language is to use<\/em> it actively. Textbooks (and even e-textbooks) may present the language, but do little to engage the senses and encourage language use\u2014textbooks put the onus on teachers to make the language interactive through communicative activities<\/a>. That\u2019s not a bad thing! In fact, that\u2019s what good language teachers excel at doing. But they do not\u2014and should not\u2014have to do it alone anymore.<\/p>\n Tech is dynamic and ever-changing. <\/strong>Textbooks are static resources dedicated to only one language. If a district wants to offer multiple languages at varying levels, that\u2019s a lot of books. And how long will those printed materials stay relevant? Digital resources can cover dozens of languages (or in our case more than 100 languages<\/a>) and levels, and can update continuously to stay current, incorporate new trends and authentic language materials.<\/p>\n Tech allows for customization. <\/strong>Teachers can choose how to use and assign printed words on a page, but that\u2019s about as \u201ccustomized\u201d as it gets with a textbook. Many online resources (ours included<\/a>) allow for custom authoring of materials. This is incredibly powerful for learners of all levels. The youngest learners may not be ready for rote phrases like \u201cI would like to buy\u2026\u201d\u2014what are you buying on your own at age 6? At the other end of the spectrum, an AP French student reading Camus does not need generic vocabulary from a textbook lesson\u2014they need custom vocab lists aligned with the book chapters and discussion questions.<\/p>\n Tech enables cross-curricular lessons. <\/strong>Custom lessons, real-life videos, and other authentic digital materials can incorporate other subjects from a student\u2019s course load. \u00a0As noted<\/a> by eSchool News, \u201cbeyond giving educators the chance to teach more than one discipline during a lesson, cross-curricular lessons also help students recognize the real-world application of their learned skills.\u201d Imagine using class time to prepare students to do a science experiment in Spanish or learning Japanese vocabulary about economics\u2014tech makes this possible (and even practical).<\/p>\n Tech can individualize the learning experience. <\/strong>Textbooks make it easy for teachers to keep large classes on the same page\u2014literally. But that\u2019s not how students learn. Good tech encourages students to learn at their own pace. Our tech takes it one step further by employing an algorithm that tracks all student activity. We can literally pinpoint which words or phrases a student is struggling with and customize the learning experience to emphasize those pain points. A teacher cannot have that granular level of insight into every student\u2019s progress\u2014nor should they. Teachers\u2019 time is better spent planning and facilitating communicative activities, remember?<\/p>\n Tech can track and report on student learning. <\/strong>Speaking of progress\u2014wouldn\u2019t it be nice to have a virtual gradebook that tracks who is working on what and how they\u2019re doing? Textbook exercises often require self-reporting by students or a lot of manual review by teachers. Good tech will include tracking and reporting tools so you can automatically see how students are progressing.<\/p>\n A 2012 survey<\/a> of 1,015 students, faculty, and IT staff at high schools and higher education institutions found that 69% of students surveyed said they wanted more technology in the classroom: \u201cAt the top of high school students’ technology wishlist were laptops and netbooks, tablets, smartphones, digital content, and recorded class lectures.\u201d<\/p>\n In a separate 2015 survey of 519 students<\/a>, 74% of students polled claim they would do better in school if their instructors used more technology. 61% agreed that learning would improve if homework were more interactive. Whether these claims would produce the expected results is unclear,\u00a0but one thing is crystal clear:\u00a0younger generations of students are increasingly motivated by technology.\u00a0For educators\u2014particularly language educators\u2014the time has come to close the book on textbooks.<\/p>\n\n
Interactive technology is particularly well-suited to deliver language education.<\/h2>\n
Skeptical schools should consider what teachers and students want.<\/h2>\n
Any investment in technology should be accompanied by an investment in teachers.<\/h2>\n
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