Verizon Innovative Learning Initiative

Verizon is currently running public service announcements (PSA) about their Innovative Learning Initiative. The goal is to bring technology into schools that cannot afford it so students have the same learning opportunities as students in richer districts. It seems they have put tablets or other technology into the hands of over a million students and they are not stopping. According to their website, they plan to reach millions more.

Students talk on the PSA about not having technology available to them like other schools and teachers feel their students would be left behind without having the technology resources available to them.

Every time I hear the PSA, I think back to when our school district moved toward technology by implementing a one-to-one device program. Chromebooks were available to students in the classroom for elementary and middle school students. High school students were assigned Chromebooks that they would keep each year until graduation they could take home to do school work. No student would be without the resources available that parents could not afford. This is a great thing, however teachers need to adapt their curriculm to work this new technology into the classroom. What good is just handing a computer or tablet to a student if they are just going to write a paper that can be typed on any device? That is another struggle in itself, will teachers jump into the idea of technology in the classroom? Will they work on individulizing the curriculum to reach every student or continue with their current teaching strategies? The idea is, once the student and teacher has these new technology resources available, the curriculum needs to be adjusted as it changes the way students learn. Teaching technology becomes the solution.