Harrisonburg City Public Schools officials are rethinking the use of technology in the classroom over concerns about children’s attention spans, social-emotional learning, and more.
After a Congressional hearing on kids’ screen time earlier this year sparked a renewed conversation across the country about the drawbacks of technology in schools, Harrisonburg officials plan to assemble a task force to examine technology use next school year.
The task force will study how technology, including the school division’s Chromebooks, affects Harrisonburg students and will help the school division decide how to use technology in the future.
The school board and Superintendent Michael Richards met at a Tuesday evening work session to discuss the task force, including who should serve on it and what it should consider.
The task force may include students, likely those who are on the superintendent’s Student Advisory Council at each of the city’s two high schools.
“I wonder if we could join forces with the Student Advisory Council and have them do it as a project all year long next year,” Richards said. “That way, they stay with the conversation; they don’t jump out and come back in.”
“I think it’s important to get the student perspective,” said board member Emma Phillips. “I’m always surprised by what students want.”
The task force is also likely to include parents, teachers, staff, and outside experts, probably from local institutions such as James Madison University.
While this look into the role of tech in Harrisonburg schools may lead to scaling back on technology use, this isn’t the only possibility, Richards said. It is important to him that the task force comes to its own conclusion.
“They’ll look at the research and consider what those research implications are,” Richards said.
Currently, Harrisonburg has a “1 to 1” policy with Chromebook laptops, which means every student has one. In elementary school, students are not allowed to take them home but may use them in the classroom.
Students in middle and high school can take their Chromebooks home, which is often necessary for them to complete online homework assignments.
“That’s a function we need to be able to replace,” Richards said.
The task force may consider the benefits of students leaving their Chromebooks at school overnight. It’s possible that students in middle and high school will no longer be allowed to take their Chromebooks home, or that high schoolers will be allowed to take theirs home, but middle schoolers won’t, board members said.
Board members also said they have heard many complaints from teachers about children being distracted by the devices in class.
“As a mom, I want my kids to be engaged,” said Phillips. “I hear my mom friends, and teacher friends, complain about kids who are watching television shows when they’re not supposed to be watching television shows.”
However, the board members also said technology can be helpful in the classroom.
“Screens help our students go from consumers to producers, or constructors, of information,” Richards said. “So, there’s that as well, that we need to think about.”
Board member Kristin Loflin also said there are certain situations where having Chromebooks at home is necessary for students.
“My kids missed a lot of school this year,” she said. “And without the Chromebooks, they would have fallen behind in their classes.”
School board chair Tim Howley said he estimates the task force will take about one school year to conclude, but there are no guarantees, and he wants the process to be “organic.”
Howley also said that, beyond the effects on children’s attention spans, the task force could examine the effects on students’ social and emotional learning.
“There are unintentional effects of technology,” Howley said. “When using the ATM, you don’t have conversations with your banker.”
Richards also emphasized that the task force will not seek to eliminate classes like computer science, where technology is essential.
“Computer science is here to stay,” he said. “This is more about using the Chromebook to replace other forms of learning.”
