Today’s students have iPads and smart phones, spend more time with Facebook and YouTube than with television, and text about as much as they talk.
“They are digital learners. They’ve grown up with technology that is foreign to many of us, and they learn differently than we did,” said James Barker, 17-year superintendent of Erie schools and a former state Board of Education member. “There’s a revolution going on, and schools need to join that revolution or they’re going to get left behind.”
Dr. Barker is in a position to help schools join the revolution. He recently was named executive director of the Pennsylvania Digital Learning Network.
The network was created by the National Network of Digital Schools, a Beaver-based spinoff of the Midland-based Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. It got a federal grant to help develop 10-12 school districts to share resources and ideas on educating in the era of social media.
For the rest of the article, go to Erie educator shapes digital learning
