Sometime back in the 16th century, a Saxon nobleman was heard to declare, “The future is digital!” A few years later, in 2011, The Mailbox responded with our first mobile app, Holidays and Seasonal Celebrations. In 2012, still hearing the clarion call of that prescient aristocrat, we added Kids in the Kitchen and Seasonal Songs. And there are still more to come. We also offer digital editions of The Mailbox and Teacher’s Helper magazines.
Coincidentally, the Pew Internet Project and Common Sense Media have just released two surveys of teachers (independent of each other) that centered on how technology is impacting learning.
– 75% of teachers in the Pew survey said the Internet and search engines had a “mostly positive” impact on student research skills, making students more self-sufficient researchers.
– Also in the Pew survey, 90% of teachers said digital technologies were creating “an easily distracted generation with short attention spans.”
– 50% of teachers in the Common Sense Media survey said digital technologies hurt critical-thinking skills and a student’s ability to do homework.
Yet technology in the classroom and technologies that help teachers are not going to go away. They’re going to proliferate. At The Mailbox, we’re committed to developing digital answers for the challenges and needs you face every day.
As always, we value your input. We produce resources and provide ideas designed to make your classroom life easier. What digital tool that may not be out there yet would best assist you as a teacher? How do you see technology impacting learning in your school? Is there something you’ve thought The Mailbox could/should do digitally that would be superhelpful to you?
Share with us!