SHOULD WE RETURN TO THE OLD WAYS?

Eleanor Cawley
President & Sr. Occupational Therapist (OT)
Ms. Eleanor's Apples
P.O.Box 20634
Huntington Station, NY 11746
631-271-1892

I have been blogging about using technology as a tool for learning. As a school-based OT, I have been working with students on organization, fine motor, visual motor/perceptual skills, handwriting, keyboarding and vocational skills. I feel that, for some students, these skills are easy. For other students, not so easy. In the last few posts that I have made, on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Google +, I included articles about the importance of handwriting to learning. Some of the researchers in those articles indicated that students are better able to understand certain concepts if they are handwritten. Some even go as far as to say that handwriting improves fine motor skills. As an OT with experience in all areas of development, I see that handwriting requires a certain level of motor, visual and perceptual skills. The integration of motor, visual and perceptual skills into math, writing and organization are interdependent upon one another. I have read and commented on articles stating that researchers have uncovered anecdotal reports (as far back as the 1930's)indicating that educators have felt that keyboarding has enhanced a student's ability to organize thoughts, use appropriate grammar and punctuation. While these statements are conflicting in some ways, what is important to recognize is that each method of communication has benefits. It is important to note that we are speeding toward, if not already in, a digital world. The educational model is speeding toward the development of problem solving skills. To that end, computers have the functional capability to maintain large amounts of data. Scientists can quickly analyze such data with the application of algorithms and mathematical formulas that may be impossible by hand. This leads us to a world were we have no choice but to provide our children with as much exposure and opportunity to learn how to find solutions to problems using technology. Naysayers though they be, the authors and researchers must see the need to include computers, iPads, tablets, smartphones, etc., in every facet of a child's education. A child with digital capabilities, such as using 'Kno.com' for text books, lecture notes and study tools have not only organized their belongings and their resource materials into an iPad or table, they have also decreased the potential for back injury from carrying heavy backpacks. Those students, who are already digitizing their class materials by scanning those materials to Google Docs have cut their clutter down to minimal and can more easily locate assignments and study materials. I really think that we need to get past the debate of handwriting vs. keyboarding. We need to help our children write as neatly and legibly as possible; organize thoughts using handwritten or computer-based graphic organizers; use a variety of programs on the computer and have efficient and accurate keyboarding skills.