A digital expert hits the like-button over plans by the B.C. Greens to improve digital competencies in class-rooms, but says their implementation depends on the details.
Leader Sonia Furstenau last week announced that the party would ensure students would receive laptops in Grade 6, then again in Grade 10. The party also promised to establish a digital learning secretariat.
Brandon Laur, chief executive officer and instructor at The White Hatter, a company offering digital literacy training, generally welcomed these proposals.
"It's pretty forward-thinking and understanding that technology is part of our daily lives and in the workplace."
Laur said one narrative sees technology in a negative light in wishing to limit children's access to it. But it would be a mistake to leave students without digital literacy skills.
"Yes, a lot of tech companies are out there to make money, they are out there to advertise," he said. "They are out there to make you use their app over and over again...but if you understand those realities, the strengths, the weaknesses, the challenges, you can navigate that more effectively and then use it and leverage it to your benefit."
The Greens' proposal to make laptops accessible comes as the provincial government has rolled out a number of digital initiatives designed to protect British Columbians, the most topical being a "bell-to-bell" ban on cellphone use in schools.
"In today鈥檚 digital age, our kids need the right tools to succeed," Furstenau said in announcing her party's plans. "It鈥檚 not as simple as banning cell phones, we need to provide the tools for success."
But is it not counter-productive to ban cell-phones on the premise that are distracting, but allow laptops?
"It doesn't run up against it, because as long as the laptops are being used for school education purposes, that is within the line of the requirements for schools issued by the province," Laur said.
He specifically pointed to the revised order limiting the use digital devices in schools. Its language categorizes a cellphone as 鈥渁ny personal digital device that can be used to communicate or to access the internet." Additional examples of devices that may fall into this definition are tablets, smart watches, gaming devices and electronic toys but not laptops.
"The word is actually absent from the requirements," he said. "I think that's probably a tactical move, because you can image (the reaction), when government says, 'we are going to ban laptops in classrooms.'"
But if Laur likes the idea, he added that doesn't mean it will actually be effective. Experiences elsewhere have raised questions about what type of personal information schools might be able to access if they hand out laptops to students, who then take them home.
"It's really going to come down to implementation," he said. "The devil is in details."
Equally uncertain is the role and responsibility of the digital secretariat that the B.C. Greens want to establish within the Ministry of Education.
"While digital literacy is already part of the curriculum, this initiative will provide real-time support to teachers, educational assistants, and school administrators, ensuring they have the resources needed to keep students informed, prepared, and safe in an ever-changing digital world," Furstenau said.
Laur said he is not immediately aware of an office like this elsewhere.
"Again, it really depends on the role of this position," he said. "Typically, at least in schools...most of the digital literacy component is put on the shoulders of librarians. Typically, they are the ones handling a lot of this stuff."
Competencies among educators providing digital literacy varies, so the idea of an office that can act like an "air traffic controller" in navigating issues around the Internet is important, Laur said.
"There are so many possibilities and options when it comes to the digital world that not every teacher or student or even school administrator can be knowledgeable on everything," he said.
