Warburton Blog Post #3

           The ideal school experience for today’s digital natives in my opinion would be one that uses a balance of technological and traditional approaches to learning.  I believe that this balance is necessary because I have experienced both learning styles by themselves and through those experiences have come to discover that both need to be present in order to maximize learning potential.  My ideal school setting would be one in which the teachers are both well educated in their subject and the digital technology being used at the time, as well as the benefits of traditional learning techniques.  In my schools I would have SOL tests to hold the teacher accountable for the teaching of the material.  I have had teachers in the past that taught a class that there was no SOL test, which gave my one particular teacher the idea that she did not have to teach us as thoroughly as she otherwise would have had to do.  I was astonished at the laziness of this particular teacher and was frustrated that there was no way to show the school board what was not being taught.  The SOL tests would serve as a test not only for the student but for the teachers as well.  Digital technology would be a key part of the learning process in my ideal school because I believe that if we do not keep up with the times we will be left in the past.  This is essentially how Virginia Heffernan describes the need to restructure our teaching methods.  I personally would not go to the extent that she goes to in her argument because I believe that there is value in the traditional pen and paper methods as well.  I have been in classes where the instructor wanted to be so technologically up to date that they issued netbook computers to the class for the school year.  This idea seemed logical in theory but as the year progressed the people in my class began to use them for computer games during class rather than note taking.  In my ideal school I would not issue out netbooks but instead use these laptops only when necessary because technology is useful only when it is not abused.  I believe that there are good sides to both learning methods we must find the balance that is most effective which would truly produce my ideal school.