How interactive technology is changing the classroom and our children

If you walk into most classrooms in the UK today, you will soon notice the big screen in the middle of the room at the front.

It’s not a television or movie screen, but an interactive whiteboard, and it can be used for many activities within the classroom enabling the teachers and students to present, share, interact and most importantly collaborate with each other. The board itself connects to a computer and a projector, displaying whatever is on the computer screen.

When this technology first appeared in the UK in the late 1990′s it was referred to as an electronic blackboard, and, at a very low level, some are still used in this way.

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Here is an alternative viewpoint: Virtual Child: The terrifying truth about what technology is doing to children
Children now use an average 8 hours per day of entertainment technology with profound impact on their physical, mental, social and academic development. One third of North American children enter school developmentally delayed, and child obesity is now a national epidemic. One in six children has a diagnosed mental illness, with child aggression and unmanageable behaviour increasingly the norm. One in six children cannot pay attention and require learning assistance. With research now showing causal links between physical, mental, social and academic disorders in children who overuse technology, schools and homes continue to escalate unrestricted use. Virtual Child offers parents, health and education professionals innovative tools and techniques to enhance child development and academic performance, while managing balanced use of technology. Modifications to home and school structure and environment, serve to ensure that every new millennium child will achieve a healthy, productive and sustainable future.
Author Chris Rowan is a frequent guest on CBC public radio and featured on CBC TV’s Doc Zone, Cris Rowan is known world-wide as a child development expert in the area of technology’s effects on children. As CEO of Zone’in Programs Inc. Cris Rowan has developed a ‘System of Solutions’ to address the issues of technology overuse by children. Zone’in Products, Workshops, Training and Consultation services are widely used and respected by parents, as well as health and education professionals in health units, child development centers, schools, clinic and hospital based settings. Zone’in Products include Zone’in, Move’in, Unplug’in and Live’in educational programs to enhance child health and academic performance. Zone’in Foundation Series Workshop topics include sensory processing, motor development, attachment and addictions, technology overuse, attention and learning, productivity school design, and early intervention. Zone’in Training certifies pediatric occupational therapists as Foundation Series Workshop instructors. Zone’in Consultation services provide education and training to promote Balanced Technology Management initiatives in home, school and community settings.

Rowan recently developed the Balanced Technology Management (BTM) concept which promotes managing balance between activities children need for growth and success with technology use, and has created BTM initiatives for six target groups: parents, teachers, health professionals, government, researchers and technology production corporations.

Rowan is a prolific writer and has published numerous articles on sensory and motor development, printing literacy, attachment, addictions, attention, learning, and the impact of technology on child development. Rowan authors a monthly Development Series newsletter with a readership of over 40,000 parents, health and education professionals. Rowan has authored the following policy initiatives Unplug – Don’t Drug: Routine Technology Screening Prior to Behavior Diagnosis and Medication, Schools Operating Safely – Child Behavior Management Policy and Procedures, Creating Sustainable Futures for Children of the New Millennium, and Linking Corporations to Communities – Technology Production Corporate Funding Opportunities for Schools and Communities.

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