Technology should not replace writing skills

One of the biggest mistakes being made by educators is the push toward technology, technology, and even more technology.
I cringed as I watched the KOAM Morning News report today on the new laptop computers that have been provided to high school students by the Baxter Springs School District.
The use of technology should be increasing in the classroom, and in most places it is, but it should not be replacing basic skills that are necessary to succeed in life, and that is exactly what the KOAM report indicated is happening in Baxter Springs.
These laptops will replace term papers, the report said, while one giddy teenage girl said she would much prefer to read items off the Internet than to open a book.
Instead of term papers, the report indicated, students will prepare powerpoint presentations and I-movies for teachers to grade.
If that truly represents how Baxter Springs officials intend to use the technology, then I feel sorry for the students in that school district. While they are having fun with powerpoints and movies, the ones who go on to college are going to find themselves left behind.
The idea behind term or research papers has never been to punish students; it is to help them to learn how to collect research, then put it together in logical, readable fashion. While powerpoint presentations and movies make great additions and can be used to augment the basic research paper, they should never replace it.
The Joplin R-8 School District, my employer, has a strong emphasis on technology in the classrooms, but not at the expense of the basic fundamental skills that students have to know in order to succeed in society.
Technology is just another weapon in the educator's arsenal. There are teachers in this school district and others who use technology more than I do, but it is extremely useful in my classroom.
Here are just a few examples of how I use technology:
-To save the district on the cost of paper and to save the turnaround time on sending tests to the central office for copying, I put my tests on my class website, www.room210.com. The students take the tests in the computer lab and when they are finished, they can surf the net while they wait for the other students to complete their work.
-The class website in itself is a method of helping students. They can find out what work they need to complete, what assignments are coming up in the next few days, and learn about the class. Plus, it is a great incentive for them to know that some of their best work will be placed on one of the website's pages.
-During the second semester, my eighth grade communication arts classes will research various aspects of the Civil Rights movement as part of a 1,000-point research project. The project does include a multi-media aspect, in which students can do an I-movie or complete a powerpoint presentation, but they also have to do an oral presentation and the centerpiece of the project is a 1,000 word research paper. The project takes up six or seven weeks of the third quarter, but it is well worth it. The eighth graders spend a week in the computer lab researching on the Internet, but they are also required to use and to include at least two book sources in their bibliographies.
By all means, give the students access to technology for research purposes, and allow them to do movies and powerpoint, but don't allow the technology to replace the basic writing and speaking skills that they will need to function as productive members of society.