Our View: Technology in the classroom should move forward

Technology is changing everything we do.

Many people will be reading this editorial on the Internet, straight from the web or via Twitter.

Mobile devices — especially iPads and smartphones — have become appendages to the body for many folk, especially young people.

A few years ago, they were unheard of. Today these devices are a part of everyday life.

This is why it was encouraging to hear that the Havre school board may allow students to bring their own devices to school next year for use in school work.

It seems like an overdue response to changing times.

The district has been a leader in technology in the classroom. The district provides iPads that students can use, but their use is limited since students cannot take them home.

Students can work, write and think faster on mobile devices. Allowing greater use of technology will certainly improve student output.

Of course, students will find ways to use technology for mischievous purposes, just as students in an earlier generation learned ways to circumvent rules with pens and paper. Teachers, we suspect will come up with ways of catching students at their wrongdoing. Already, many teachers have learned it’s better to lecture from the back of the classroom so they can look over students’ shoulders.

The proposals made by the administration at the school board meeting Tuesday night seem like a no-brainer to us.

We hope the school board acts quickly on the proposals.