Tuesday September 3, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated September 5, 2024]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Their chances of forming government in BC are a long shot, but either way, the BC Greens idea for a Digital Literacy Secretariat could very well catch on with whichever party wins a majority in the upcoming BC provincial election.
It’s an idea whose time has come, to guide the use of digital technologies in BC public schools.
This clearly falls within the realm of political realities in this province where the BC Greens (who served as the third party in the BC Legislative Assembly in the recent government) tend to serve as the conscience of BC politics.
Digital Literacy Secretariat:
The BC Greens would establish a Digital Literacy Secretariat within the Ministry of Education by which to “ensure equitable access to up-to-date digital resources”.
The Greens point out that a laptop is as essential a learning tool today as pen and paper were in decades past.
The Digital Literacy Secretariat would be charged with keeping up to date with changes in technology and providing advice to teachers in real-time.
The secretariat would be comprised of teachers and IT experts who can focus on understanding the ever-changing digital landscape and provide resources for schools on how to address this.
Among other things, the secretariat would be charged with looking at AI and establishing guidance on AI as a learning tool.
Laptops in middle and secondary:
Every student in middle school and high school would be provided with a laptop, to ensure they can fully participate in the curriculum. Software and cybersecurity measures would be provided.
Laptops would be distributed at the start of Grade 6 and Grade 10, for use by students for the remainder of their school years.
The cost is estimated at $110.5 million annually, with an additional $171.5 million in the first year for the additional five years of students. After that:
- $78.4 million per year for laptops on an ongoing basis
- $249.9 million in the first year, laptop for middle and high school students
- $14.2 million per year for software
- $17.9 million per year for cybersecurity
Cell phone restrictions likely won’t last:
The ‘bell to bell’ restrictions on cell phone use are an attempt to help with student online safety and to better ensure attention paid to learning while in classrooms, but is likely to fail in its implementation.
Being excised from digital connection to the outside world during the school day is fraught with challenges — not just in practical terms but in how it severs student reality from world reality.
Certainly while during lesson time the phones should be off. But during recess, lunch and other unregulated school time it makes sense to let kids stay connected with their world outside the four walls of a classroom.
Greens in the BC provincial election season:
The upcoming BC Provincial General Voting Day is on October 19, 2024. Advance voting is available ahead of that.
BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau will be addressing the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce on September 10, just ahead of the writ dropping on September 21 (official campaign start date).
The BC Greens presently have 31 candidates [updated to 34 candidates at September 5, 2024] covering only one-third of the 93 ridings across BC.
===== RELATED:
- BC Green leader to address Victoria Chamber in September (July 6, 2024)
- Smartphones off ‘from bell to bell’ in BC classrooms (January 27, 2024)
- NEWS SECTIONS: K-12 EDUCATION | BC GREENS | BC ELECTION 2024