Devices creating extra challenges than options in colleges, says JAPSS president | Information

WESTERN BUREAU:

Linvern Wright, the president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS), is expressing concern that the proliferation of know-how as a studying software in colleges could also be creating extra issues than it solves whereas robbing youngsters of crucial expertise they might have realized historically.

Wright was talking throughout a web-based discussion board on the challenges confronted by the schooling sector in 2025, held final Saturday night on the National Religious Partnership Radio platform.

“There are disagreements about this, but I really believe that one of the things that we are recognising as schools is that gadgets are presenting more challenges than they are solving problems in schools. All the research is showing that these things are more of a distraction than they are of assistance, especially if things are not properly organised pedagogically,” mentioned Wright.

“Because technology is attractive and it is something that gets the dopamine [a brain hormone vital for movement and focus] in children going, I think we have mistaken that kind of dopamine response for effectiveness. However, I think it has more effects on the brain that are adverse where education and child development are concerned, that I don’t think we are paying sufficient attention to,” Wright added.

The JAPSS president particularly pointed to youngsters’s writing skill for example of the impression of know-how on studying, in a society the place individuals are extra centered on utilizing units akin to telephones, tablets, and laptop screens.

“One of the things that our children are doing less now is that our children are writing less. All the research has shown that, when a child writes notes, versus typing notes, it actually has a better effect on memory and on storing of long-term memory, because of the processes that are involved,” mentioned Wright. “Also, if you invest more money in teacher competence, the gains that you would get in education would be far more than we are spending now in technology instead of teacher development.”

CONCERNS

His concern echoes a warning that the United Nations’ schooling, science and tradition company UNESCO issued in a 2023 report, which said that studying advantages could also be affected if know-how is utilized in extra or if it replaces certified academics.

Meanwhile, counselling psychologist Dr Philbert Amiel steered that whereas youngsters might retain higher long-term reminiscence via conventional studying expertise versus use of know-how, a stability must be sought by way of which technique might assist college students on a person stage.

“When a child writes, the brain retains that information to a greater degree, compared to when a child types something on a screen. It is important for us to understand the dynamism between these two forms of learning, because there are some kids that are going to progress at a greater rate using technology, and there are some that are going to progress at a greater rate using the old learning style,” mentioned Amiel.

“What we need to do is not so much to focus on one against the other, but to focus on which one better serves that particular child or group. For Jamaicans, we are somewhat new in terms of technological advancement in a whole lot of areas, and I think, the more we understand the dynamics at play, the more we are better able to help the education process as our children develop,” Amiel added.

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