Mulgrave’s Commitment to Responsible and Effective Technology Use

Following our very successful initiative to restrict the use of phones during the school working day, inevitably we have also been conducting a review and audit of general laptop technology use in the school. The powerful arguments and evidence provided in relation to the phone debate are not isolated to this particular form of hardware. As we know the past five years have seen an enormous exponential increase in algorithmic sophistication, mobilised by large internet and social media platforms with the clear intention to hijack attention and keep us on their sites. Importantly, these have now become sophisticated ‘push’ factors targeted at individuals which override attempts educators have made to develop students’ self management capabilities. This reality was established last year in the article referencing phone research here so I don’t need to rehearse the same arguments now in relation to laptop use. 

The key takeaway is that educators worldwide from Junior School right through to Grade 12, continue to report the impossibility of successfully sustaining an approach whereby students successfully self manage in the face of these algorithmic ‘attacks’. It is increasingly difficult to stay focussed in the way we want in their lessons and equally problematic when at home working on school assignments. 

Recently, at our TEDx event, Senior School students themselves presented on the global crisis facing young people, and adults, in the face of this dopamine onslaught. They also demonstrated vulnerability in expressing their own struggles in trying different methods to try and stay focussed on academic work when the device they use is always just one tab away from the problem. I was personally very moved by these presentations because they represented our oldest students (with very good executive function skills) admitting on stage (and to the global online viewing audience) their struggles with this reality. Afterward, some parents approached me at the coffee station to implore continued school responses to this growing concern.

Other important data points come from our own audit of device use in classes and conversations with parents at home about struggles and conflicts with their own children trying to complete homework on SEQTA whilst resisting the temptation to switch tabs. To be clear, we have explicit expectations shared with students about this issue with consequences laid out. We also have teachers moving around the class to regularly check screen use. Nevertheless, the multiple instances we continue to find of distraction lead us towards an imperative to do better. What the research showed us about phones applies equally to laptops, namely the capacity of well intentioned students and committed teachers to monitor screen use is not enough to address the current situation. 

This is not letting students off the hook in terms of expected behaviours in class but rather a researched ‘reality check’ that we are swimming upstream against a tide too powerful to combat.

This is where you come in as Mulgrave parents. We need your support to move into a space we believe can help the situation. 

Our own research into education centres that still use school issued devices reveals a much stronger capability to lock down devices and ensure appropriate use while enabling teachers to have quick and easy oversight of all activities on screens at all times. Using school issued devices will also make it easier for parents to monitor the device use at home for homework assignments. Please see this link for examples of countries, educational districts and other private schools that have already moved into this space. We have just learnt that a favourite application destination for our students, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, has just restricted the use of any devices in their programmes because of the inability of their students to resist distraction. This also aligns with professors and instructors at UBC limiting device use in particular courses in specific programmes, too.

When progressive institutions like Mulgrave moved into the BYOD (bring your own device) space many years ago it was a decision made in an era before the most recent and aggressive algorithmic realities across the online world. At that point, both convenience and having choice for devices that might better benefit certain subjects over others drove the decision making. Additionally, an argument was that the ability to use VPNs or toggle to phone data meant attempts to ‘control’ devices seemed to be futile.

However, today the distraction issue and its overwhelmingly negative impact on cognitive focus and wellbeing overrides all other considerations. Also, devices now available to schools are better able to effectively monitor, block, and track usage.

An important principle here is “don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good”. In other words, yes, determined and adept students can always find a way to try and break firewalls and hack systems. However, the current alternative (easy and effortless access to entertainment sites, games and reels), means that school issued devices give us an opportunity to improve learning significantly at Mulgrave. During a recent visit to Upper Canada College in Toronto, I was toured around by a Grade 7 student who explained their school's move to a more restrictive and locked down device scenario. I wrote down what he told us… “if you want to try and break the firewalls and reroute to open access on the internet, it requires a lot of work and time…this means it is happening less and when it does teachers can find the students… it's not worth the hassle anymore.”

The technology team, under the leadership of Fareed Teja, has been exploring these options for a while and believes we can move into this space quickly, but only with parental support. Given the problem at hand, we don’t want to wait because we are receiving myriad reports of distraction occurring at school and at home on a deepening scale. This is why we aim to have an alternative arrangement in place by late August ready for the new school year. I recognise that there will be inconvenience with this pivot and the school will absorb a significant cost (there will be no additional levy to families for the rollout), however I know this is the right way to go and I don't think we should wait. Many of the issues that we will all want some more clarity on will be communicated in our FAQ document, including how we can mitigate issues of waste and environmental impact with recycling ideas in relation to family devices

Details to Follow

Watch for further communication on:

• Device specifications (well-considered learning technology; not Chromebooks)
• Device use over school holidays
• Device recycling and donation
• Frequently asked questions

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