As my seven-year-old son prepares for his first protest (against a proposed new Walmart in Burbank; he is very vehement about his position; “What if they put Target out of business?”) I think about my own corporate involvement (I use Burst, a Wireless Generation product, in my class). On the positive side, it seems to be working. The program I use groups like-skilled students for “Bursts” of intensive instruction. The learning activities are short and sweet and my students seem to enjoy them. Whether they are effective I can’t yet say. If they aren’t, I will have to toss them into the rusty toolkit with the rest of the teaching techniques that have failed to bring my students up to proficiency. But, yes, on the positive side, I would have to say that the program seems to be educationally sound.
The negative side? Well, that would be the company’s owner, Rupert Murdoch, who though not my boss, seems like he is.
Should I continue to use his product if it proves to be effective? What do you think?
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
