About Nancy Salvato
Nancy Salvato is the President and Director of
Education and the Constitutional Literacy Program for
Basics Project,
a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) research and educational
project whose mission is to re-introduce the American public to
the basic elements of our constitutional heritage while
providing non-partisan, fact-based information on relevant
socio-political issues important to our country, specifically
the threats of aggressive Islamofascism and the American Fifth
Column. She serves as a Senior Editor for The New Media Journal.
She is also a staff writer, for the New Media Alliance, Inc., a
non-profit 501(c)(3) coalition of writers and grass-roots media
outlets. She received her BA in history from Loyola University
and her M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education from National-Louis
University. She is certified to teach in grades K-9 and 6-12 and
as a teacher has worked with students in preschool, 1st, 5th,
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th grades. She has also worked as
an adjunct instructor at the graduate school level. She
continues to augment her education and areas of expertise in the
style of Abraham Lincoln.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention June 10, 2009
General Motors
recently filed for bankruptcy. Mark Steyn writes in National Review,
“GM has about 95,000 workers but provides health benefits to a million
people: It’s not a business enterprise, but a vast welfare plan with a
tiny loss-making commercial sector. As GM goes, so goes America?”
Fortunately, maybe this is not the case. Arnold Schwarzenegger, faced
with a $24 million budget deficit, has “terminated” textbooks and is
embracing
digital books as well as other electronic devices that can be used
for learning.
Having purchased a Kindle earlier this year, I can say from experience
that it is an amazing device. The books I’ve downloaded cost much less
than if I was to have bought them hard copy. Many cost nothing, thanks
to sites such as
Project Gutenberg. I’m just finishing “John Marshall and the
Constitution; a Chronicle of the Supreme Court by Corwin”, an excellent
read. The nicest feature on the device is that it allows me to bookmark
or highlight while I’m reading. I can send my research to my email and
use it when I write my commentaries. I have been wondering when a
version of the Kindle will be adapted in the schools.
The Mainstream Media is struggling. Like California, they are going to
have to reinvent themselves in order to survive in a digital world. Many
New Media writers have long recognized the internet for what it is, a
vast compilation of real time news and commentary. If the mainstream
papers take a bailout, they will be compromising their
credibility...which is already in question, thanks to the extensive
research done by New Media writers.
Online colleges make use of online libraries, filled with relevant,
current research from reputable, peer reviewed journals, and are slowly
phasing out the necessity for textbooks. They are replacing them with
streaming videos, podcasts, and other forms of media. Brick and mortar
institutions are experimenting with online learning. While there should
be no expectation that more traditional institutions of learning will be
phased out, they will have to adapt to technology in order to stay
relevant.
The music industry made the transformation several years ago, when they
found CDs were being pirated and downloaded for free. Now, songs can be
purchased for less than $1.00 which is changing the meaning of hit
singles and has forced some musicians to better vet what would have sold
as an entire album just a decade ago. People can be choosier about what
passes for quality and not purchase a complete CD, if it doesn’t appeal
to their sensibilities.
It’s easier to engage kids when using tools they enjoy. However, the
reality is that the transformation of how generations of people are
learning and engaging has already taken place. It just makes sense to
use computers instead of pencil or paper. It’s faster and easier. Yet,
we haven’t even scratched the surface of how these tools can be
incorporated into our schools. Students can email their homework to
their teachers and parents can sign off on it to assure the teacher that
the work was done by their kids. No more, “the dog ate my homework” or
copying a friend’s homework ten minutes before class. All students can
engage by texting their answers to teachers’ discussion questions for a
quick progress monitor. There are many more ways (too many to list in
this commentary) students can learn and show what they’ve learned using
technology.
Our
children’s education is a warranty for the well being of our country.
The more efficiently we enlist them in constructing their knowledge, the
more it is likely that they will grow up to become contributing members
of our society. The auto industry can take a lesson from the
“Kindergarten Cop”. They should figure out how to fine tune an industry
which has too long existed “status quo”. Now, that would be economically
sound thinking.
