The Cover Story of the Spring edition of ET Magazine (ET stands for Educational Technology, not Extra-Terrestrials) is an article by Betsy Hill …
Today we use technology to do everything from brushing our teeth to testing jet engines and from cooking a pot roast in 45 minutes to diagnosing medical conditions. Some technology, like smart phones and email, are so ubiquitous that we find it hard to imagine life without them, even those of us who grew up with POTS party lines and sent “snail mail” with a $.03 stamp. Technology makes many things in life so much easier that we wonder whether it is making us dumber. If we don’t have to do hard things like remember a set of directions or memorize phone numbers, is that really good for us or are we losing mental acuity?
There is one type of technology that has already made a lot of students smarter; and it has the potential to help increase academic outcomes dramatically and close learning gaps for struggling students. This technology is called cognitive training and it incorporates the science of learning with video game software.
