Project Classroom Makeover

Throughout the essay, Davidson consistently speaks about how the effects of technology such as the iPod on the classroom setting. Specifically, this is seen on page 51, where Davidson compares the iPod program to a reality TV show, dubbed “Project Classroom Makeover.” The adjectives Davidson uses afterwards, wild and wicked, make the iPod program seem horrible to support. However, these adjectives are used to compare the iPod program to the education standards at the time: teaching through lecture, textbooks, and practice problems. A synonym for those two words in this context could be “innovative.” Davidson follows up to this description by saying, “...we hoped to learn,” in reference to the students’ intellectual being in the modern world. The students had potential with their knowledge of technology, but the educational system at the time did not support such a way to draw that potential.

At the end of the paragraph, Davidson speaks of possible failure in the iPod program. This failure is described quite casually, simply using the phrase, “Or not” (Davidson 51). Having a knowledge of the possibility of failure does support the innovation of the program. On page 59 of the essay, the structure of the classroom was almost 100 years behind the technology available. At the same time, the phrase, “Or not,” does entertain the risk of the program. There was the possibility that the program could make the educational setting even worse. The informal setting of the Internet, iPod, and other technological marvels could disrupt the serious nature that a classroom essentially requires.