Yesterday marked the second annual celebration of “Digital Learning Day,” the culmination of a year-long focus to utilize the power of technology in more classrooms nationwide. But we’re not just talking about throwing iPads into classrooms in the hopes of engaging students’ short attention spans. No, the ideas employed in classrooms and libraries around the world yesterday were far more innovative than that. Here’s how a handful of educators around the country took Digital Learning Day and ran with it, as reported by School Library Journal:

• Over at New Canaan High School, CT, library department chair Michelle Luhtala is asking students and faculty to download an eBook to their mobile devices, and setting up a support desk to help to anyone who needs it.
• At Murray Hill Middle School in Laurel, MD, Gwyneth Jones is tying Digital Learning Day into the school’s celebration of National History Day with custom QR codes on history displays throughout the library with the phrase: “I DARE you to Scan this Code!” Digitally-savvy history buffs will be sent to an infographic on how to get the most out of the Library of Congress.
• Digital Learning Day also happens to coincide with a project students are working on at Charlotte Country Day Middle School, NC—creating five-minute films about a topic in Ancient Roman culture. The kids are editing the pieces on Windows Movie Maker, and faculty will be awarding film prizes like the Oscars, but aptly called “the Caesars.”

Looking at the ideas of some institutions since the advent of portable learning tools like the iPad, it seems like some view technology in the classroom as having the innate capability to help kids learn, without the introduction of any out-of-the-box ideas. Some seem to think that just the presence of technology in the classroom heightens learning, the way fire radiates warmth. While I don’t believe in that style of teaching, I do think that technology in the classroom is a positive thing when educators harness their students’ ease with digital devices and use it in new ways that introduce fun to the learning environment.

Students often gravitate easily to these objects from laptops to tablets, e-readers to smartphones, plus they tend to be savvy users of online databases and web-based learning apps. But marrying these tools effectively into student learning—linking the fun to the educational element—is where many librarians and educators are focused today.

What say you? Do you use technology in the classroom, and if so, how? What are some creative ways to celebrate digital learning day, year-round? Is technology in the classroom stimulating, or distracting? We’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment!