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Yesterday I read this article and was not surprised, but I was disappointed and frustrated. AUKKKKK!!! Why don't people realize that when you try to do the same thing with new equipment it doesn't take advantage of the new equipment. What are computers good for?- Worldwide Connections and Networking
- Quick Communication
- Neat typing
- An extremely rich resource for information (IF you learn to sift and know how to look.)
What were the schools using the computers for (according to the article)?- typing
- improving test scores
What were the students using the computers for?- Quick communication
- networking
- creative solutions to problems (hacking!)
- Anything they were not supposed to be doing.
No wonder they were a barrier in the classroom. If you are still trying to do what you always did WHY use technology!!!??? It is too expensive, not to mention distracting. And yet... can we keep leaving schools behind? Is it right that school is the only place where the professionals in charge do not have to understand technology?
1 comment:
Janice,
This article upset me as well.
It feels like when technology is poorly implemented, then everyone rushes to blame the technology rather than the implementation.
We don't blame technology for failures in business do we?
What is all this fear of technology in education about?
They tie in to money in this article, but what happens a couple of years from now when students can all have a $100 laptop? Then what?
You make some very good points here about what the students were doing with the technology.
This kind of initiative has to be planned from top down as well as from the bottom up, so that administrators, tech departments, and teachers are all ready for the implementation, and that the infrastructure is there.
I was also very dismayed that the reporter brought up the Ed. dept's recent technology report, which just focused on math/reading skill drill programs, as an example of technology failing in schools.
To me this whole debate is almost ludicrous. Do we think technology is just going to go away?
Why is there so much effort spent disproving it's value in schools, instead of studies about WHAT makes it affective. Apple was doing research on that fifteen years ago!
Anyway, I did a lot more ranting about this on my blog, so I won't go on much more here.
Thanks for your comments--well said.
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