I also abhore the worship of technology in the classrooms, particularly when used for testing and for young elementary students.
It’s true that some students with learning/ physical/ mental differences may find that technology is an asset in * some* areas, but it is also true, that technology can build a wall between students and learning materials.
Testing for example.
Using myself as an example, to access information, I need to physically write it out, for many subjects.
Producers of test seem only interested in making it easier for the software to score tests, instead of allowing room for essays, the tests are multiple choice, and I’ve seen some questions that actually have more than one correct answer, but the electronic medium does not allow room for elaboration.
Additionally, the computer scored tests I am familiar with, do not allow you to look over the whole test before beginning, so as to judge how to spend your time, it also does not let you go back and correct answers, or fill in answers you may have missed. This increases anxiety, which reduces accuracy of results.
It * can* be useful, if used judiciously. When working with a teacher or tutor, may be too anxiety producing for a student, and they may perceive a computer screen to be less stressful. However, they often need to practice that knowledge with 3-d materials, to anchor the concepts.
Unfortunately, this is not what happens in the classroom. Technology is used as a way to reduce personalized attention from the teacher and to increase classroom size.( boosting budgets, so more money is available for technology) 8-|
Our kids were usually told to leave their textbooks at home. However, they are required to lug their computers to and from school. Backpack is heavier now. Oh, and they still have textbooks.
This is true. Although, my handwriting is clear and neat. Mother always stressed to write orderly and lest not forget to close those o’s!
I write all my notes by hand. I remember information much better this way. Even in classes where notes are provided, I write down the information even though it’s the same in the pdf I have. One nice alternative is writing notes on a tablet. Using a note-taking app your notes are saved and exportable. It’s a nice mix.
Those apps and tablets that save handwriting to the tablet are “bomb” as my kid says. D won a tablet and “smart pen” over the weekend and is already working on a project using both the handwriting app and traditional word processing on it. Tonight she did paper and pencil math homework, then recorded video edited other video, cropped some photos and looked over some upcoming assignments online. Btw, her fast-note-taking handwriting is pretty bad, but it was bad before she ever saw a computer. Her “presentation” or “must hand in this paper” penmanship is fine, however.
re #15. Sorry meant to type “Students are NOT allowed to just sit and not contribute during class.” big difference! All students are expected to contribute to the classroom conversation.
D15 said that some kids could NOT write in cursive when told during a standardized exam they needed to handwrite a pledge and sign it. Oddly her cursive is much better than her print letters, so I encourage her cursive in writing notes.
Many of my students can neither write nor read cursive. I have brought up the business about how crucial a signature is, for their own protection, and certainly will be important soon enough if not now.
Just to add another comment, my daughter told me the other day that the kids are great at getting around certain school restrictions. For example, Youtube and other video sites are blocked during school hours. So the kids just open a long video, pause it and allow it to “stream,” and then can watch it the next day during class.
I’m not against technology. I want the kids to learn how to use Photoshop, Powerpoint, and various word processing, spreadsheet, and design programs. I would just prefer for their reading and homework to be done using textbooks. I’d like for them to have a locker at school, so they can store their lunch until noon.
Somebody said my kids don’t know whether grades have dropped, that only the teachers know that, and that my kids’ grades might have dropped for other reasons. Things which kids “hear” in school of this nature tend to be fairly accurate, particularly when heard over a long period of time. Certainly there could be more factors in my children’s grades, but my frustration in trying to monitor their activity has increased dramatically.
my daughter brought up an illuminating observation the other day.
She noticed that my memory had suffered, since I used my smartphone as a crutch to open an app or a browser whenever I couldn’t remember something. Since the act of writing, reinforces retrieval pathways, I have begun to reuse my paper notes & guidebooks, instead of relying on my smart phone so much.
My concerns are particularly strong for the elementary school kids. Some schools in our area are now issuing computers to kids in 2nd or 3rd grade. If they are typing everything (though I do think they should learn to type in elementary school) they aren’t developing the hand muscles and fine motor control necessary for handwriting and a whole host of other things. I know that my hand gets now fatigued from even a small amount of writing and there is no way I could possibly take several hours of notes or write exams at top speed the way I used to as a student.
I’m all for having computer class at school where kids learn first to type and then to use key software programs and navigate the internet. I just don’t see why every 8 year old needs their own personal computer especially in areas like ours where per student spending is not that high, roughly half what the pricey districts are spending. I’d rather see the money go to actual instruction than unnecessary technology that will soon be outdated.
I might add that our computers are also incredibly poorly supported. It was nearly 2 months after school started one year that they were finally up and running! And these were not new computers. They were the same ones the school already had the previous year. Not having any computers for most of first semester pretty much crippled my daughter’s AP computer science class, and was also pretty hard on my daughter’s robotics team. What would happen if all classes were depending so heavily on them for instruction? Shut the school down for 8 weeks? I know two other teachers who complained bitterly about being forced to change their computing setup for something that did not work and caused major disruptions to their entire educational program. Maybe in a wealthy school district there will be plentiful competent computer support but that isn’t the case here. My kids also say that the internet connection is very slow at school. This is with only perhaps 1/3 of the total student body having school-provided computers. They are still spending a fortune getting them for everyone–just about the same amount they are in budget deficit this year. I expect the internet to be brought to its knees when the next batch of computers arrives.
Of course the kids are going to get around whatever use rules happen. And what do you do when a kid does not abide by the usage contract? If the computer is not a privilege but a necessity, is the school going to continue providing it for kids who are in violation?