"I couldn't do my homework because the battery for my school book was dead."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wurm5150
"My dog ate my iPad."
"A hacker stole my lunch credits and my homework."
"A solar flare ate my homework"
"I was all set to do it when my iPad asked me if I wanted to play a game of Global Thermonuclear War. Do you have any idea how hard it is to track done a genius recluse on a remote island."
PS: What kind of asshat 'genius' makes a backdoor password to a military defense computer "Joshua", a 6-letter word found in a dictionary.
Children go to school not to learn facts or information - they go to school to learn how to learn from each other and directly from the world, not mitigated by a touchscreen and some programmer's idea of what is important.
You are absolutely right, and I'm also sick of books being some publishers idea of what is important.
Whether or not children learn at school depends on these factors:
1. Parents.
2. Teachers.
3. Curriculum.
In that order. If the parents are educated and involved, the teachers are competent teachers and not repeaters, and the curriculum is factual instead of biased unreality, the kids stand a chance.
iPads are irrelevant to the learning process. They could simplify a childs organization, eliminate the insanity of carrying heavy books of which 6 pages are used, and remove the evil and unnecessary extortion known as the publishing of text books. Good things.
They are no more of a distraction than the pretty girl or handsome boy sitting next to you.
It staggers me how many "things" get blamed for poor education, when in reality it only comes down to the faults of the adults involved.
...and as far as your comment re: intelligent design. the only "criminally insane concept" being taught in school is the one that excludes critical thinking. If you've not taught students that the only thing in the world that matters is their ability to make up their own mind....then you haven't done your job at all.
so many people with all the answers....easy to have answers...
That definitely makes sense, on many levels.... as long as quality content is available. I?d wonder if it might be too soon for that.... but then I remember the quality of our US textbooks to begin with
The issue of eyestrain on a computer monitor is a myth
Umm, no. A paper book, even a glossy one, does not have the level of glare that a typical iPad has.
Moreover, numerous studies have shown that passively reflective surfaces & screens - like paper and Kindles - are much easier to read and can be read for longer durations with out fatigue than transmissive surfaces like the iPad.
Do a simple comparison. In a comfortable chair in a well lit room, read 10 pages of a novel from a book, a Kindle and an iPad and tell me which was the easiest? In fact, start with the iPad. Then tell me eyestrain on portable reading devices is a myth. I dare you. I double dare.
I'm a big fan of the iPad and I'm all for replacing books with readers - just not yet. I think the product needs to mature a bit, become easier on the eyes with crisper text and a anti glare screen optimized for static rather than moving images.
I also think that for most work, kids in school need a larger, "two page" iPad that is closer in size to the average open text book, and folds open like one.
Let me say I think this is pretty cool and wish my school had this technology, but that was the 80's and all we had were cassette Walkman's, DOS PCs, or later a Mac Plus. It will save students and schools a lot of money and make learning more fun which will result in better learning and smarter kids at least that's the hope.
Cons:
Not to sound negative, but kids get beat-up and mugged for iPods and iPhones, what will happen to kids toting around a $500-600 iPad? What about inner-city (and suburban) kids getting robbed for one of these? It would be extremely negative and sad if down the road a story comes up of some kid being beaten or worse yet murdered for his/her iPad. Also, you can drop a book and no one cares - nothing happens, what if some kid drops their iPad and breaks it - who's responsible, who pays for it? Not every parent can afford to pay out hundreds of dollars to replace one.
I hope they come up with some guidelines, rules, and leniency for these and other very serious issues that may and likely will arise in time.
The content is what is important not the delivery system.
Recently I took my commercial driver license test on a state computer at the Department of Motor Vehicles. I passed. If a state government and federal government requires people to take tests on computers then give them licenses then computers are here to stay. It is government validation of technology.
How soon will it be when someone can go from kindergarten through college and not need to carry books or take tests on paper? The technology exists now but when will the curriculum be ready?
When it does exist will governments let parents keep their children at home and just do all of their work on their iPads or other computers? Why shouldn't they? If teachers can monitor the work from afar then there would be no valid reason to do so.
Apps could be made to simulate mixing chemicals for chemistry classes. Apps could be made for almost anything.
I suppose teachers unions and universities would absolutely hate to give up their power to iPads. Right now with books they can claim that there is a need for more instruction. With iPads and great apps the students could see moving images and get greater detail from any type of lesson. Good apps are interactive.
When will the first accredited school come into existence that takes people from kindergarten to college degree online? I hope it is soon.
Whether or not children learn at school depends on these factors:
1. Parents.
2. Teachers.
3. Curriculum.
In that order. If the parents are educated and involved, the teachers are competent teachers and not repeaters, and the curriculum is factual instead of biased unreality, the kids stand a chance.
iPads are irrelevant to the learning process. They could simplify a childs organization, eliminate the insanity of carrying heavy books of which 6 pages are used, and remove the evil and unnecessary extortion known as the publishing of text books. Good things.
They are no more of a distraction than the pretty girl or handsome boy sitting next to you.
It staggers me how many "things" get blamed for poor education, when in reality it only comes down to the faults of the adults involved.
...and as far as your comment re: intelligent design. the only "criminally insane concept" being taught in school is the one that excludes critical thinking. If you've not taught students that the only thing in the world that matters is their ability to make up their own mind....then you haven't done your job at all.
Excellent retort. And masterful at that! I wish we have plenty of your kind in our schools.
Excellent retort. And masterful at that! I wish we have plenty of your kind in our schools.
No it wasn't - it was a silly, snarky comment that avoided the very valid points made by the original poster and was clearly submitted by someone who has never taught at a school.
To the original poster. This is a fun place to read rumors and baseless speculation presented as fact but I really wouldn't bother. (I wouldn't either but every now and again I come home a bit drunk and feel the need to try and hold a mirror up.)
Whether or not children learn at school depends on these factors:
1. Parents.
2. Teachers.
3. Curriculum.
In that order. If the parents are educated and involved, the teachers are competent teachers and not repeaters, and the curriculum is factual instead of biased unreality, the kids stand a chance.
iPads are irrelevant to the learning process. They could simplify a childs organization, eliminate the insanity of carrying heavy books of which 6 pages are used, and remove the evil and unnecessary extortion known as the publishing of text books. Good things.
They are no more of a distraction than the pretty girl or handsome boy sitting next to you.
It staggers me how many "things" get blamed for poor education, when in reality it only comes down to the faults of the adults involved.
...and as far as your comment re: intelligent design. the only "criminally insane concept" being taught in school is the one that excludes critical thinking. If you've not taught students that the only thing in the world that matters is their ability to make up their own mind....then you haven't done your job at all.
This is exactly what I had growing up. I wouldn't have become a Mechanical Engineer without it.
I'll never forget back in '88 after my freshman year in the Pac 10 studying for Engineering and I went to my favorite chemistry teacher.
He introduced me to his class as his former bio/chem assistant, but more importantly to tell them how my class was the last class to have to solve chemistry problems with all your work. The State of Washington switched to multiple guess after '87.
His exams were more difficult than entry engineering level chemistry in the Pac 10. The next year the exams were creampuffs and the grades went down.
Think about it: Books were around when we were in school, and when our parents and their parents went to school. If too many are being hauled back and forth, solve that problem - don't introduce a different one. Bad books? Get good ones, preferably those unpolluted by criminally insane concepts such as intelligent design. Books aren't up to date? The lesson is that not all knowledge can be found inside a book. What if students never wondered what existed outside of their little touchscreen?
That thinking can no longer work in modern society, especially after MTV and Sesame Street have ripped any remaining attention span away. It's much harder for kids to focus, so they need to feel engaged with the material, otherwise their interest in the subject wanes and attention is focused elsewhere. Books will always remain a viable resource for reference material, but the days of being a useful teaching aide are over.
Of course the bigger issue here is the inability to focus. Unfortunately the damage has been done, so rather than wasting time trying "fix" it, these students still NEED to learn now, and if this helps, then good for it. To denounce something simply because it wasn't needed before or it's nontraditional is rather short-sighted.
When it does exist will governments let parents keep their children at home and just do all of their work on their iPads or other computers? Why shouldn't they? If teachers can monitor the work from afar then there would be no valid reason to do so.
Apps could be made to simulate mixing chemicals for chemistry classes. Apps could be made for almost anything.
I suppose teachers unions and universities would absolutely hate to give up their power to iPads. Right now with books they can claim that there is a need for more instruction. With iPads and great apps the students could see moving images and get greater detail from any type of lesson. Good apps are interactive.
When will the first accredited school come into existence that takes people from kindergarten to college degree online? I hope it is soon.
Part of a person's education is learning to interact with people you might not otherwise choose to deal with - something you cannot achieve in a home setting. I've seen kids who were home-schooled in their early years and I have noted that many of them struggle socially.
How do you go about deploying iPads into the school system across thousands (or even millions) of students?
How do you handle new app installations, app updates, security patches, iOS updates etc?
How do you lock them down, prevent app installation, app deletion, changes to settings, and make them less attractive to steal?
The iPad isn't the right kind of device for this type of deployment.
It could be changed to be more suited though.
Think about an "Enterprise" iPad. Same thing but with a hardware based encryption and administrative lock (so it can't simply be stolen and reflashed), centrally managed so new apps, app updates and iOS updates can app be pushed out OTA.
I bet the day they started replacing the Slate with pencils and paper, people protested as well.
Investing more heavily into iPads for junior high students is not an intelligent use of funds. Making sure the kids actually are challenged and taught critical thinking is something neither a book nor an iPad can develop. That comes from home and the school.
You raise the standards and accept a portion of students won't reach it. Those students you offer a trades curriculum. Not everyone is destined to be a chemist, engineer, or other applied science degree, nor a lawyer, doctor, etc.
A lot of artists are poor students but their impact on Society is irrefutable. Bring back the trades with modern solutions that work in tandem and you get a competent work force to build that /(those) end-to-end solution/(s).
The Green Economy will need just as many machinists as the Industrial Revolution.
Comments
"I couldn't do my homework because the battery for my school book was dead."
"My dog ate my iPad."
"A hacker stole my lunch credits and my homework."
"A solar flare ate my homework"
"I was all set to do it when my iPad asked me if I wanted to play a game of Global Thermonuclear War. Do you have any idea how hard it is to track done a genius recluse on a remote island."
PS: What kind of asshat 'genius' makes a backdoor password to a military defense computer "Joshua", a 6-letter word found in a dictionary.
Children go to school not to learn facts or information - they go to school to learn how to learn from each other and directly from the world, not mitigated by a touchscreen and some programmer's idea of what is important.
You are absolutely right, and I'm also sick of books being some publishers idea of what is important.
Whether or not children learn at school depends on these factors:
1. Parents.
2. Teachers.
3. Curriculum.
In that order. If the parents are educated and involved, the teachers are competent teachers and not repeaters, and the curriculum is factual instead of biased unreality, the kids stand a chance.
iPads are irrelevant to the learning process. They could simplify a childs organization, eliminate the insanity of carrying heavy books of which 6 pages are used, and remove the evil and unnecessary extortion known as the publishing of text books. Good things.
They are no more of a distraction than the pretty girl or handsome boy sitting next to you.
It staggers me how many "things" get blamed for poor education, when in reality it only comes down to the faults of the adults involved.
...and as far as your comment re: intelligent design. the only "criminally insane concept" being taught in school is the one that excludes critical thinking. If you've not taught students that the only thing in the world that matters is their ability to make up their own mind....then you haven't done your job at all.
so many people with all the answers....easy to have answers...
The issue of eyestrain on a computer monitor is a myth
Umm, no. A paper book, even a glossy one, does not have the level of glare that a typical iPad has.
Moreover, numerous studies have shown that passively reflective surfaces & screens - like paper and Kindles - are much easier to read and can be read for longer durations with out fatigue than transmissive surfaces like the iPad.
Do a simple comparison. In a comfortable chair in a well lit room, read 10 pages of a novel from a book, a Kindle and an iPad and tell me which was the easiest? In fact, start with the iPad. Then tell me eyestrain on portable reading devices is a myth. I dare you. I double dare.
I'm a big fan of the iPad and I'm all for replacing books with readers - just not yet. I think the product needs to mature a bit, become easier on the eyes with crisper text and a anti glare screen optimized for static rather than moving images.
I also think that for most work, kids in school need a larger, "two page" iPad that is closer in size to the average open text book, and folds open like one.
Let me say I think this is pretty cool and wish my school had this technology, but that was the 80's and all we had were cassette Walkman's, DOS PCs, or later a Mac Plus. It will save students and schools a lot of money and make learning more fun which will result in better learning and smarter kids at least that's the hope.
Cons:
Not to sound negative, but kids get beat-up and mugged for iPods and iPhones, what will happen to kids toting around a $500-600 iPad? What about inner-city (and suburban) kids getting robbed for one of these? It would be extremely negative and sad if down the road a story comes up of some kid being beaten or worse yet murdered for his/her iPad. Also, you can drop a book and no one cares - nothing happens, what if some kid drops their iPad and breaks it - who's responsible, who pays for it? Not every parent can afford to pay out hundreds of dollars to replace one.
I hope they come up with some guidelines, rules, and leniency for these and other very serious issues that may and likely will arise in time.
Good day.
Recently I took my commercial driver license test on a state computer at the Department of Motor Vehicles. I passed. If a state government and federal government requires people to take tests on computers then give them licenses then computers are here to stay. It is government validation of technology.
How soon will it be when someone can go from kindergarten through college and not need to carry books or take tests on paper? The technology exists now but when will the curriculum be ready?
When it does exist will governments let parents keep their children at home and just do all of their work on their iPads or other computers? Why shouldn't they? If teachers can monitor the work from afar then there would be no valid reason to do so.
Apps could be made to simulate mixing chemicals for chemistry classes. Apps could be made for almost anything.
I suppose teachers unions and universities would absolutely hate to give up their power to iPads. Right now with books they can claim that there is a need for more instruction. With iPads and great apps the students could see moving images and get greater detail from any type of lesson. Good apps are interactive.
When will the first accredited school come into existence that takes people from kindergarten to college degree online? I hope it is soon.
Whether or not children learn at school depends on these factors:
1. Parents.
2. Teachers.
3. Curriculum.
In that order. If the parents are educated and involved, the teachers are competent teachers and not repeaters, and the curriculum is factual instead of biased unreality, the kids stand a chance.
iPads are irrelevant to the learning process. They could simplify a childs organization, eliminate the insanity of carrying heavy books of which 6 pages are used, and remove the evil and unnecessary extortion known as the publishing of text books. Good things.
They are no more of a distraction than the pretty girl or handsome boy sitting next to you.
It staggers me how many "things" get blamed for poor education, when in reality it only comes down to the faults of the adults involved.
...and as far as your comment re: intelligent design. the only "criminally insane concept" being taught in school is the one that excludes critical thinking. If you've not taught students that the only thing in the world that matters is their ability to make up their own mind....then you haven't done your job at all.
Excellent retort. And masterful at that! I wish we have plenty of your kind in our schools.
Excellent retort. And masterful at that! I wish we have plenty of your kind in our schools.
No it wasn't - it was a silly, snarky comment that avoided the very valid points made by the original poster and was clearly submitted by someone who has never taught at a school.
To the original poster. This is a fun place to read rumors and baseless speculation presented as fact but I really wouldn't bother. (I wouldn't either but every now and again I come home a bit drunk and feel the need to try and hold a mirror up.)
"I think this could very well be the biggest thing to hit school technology since the overhead projector," added school principal Scott Wolfe.
This means Al Davis will buy an iPad in 2015.
Instead of a kid chucking and kicking his unused textbook down the hall they can drop their iPads and kick them down the hall.
Whether or not children learn at school depends on these factors:
1. Parents.
2. Teachers.
3. Curriculum.
In that order. If the parents are educated and involved, the teachers are competent teachers and not repeaters, and the curriculum is factual instead of biased unreality, the kids stand a chance.
iPads are irrelevant to the learning process. They could simplify a childs organization, eliminate the insanity of carrying heavy books of which 6 pages are used, and remove the evil and unnecessary extortion known as the publishing of text books. Good things.
They are no more of a distraction than the pretty girl or handsome boy sitting next to you.
It staggers me how many "things" get blamed for poor education, when in reality it only comes down to the faults of the adults involved.
...and as far as your comment re: intelligent design. the only "criminally insane concept" being taught in school is the one that excludes critical thinking. If you've not taught students that the only thing in the world that matters is their ability to make up their own mind....then you haven't done your job at all.
This is exactly what I had growing up. I wouldn't have become a Mechanical Engineer without it.
I'll never forget back in '88 after my freshman year in the Pac 10 studying for Engineering and I went to my favorite chemistry teacher.
He introduced me to his class as his former bio/chem assistant, but more importantly to tell them how my class was the last class to have to solve chemistry problems with all your work. The State of Washington switched to multiple guess after '87.
His exams were more difficult than entry engineering level chemistry in the Pac 10. The next year the exams were creampuffs and the grades went down.
Think about it: Books were around when we were in school, and when our parents and their parents went to school. If too many are being hauled back and forth, solve that problem - don't introduce a different one. Bad books? Get good ones, preferably those unpolluted by criminally insane concepts such as intelligent design. Books aren't up to date? The lesson is that not all knowledge can be found inside a book. What if students never wondered what existed outside of their little touchscreen?
That thinking can no longer work in modern society, especially after MTV and Sesame Street have ripped any remaining attention span away. It's much harder for kids to focus, so they need to feel engaged with the material, otherwise their interest in the subject wanes and attention is focused elsewhere. Books will always remain a viable resource for reference material, but the days of being a useful teaching aide are over.
Of course the bigger issue here is the inability to focus. Unfortunately the damage has been done, so rather than wasting time trying "fix" it, these students still NEED to learn now, and if this helps, then good for it. To denounce something simply because it wasn't needed before or it's nontraditional is rather short-sighted.
When it does exist will governments let parents keep their children at home and just do all of their work on their iPads or other computers? Why shouldn't they? If teachers can monitor the work from afar then there would be no valid reason to do so.
Apps could be made to simulate mixing chemicals for chemistry classes. Apps could be made for almost anything.
I suppose teachers unions and universities would absolutely hate to give up their power to iPads. Right now with books they can claim that there is a need for more instruction. With iPads and great apps the students could see moving images and get greater detail from any type of lesson. Good apps are interactive.
When will the first accredited school come into existence that takes people from kindergarten to college degree online? I hope it is soon.
Part of a person's education is learning to interact with people you might not otherwise choose to deal with - something you cannot achieve in a home setting. I've seen kids who were home-schooled in their early years and I have noted that many of them struggle socially.
How do you handle new app installations, app updates, security patches, iOS updates etc?
How do you lock them down, prevent app installation, app deletion, changes to settings, and make them less attractive to steal?
The iPad isn't the right kind of device for this type of deployment.
It could be changed to be more suited though.
Think about an "Enterprise" iPad. Same thing but with a hardware based encryption and administrative lock (so it can't simply be stolen and reflashed), centrally managed so new apps, app updates and iOS updates can app be pushed out OTA.
I bet the day they started replacing the Slate with pencils and paper, people protested as well.
Investing more heavily into iPads for junior high students is not an intelligent use of funds. Making sure the kids actually are challenged and taught critical thinking is something neither a book nor an iPad can develop. That comes from home and the school.
You raise the standards and accept a portion of students won't reach it. Those students you offer a trades curriculum. Not everyone is destined to be a chemist, engineer, or other applied science degree, nor a lawyer, doctor, etc.
A lot of artists are poor students but their impact on Society is irrefutable. Bring back the trades with modern solutions that work in tandem and you get a competent work force to build that /(those) end-to-end solution/(s).
The Green Economy will need just as many machinists as the Industrial Revolution.
Those poor children's eyes.
Yes, actually reading for the first time in many cases. Get over it, this is great news for education.
I bet the day they started replacing the Slate with pencils and paper, people protested as well.
Precisely.