Scottish city providing 52,000 iPads to students and teachers

Posted:
in iPad edited August 2019
A project between Glasgow City Council and CGI will provide nearly 50,000 school children in the city with an iPad, as part of a 300 million pound ($369 million) project to help modernize and improve the educational prospects for Scottish schoolchildren.




Under the scheme, 47,100 student iPads will be handed out, with another 4,900 provided to teachers. The full rollout for the scheme, which has already been tested in some primary and secondary schools, should be completed across Glasgow by 2021.

Current estimates suggest approximately 70,000 children will benefit from the scheme, which is believed to be the biggest Apple education project in Europe, reports the BBC. The deal between the council and CGI, a Canadian IT firm, will last for seven years, and will also provide faster internet connections and Wi-Fi in every classroom.

Glasgow joins a number of other local governments to offer more digital prospects to its students, with similar initiatives to provide secondary pupils iPads already operating in Edinburgh, Perth and Kinross, and the Scottish Borders.

While the project is claimed to be worth more than $369 million, the cost for the iPad element of the scheme was not revealed. The cost is likely to include a service contract for the iPads, plus remote management facilitating council monitoring of the program. The iPads will be locked down to prevent pupils from accessing social media or inappropriate websites, among other restrictions.

"We want our children and young people to be equipped with the skills that will make them shine as digital citizens both now and later in their working lives," said Glasgow City Councillor Chris Cunningham. "We are aware that 90% of jobs in Scotland involve digital work and so our pupils will be well equipped for the workplace."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 21
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,839member
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    rossb2GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 2 of 21
    macplusplusmacplusplus Posts: 2,116member
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    That new generation who exchange dozens of messages every day from their on-screen keyboards can not use iPad’s? Obviously this is a complaint of an adult from last century. I understand that texting and writing an essay are not the same thing, but computer keyboards won’t help either unless the kids are trained to manipulate long blocks of text and are given some basic notions about structuring and formatting. Math work is always tedious regardless of the device. What those last century adults expect from kids, learning and writing in MathML? Regarding coursework this the courseware as a whole which is crap, not only homework part.
    thtlkruppeideardtmayRayz2016watto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 3 of 21
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,032member
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    That new generation who exchange dozens of messages every day from their on-screen keyboards can not use iPad’s? Obviously this is a complaint of an adult from last century. I understand that texting and writing an essay are not the same thing, but computer keyboards won’t help either unless the kids are trained to manipulate long blocks of text and are given some basic notions about structuring and formatting. Math work is always tedious regardless of the device. What those last century adults expect from kids, learning and writing in MathML? Regarding coursework this the courseware as a whole which is crap, not only homework part.

    I have been an educator for 21 years.  I tend to be someone who embraces technology in my personal and professional life.  At school, I am often known as one of people to come to for help with various tech at the user level.   I use two laptops, an iPad, a Smart Board, my phone and what is now legacy tech (CD, DVD, etc) for instruction.  Technology has made my teaching more efficient.  I have an extensive website that is used for flipped (home) and blended (home/school) instruction.   Our older elementary students all have school-provided iPads and have access to netbooks.  From my observation, it does allow them to complete certain tasks and interactive lessons more easily  

    If you're waiting for the "however," look no further:  There is no evidence of which I'm aware that shows improved student learning because of the mass deployment of iPads.  In fact, my personal observations are that students aren't using the technology at all to develop useful skills.   I have seen zero increase or even a reduction in their executive functioning and organization abilities.  My students refuse to even use the Calendar and Reminders apps to develop homework/practice schedules.  This is after I take them through a mini lesson on exactly those apps and their uses.  Sure, they can record themselves, submit projects through Learning Management System apps, etc.  The teacher can push things to their iPads and they can be used for collaborative activities.  But real skills in research, analysis, prediction, problem-solving, resiliency, etc?  Not from my experience.  If anything, these skills are atrophying at an alarming rate in the general population.  

    Of course, there is also the concern about the effect of "screen time" on our children's brains.  Recent brain research shows that children and adolescents are having their brains rewired.  90% of the adult population (whose brains are less susceptible) cannot perform 2 or more tasks simultaneously without a huge reduction in efficiency.  Children are far more prone to the negative effects of attempting to multitask.  Sleep issues, anxiety, lack of focus, and depression are all major concerns.   Anecdotally, we often hear from parents that they believe their children are getting too much screen time.  As it stands, children are spending most of their school day looking at some version of a glowing rectangle.  

    The bottom line is I am not at all convinced that the mass deployment of devices for school children is a good thing.  Technology has the ability to make our lives easier, work more efficient, and even more interesting.  Right now, it seems that we are giving out massive quantities of a sort of digital drug (the iPad), figuring out what it does later, and hoping for the best.  We've gone from using tech from increased efficiency, novelty and organization to getting on the iPad Train because of the 21st century, maaaannnnn.  




    elijahggatorguyCloudTalkinFileMakerFellerlostkiwiJWSC
  • Reply 4 of 21
    Hopefully, the people behind this have done their homework properly and avoid an LA School District debacle in Glasgow.  I wish them success.  The quote from the City Councillor Chris Cunningham gets a side eye though.  I wonder what mental gymnastics were used to conjure up the 90% statistic?  I also wonder why people rely on obvious BS to bolster their claims.  What they're trying to accomplish with the kids stands on it's own merits without embellishment.
    eideard
  • Reply 5 of 21
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,045member
    Hopefully, the people behind this have done their homework properly and avoid an LA School District debacle in Glasgow.  I wish them success.  The quote from the City Councillor Chris Cunningham gets a side eye though.  I wonder what mental gymnastics were used to conjure up the 90% statistic?  I also wonder why people rely on obvious BS to bolster their claims.  What they're trying to accomplish with the kids stands on it's own merits without embellishment.
    Anybody who's been to Scotland ought to get a laugh from that statistic. Farming, retail, and alcohol production/distribution/sale probably cover 90% Seriously though, I love Scotland but that claim is nonsense.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 21
    thttht Posts: 5,658member
    Hopefully also includes 50,000 Pencils too.

    I don’t know if there is a good educational or classroom app flow for iPads yet. If not, Apple has to double time to support these types of projects. Namely, classroom texts, Pencil driven worksheets, Pencil driven exams, grade books, etc.

    The iPad is good enough such that a student really doesn’t need anything else, except for another iPad. It’s got the writing surface and displaying content parts down. It’s all the classroom workflow that is the impediment. Apple really needs to provide that to penetrate into educational institutions better.
    rossb2watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 21
    rossb2rossb2 Posts: 89member
    for me, the mass adoption of ipads for children is nonsense, and a waste of tax payers money. Why are they not adopting the same standards that corporations use, laptops. Laptops are the standard, because they are cheap, have a functional keyboard, and are tried and tested to be worked on for a working day.  I work at a lot of different corporations, and most corporations roll out laptops as standard. It seems odd training students to use tablets, when they are not standard at most corporations. Sure, you will find people in corporations getting tablets out of the corporate budget, but in my view, people buying tablets out of the corporate budget, are mainly doing so out of privilege, or because they have budgetary control or influence. They are luxuries.

    I would also be concerned about people using tablets all day, from a display screen equipment(DSE)/eyestrain point of view. They are not comfortable for all day use.

    Its just another example of the education sector living in their own bubble. Teachers need to get in to corporations more, and see how the outside world works. I suspect the teachers think they are being "progressive" by using shiny new tech.

    I bet the teachers love their free, taxpayer funded ipads. Hate to see government employees getting taxpayer funded perks like this. They should pay benefit in kind tax on the ipads.
    elijahg
  • Reply 8 of 21
    eideardeideard Posts: 428member
    As usual, those who prattle about hardware don't consider software.  Given the quantity and quality of app developers, any sound package development will include appropriate software.  That is it CAN.  If it doesn't, we're back to politics.
  • Reply 9 of 21
    macplusplusmacplusplus Posts: 2,116member
    sdw2001 said:
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    That new generation who exchange dozens of messages every day from their on-screen keyboards can not use iPad’s? Obviously this is a complaint of an adult from last century. I understand that texting and writing an essay are not the same thing, but computer keyboards won’t help either unless the kids are trained to manipulate long blocks of text and are given some basic notions about structuring and formatting. Math work is always tedious regardless of the device. What those last century adults expect from kids, learning and writing in MathML? Regarding coursework this the courseware as a whole which is crap, not only homework part.

    I have been an educator for 21 years.  I tend to be someone who embraces technology in my personal and professional life.  At school, I am often known as one of people to come to for help with various tech at the user level.   I use two laptops, an iPad, a Smart Board, my phone and what is now legacy tech (CD, DVD, etc) for instruction.  Technology has made my teaching more efficient.  I have an extensive website that is used for flipped (home) and blended (home/school) instruction.   Our older elementary students all have school-provided iPads and have access to netbooks.  From my observation, it does allow them to complete certain tasks and interactive lessons more easily  

    If you're waiting for the "however," look no further:  There is no evidence of which I'm aware that shows improved student learning because of the mass deployment of iPads.  In fact, my personal observations are that students aren't using the technology at all to develop useful skills.   I have seen zero increase or even a reduction in their executive functioning and organization abilities.  My students refuse to even use the Calendar and Reminders apps to develop homework/practice schedules.  This is after I take them through a mini lesson on exactly those apps and their uses.  Sure, they can record themselves, submit projects through Learning Management System apps, etc.  The teacher can push things to their iPads and they can be used for collaborative activities.  But real skills in research, analysis, prediction, problem-solving, resiliency, etc?  Not from my experience.  If anything, these skills are atrophying at an alarming rate in the general population.  

    Of course, there is also the concern about the effect of "screen time" on our children's brains.  Recent brain research shows that children and adolescents are having their brains rewired.  90% of the adult population (whose brains are less susceptible) cannot perform 2 or more tasks simultaneously without a huge reduction in efficiency.  Children are far more prone to the negative effects of attempting to multitask.  Sleep issues, anxiety, lack of focus, and depression are all major concerns.   Anecdotally, we often hear from parents that they believe their children are getting too much screen time.  As it stands, children are spending most of their school day looking at some version of a glowing rectangle.  

    The bottom line is I am not at all convinced that the mass deployment of devices for school children is a good thing.  Technology has the ability to make our lives easier, work more efficient, and even more interesting.  Right now, it seems that we are giving out massive quantities of a sort of digital drug (the iPad), figuring out what it does later, and hoping for the best.  We've gone from using tech from increased efficiency, novelty and organization to getting on the iPad Train because of the 21st century, maaaannnnn.  
    With a crappy curriculum, even the best of tech has no effect on mental, social and intellectual development of kids.

    As every adult knows and tries to avoid at all costs, learning is a though job. What we can expect from tech is nothing more than making the school life of those young brains a bit more tolerable. Educating is the job of you, the teacher, not the job of some miraculous computing device.
    edited August 2019
  • Reply 10 of 21
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,289member
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    Doesn’t England pay for everything anyway?
  • Reply 11 of 21
    larryjwlarryjw Posts: 1,036member
    I'm unable to get my fingers on the study, but a college gave incoming freshmen computers/ipads and evaluated their usefulness. They found better prepared students made good use of the computers/ipads, but the less prepared students had no skill using the devices for study. Their previous experience was using them to play games and social media.

    The college halted the study but then instituted training students on how to use computers/ipads for studying and learning. 

    When the college then restarted the evaluations, they showed that all students benefited from the appropriate use of computers/ipads.

    The cowboy mentality in the US is to dump tech on to teachers and have them try to make good use of tech, with little or no guidance or support -- vague promises and advertising the US has mastered, doing stuff right is an accident (they refer this as "market forces").

    I recall that the Japan education establishment spent 7 years designing and teaching effective blackboard techniques before rolling it out to the classroom. They don't throw teachers under the bus, but support them in their important tasks. That doesn't happen in the US and likely never will. 

    Will Glasgow succeed? That depends on whether they know what their doing or they're just throwing tech at the problem and expecting more than failure.
    lostkiwi
  • Reply 12 of 21
    rossb2 said:
    for me, the mass adoption of ipads for children is nonsense, and a waste of tax payers money. Why are they not adopting the same standards that corporations use, laptops. Laptops are the standard, because they are cheap, have a functional keyboard, and are tried and tested to be worked on for a working day.  I work at a lot of different corporations, and most corporations roll out laptops as standard. It seems odd training students to use tablets, when they are not standard at most corporations. Sure, you will find people in corporations getting tablets out of the corporate budget, but in my view, people buying tablets out of the corporate budget, are mainly doing so out of privilege, or because they have budgetary control or influence. They are luxuries.
    For those people whose work involves sitting at a desk all day, you're probably right.

    There is an increased awareness that sitting at a desk all day is causing a range of health problems that can be avoided by engaging in more physical activity. I'm guessing that in the future, desk jobs will be a lower percentage of work activities.

    Right now, there exist many jobs that are not desk work. A lot of these involve situations where a laptop cannot practically be set up and used. I've used a laptop with one hand substituting for the resting surface and the other hand for manipulation - that's a clumsy setup. An iPad is better than that configuration and an iPhone is better still. I have built software solutions for iPads covering situations where one-handed use is required, or where the device is fixed to a wall, or handed around between collaborators working jointly on a given task. In these situations, laptops were not the best tool for the job.

    I also remember reading (multiple times, over the last few decades) that the majority of employment comes not from large corporations but from the far larger number of smaller businesses. So it's possible that the situation you encounter constantly is a function of your involvement with a (large) minority of total business activity.
    Rayz2016watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 21
    thttht Posts: 5,658member
    A laptop will be a detriment to kids. They are still learning fundamentals, still learning how to learn, and laptop a heavy curricula is a detriment not an aid. Learning math, physics, chemistry, biology, history, language, even programming requires diagrammatic note taking. You really can’t do that with a laptop.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 21
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    sdw2001 said:
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    That new generation who exchange dozens of messages every day from their on-screen keyboards can not use iPad’s? Obviously this is a complaint of an adult from last century. I understand that texting and writing an essay are not the same thing, but computer keyboards won’t help either unless the kids are trained to manipulate long blocks of text and are given some basic notions about structuring and formatting. Math work is always tedious regardless of the device. What those last century adults expect from kids, learning and writing in MathML? Regarding coursework this the courseware as a whole which is crap, not only homework part.

    I have been an educator for 21 years.  I tend to be someone who embraces technology in my personal and professional life.  At school, I am often known as one of people to come to for help with various tech at the user level.   I use two laptops, an iPad, a Smart Board, my phone and what is now legacy tech (CD, DVD, etc) for instruction.  Technology has made my teaching more efficient.  I have an extensive website that is used for flipped (home) and blended (home/school) instruction.   Our older elementary students all have school-provided iPads and have access to netbooks.  From my observation, it does allow them to complete certain tasks and interactive lessons more easily  

    If you're waiting for the "however," look no further:  There is no evidence of which I'm aware that shows improved student learning because of the mass deployment of iPads.  In fact, my personal observations 




    And that’s where I stopped reading. 

    I prefer evidence from wider studies carried out by people who are experienced in how to carry out wider studies. 
  • Reply 15 of 21
    wonder where they're getting the money, they have just had to cough up £500 million as part of a wage discrimination suite. Ah well that's more bus lane fines, bigger pot holes and less services for the residents of Glasgow.
  • Reply 16 of 21
    Doesn’t England pay for everything anyway?
    Oh so us that live an work in Scotland don't pay tax ? some really stupid people on here. We pay more tax on our wages then the rest of the UK. Its idiotic comments like that, that get the SNP supporters up in arms. Luckily I am not one of them.
    GeorgeBMaclostkiwi
  • Reply 17 of 21
    wonder where they're getting the money, they have just had to cough up £500 million as part of a wage discrimination suite. Ah well that's more bus lane fines, bigger pot holes and less services for the residents of Glasgow.
  • Reply 18 of 21
    Doesn’t England pay for everything anyway? Oh good I'll just stop paying my taxes and live tax and NI free for the rest of my days and let the dumb English pay for my upkeep.
  • Reply 19 of 21
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    sdw2001 said:
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    That new generation who exchange dozens of messages every day from their on-screen keyboards can not use iPad’s? Obviously this is a complaint of an adult from last century. I understand that texting and writing an essay are not the same thing, but computer keyboards won’t help either unless the kids are trained to manipulate long blocks of text and are given some basic notions about structuring and formatting. Math work is always tedious regardless of the device. What those last century adults expect from kids, learning and writing in MathML? Regarding coursework this the courseware as a whole which is crap, not only homework part.

    I have been an educator for 21 years.  I tend to be someone who embraces technology in my personal and professional life.  At school, I am often known as one of people to come to for help with various tech at the user level.   I use two laptops, an iPad, a Smart Board, my phone and what is now legacy tech (CD, DVD, etc) for instruction.  Technology has made my teaching more efficient.  I have an extensive website that is used for flipped (home) and blended (home/school) instruction.   Our older elementary students all have school-provided iPads and have access to netbooks.  From my observation, it does allow them to complete certain tasks and interactive lessons more easily  

    If you're waiting for the "however," look no further:  There is no evidence of which I'm aware that shows improved student learning because of the mass deployment of iPads.  In fact, my personal observations are that students aren't using the technology at all to develop useful skills.   I have seen zero increase or even a reduction in their executive functioning and organization abilities.  My students refuse to even use the Calendar and Reminders apps to develop homework/practice schedules.  This is after I take them through a mini lesson on exactly those apps and their uses.  Sure, they can record themselves, submit projects through Learning Management System apps, etc.  The teacher can push things to their iPads and they can be used for collaborative activities.  But real skills in research, analysis, prediction, problem-solving, resiliency, etc?  Not from my experience.  If anything, these skills are atrophying at an alarming rate in the general population.  

    Of course, there is also the concern about the effect of "screen time" on our children's brains.  Recent brain research shows that children and adolescents are having their brains rewired.  90% of the adult population (whose brains are less susceptible) cannot perform 2 or more tasks simultaneously without a huge reduction in efficiency.  Children are far more prone to the negative effects of attempting to multitask.  Sleep issues, anxiety, lack of focus, and depression are all major concerns.   Anecdotally, we often hear from parents that they believe their children are getting too much screen time.  As it stands, children are spending most of their school day looking at some version of a glowing rectangle.  

    The bottom line is I am not at all convinced that the mass deployment of devices for school children is a good thing.  Technology has the ability to make our lives easier, work more efficient, and even more interesting.  Right now, it seems that we are giving out massive quantities of a sort of digital drug (the iPad), figuring out what it does later, and hoping for the best.  We've gone from using tech from increased efficiency, novelty and organization to getting on the iPad Train because of the 21st century, maaaannnnn.  




    Thanks for the insights!
    I think that, to date, technology has been use mostly to simply move existing teaching tools and methodologies around.   So, no, it doesn't add much, it simply moves the pieces around while adding expense.

    For technology to shine and add to the educational experience it will need to better exploit its innate advantages:
    For one, electronic text books that are updated cheaply and automatically as needed.   But so far, publishers are resisting this and charging the same or more for an electronic version of a paper text.  And, that is ridiculous -- simple profit mongering.

    For another, tech can enhance learning without materially impacting operational costs at a school.  For example:   Kahn Academy is a free but high quality educational program available to all via the internet.   All you need is a cheap computer.  With that, core curricula can be taught and reinforced at a student's own pace which would free the teacher up to not only service additional students, but to provide more individual attention as needed.

    In my own life I have seen two examples of that:
    1)   Back in the early 60's I learned algebra via a "teaching machine" called TeMac.  It was a book with slider built in that provided both basic instruction as well as practice.  The students worked through the book at their own pace in the class room while the teacher was there to assist any student as needed as well as to administer the tests as each student completed a chapter.   It worked great!   It was essentially a computer before there were computers -- at least beyond NASA and defense industry.

    2)   My grandson much prefers doing his math homework on a computer rather than pencil and paper.   The computerized homework he does right away.   The paper and pencil version he fights.

     
  • Reply 20 of 21
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    Rayz2016 said:
    sdw2001 said:
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    elijahg said:
    Our school did exactly this, replacing a few hundred netbooks with iPads. But unfortunately all we had was complaints about usability; kids couldn't write essays with the iPad keyboard, maths work was tedious and without a system to submit and mark work there is no way other than email to get coursework to the teachers - obviously that's not an Apple problem, it's a governmental lets spend $370 million and think about the practicalities later problem. Eventually our iPads got ditched for cheap laptops. Also, I'm not sure Scotland should be spending this kind of money considering their financial deficit.
    That new generation who exchange dozens of messages every day from their on-screen keyboards can not use iPad’s? Obviously this is a complaint of an adult from last century. I understand that texting and writing an essay are not the same thing, but computer keyboards won’t help either unless the kids are trained to manipulate long blocks of text and are given some basic notions about structuring and formatting. Math work is always tedious regardless of the device. What those last century adults expect from kids, learning and writing in MathML? Regarding coursework this the courseware as a whole which is crap, not only homework part.

    I have been an educator for 21 years.  I tend to be someone who embraces technology in my personal and professional life.  At school, I am often known as one of people to come to for help with various tech at the user level.   I use two laptops, an iPad, a Smart Board, my phone and what is now legacy tech (CD, DVD, etc) for instruction.  Technology has made my teaching more efficient.  I have an extensive website that is used for flipped (home) and blended (home/school) instruction.   Our older elementary students all have school-provided iPads and have access to netbooks.  From my observation, it does allow them to complete certain tasks and interactive lessons more easily  

    If you're waiting for the "however," look no further:  There is no evidence of which I'm aware that shows improved student learning because of the mass deployment of iPads.  In fact, my personal observations 




    And that’s where I stopped reading. 

    I prefer evidence from wider studies carried out by people who are experienced in how to carry out wider studies. 
    As most physicians already know:   A study can be made to prove whatever it is designed to prove.   It is now common knowledge that the primary determinant in the outcome of any study is who funded the study.

    We need to look at ALL of the evidence.  And, personal experience, anecdotes, and epidemiologic studies are part of that.
    gatorguylostkiwi
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