sdw2001

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.

macplusplus 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.

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.  

tmay said:

sdw2001 said:

radarthekat said:

We (the rest of the world) need to boycott and/or apply trade sanctions against the Brazilian beef and other industries there that are the impetus for the burning.  It may not seem fair that industrialized nations like the US over-consumed for a long time  (and still over consume) the earth’s resources, and I’m sure nations like Brazil will point this out while attempting to capitalize on their own natural resources, but awareness finally exists regarding what we’re doing to the planet and the future of all the creatures that share it, so positive action needs to be taken to stop, delay, reverse the obvious damage.  I’m not hopefuL. But beef is off the menu.  One small step.

The problem isn't the existence of the beef industry.   It's poor farming and ranching practices.   In reality, the problem is more moderate and (shockingly) being used for political purposes.  


https://reason.com/2019/08/23/dont-panic-amazon-burning-is-mostly-farms-not-forests/ ;

I'll go with NASA, thanks, rather than a Libertarian version of the "news".

https://www.space.com/amazon-rainforest-fires-2019-nasa-satellite-views.html

"As raging fires continue to sweep through the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, NASA satellites and astronauts aboard the International Space Station are tracking the flames from above. Their view confirmed that this is the most active fire year in Brazil since 2010.

Fire detections by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) on the Aqua satellite have been the highest since the year 2010 so far, with indications that 2019 may hit a record number of fires in the Amazon. NASA has been using MODIS sensors to detect thermal anomalies all over the world since 2003.

The timing and location of MODIS' fire detections during this year's dry season in the rainforest are more consistent with land clearing than regional drought, Douglas Morton, chief of the Biospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement by NASA.

The Reason article actually quotes NASA. Did you read it, or just dismiss it because you hate the site?   It would seem it's the latter.   First, excessive land clearing is absolutely a "poor farming and ranching practice."  Do you not agree?  

Secondly, the statement about fires being "more consistent" with land clearing isn't exactly a firm indication of cause.  It's a vague and somewhat subjective assertion that could show correlation at best.

Moreover, the data provided in the article (from the NYT) clearly shows that deforestation rates have decreased over the past 20 years....dramatically.   Simply blaming the fires on Big Beef, cLiMaTe ChAnGe or even just deforestation is simplistic, narrow-minded, and exactly the kind of political BS we've come to expect in our media.   This is nothing new, however.  

The same hysteria hit the United States in the 1980's and 90's.  "Deforestation" by Big Lumber was going to destroy the environment and the entire nation.  Simple-minded politicians did what was politically expedient and put through huge "protections" on federal land. The lumber companies were no longer allowed to cut old growth in many places, which is another way of saying they weren't allowed to go in and cut out all the dead wood.  The result?  Increased fires.  Go figure.   Obviously the Amazon is a different situation....I'm not directly comparing them.  What I am saying is that the issue and solutions are complex.  The calls for boycotts, ending beef, sanctions and more are just more environmental hysteria.  

Well, I got denied despite having a substantial household income. I was denied instantly because I am having a situation with an investment property with many missed payments. It is the only negative mark on my credit.  So much for considering all credit profiles

dysamoria said:

The conflict of interest that has me even more concerned is that this is happening under the Trump administration. I don’t see this as remotely believably aimed at fixing anticompetitive practices and helping consumers. I suspect it is the targeting of entities that are perceived as political opponents. The tech giants seem to lean left (only because tech tends to lean toward science and science tends to appear to have a left-leaning political bias) AND they also have power (money is power and information technology is power). That’s a threat to the authoritarian-leaning current administration.

Under another administration, I’d be in support of this attempt at regulation. This administration is explicitly against regulation. This situation therefore has the odor of ulterior motivation.

You can suspect whatever you want, but there is no evidence it's true.  Now, on the other hand, the Obama administration provably targeted political opponents with the IRS.  They targeted journalists.  They spied on Sheryl Atkinson, and tried to criminally pursue James Rosen.  They also used intelligence agencies and the State department to spy on, frame, and attempt to remove the duly-elected President.   This stuff actually and provably happened.  Right now, your position seems to be that you don't trust Orange Man, so his entire administration must be corrupt and can't be trusted to even look at these matters fairly.   

That position doesn't make sense, no matter what you think of the Orange Man.  Under whose administration did these probes really get moving?  Hint:  It wasn't Obama.  It was under Trump and his new AG.  Moreover, Trump has worked with Cook, far more than has been publicized.  True, he goes after Bezos, but that's presumably more about WaPo.   

pslice said:

This is plainly in response to Apple’s privacy efforts. DOJ, Barr dummies, goes after anything that doesn’t jump to Trump’s tune. Sickening.

DOJ has been looking at tech for years, going back to 2013.  There has been a ton of public interest and concern about Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon.  It's an issue that crosses party lines, with Trump's DOJ taking a closer look, right through Elizabeth Warren's statements about breaking up Amazon.  Whether or not they find violations is anyone's guess.