So, in my school district everyone in 5th grade on up was given an iBook or macBook. It's already made a huge differene in schooling, less than three weeks into school.
We can do research during lunch and breaks, and during class teachers can direct students to a website instead of passing papers out. We all use iCal, which is a program that allows us to set our computers to remind us when homework is due. Students can take the laptops on vacation, like i did, and complete homework while away from their home computer.
But there is definately a downside to this total immersion in technology. Already I've noticed a loss in real, human connection. For example, during a break in Spanish class, every single person pulled out their laptop and began to go on the internet. The room was completely silent, a drastic change from the blabber that would have happened last year. It was quite strange.
The school told us that they had blocked all instant messaging programs, but within three days the entire school had found a program installed on our computers, but hidden. When the school finally got aroud to deleting it, we found a way to replace it. During English, everyone is on their computers "taking notes" - also known as playing online games/checking email/text-messaging/doing other homework.
So, my question is, does anyone have views about whether this is a positive or negative change. What kind of technology does your school use?
And on a completely different topic: this survey is a class requirement, everything is explained on the site. If you have anything that could possibly be considered a disability, PLEASE say yes to that question.
Yeah, my highschool didn't give everyone computers, but I think in your situation, it is too much of a good thing. Look at the negative externalities that could come from everyone having a computer. One, no one would really communicate person to person with a computer at their fingertips. If a longitudinal study was done on them, it would probably show a reduction in language in communication skills. Also with all the computers running around, we might find that there might be a link stemming from high computer concentration and brain cancer. Maybe I'm just old fashioned but aren't paper and pencil okay for some things now or days?
Where there's a will, there's a way.
I love the instant access of the internet as a research tool, and as an easy way to communicate with a broader range of people, who would be unavailable with out the internet. We can't afford long distance phone calls plus the internet, so again the internet is a handy tool. With that said, I do think that the privilege of internet use, is most often abused and is a contributing factor in loss of human interaction. Another factor is abuse/overuse of cell phones. I get irritated when I am talking with someone, say during a meal, or on an outing, when my friends are constantly on their cell phone talking to others.
I had to take the Compass test when I started back to college after 26 years, and I can say, that when I realized the test was done on the computer, I felt like I was on another planet. Lost and isolated. My last experience with algebra was 32 years ago, so that did not help the situation either. The test lasted only 6 1/2 minutes for me and I was told that I most definitely needed the most basic remedial course.
All my assignments for my Education course are submitted via the internet, and that was a completely new experience for me.
I am so glad that I took a computer course during my first semester back. I had no idea what Excel, or power point was, nor did I understand many of the features of Word until then.
This old dog is learning new tricks everyday!
wow this entry shows how far behind my school is. we hardly get to use our mac labtops, because half of the time our so-called "convenient" wireless internet is down. i like the idea of being given laptops, though. way cool.
~Buse~
There's a total of, I believe, one other district in the nation that's "gone laptop" the way we have. I agree about pencil and paper too. We were supposed to have online textbooks this year, but they never got around to that, so now we have all the textbooks, paper, workbooks, etc. that normal schools do, plus a laptop,a case, and a charger to carry around. It gets really old, really fast.