Back in my day, when I had to walk to school up hill both ways through 10' snow drifts (and that was summer school), a chalkboard was good enough.
Get off my lawn!
Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
11–20 of 83 posts
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#12Many schools do not make proper use of computer labs. While you could teach practical skills such as - how to process images, audio, video - how to code - math beyond silly games featuring anthropomorphic neotenized animals - workshops for chess and go - use one of the awesome open source software for chemistry, geometry, astronomy, etc... Only use for computers is for people to write documents, search online, print…
most schools are going towards appliances like chromebooks and ipads where you can't do as much creative work
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#13I taught English in Japan for 2 years. I realized that the they spend less on education than America and have better results. The solution to education problems isn't throwing money at it. Or at least spend it on teacher salaries, right?
You need to compare the %GDP on teacher salary's vs overhead to see where America falls down. Remember, the US system is focused on getting as much government funding into corporate hands. So, paying teachers provide little value, but textbooks, technology, and testing goes directly to company's that know how to keep the pork flowing. http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-how-per-pupi...
At a ballpark a 30 student class might be ~12,000$ per student, but a starting teacher salary is on average ~45,000. Pay the teacher 120k (including benefits) and that's still only 1/3 of the total cost. (NYC pays over 20k per student and pays teachers $54,000 - $119,000 annually.) http://www.teachingdegree.org/new-york/salary/
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#14While interesting, and anecdotally seems correct to me, does anyone here with a background in education and/or education technology have any pointers on actionable ways to use technology more effectively? This piece never seems to get to that point, other than strongly encouraging training for teachers (that they provide if you go with their solutions).
My partner worked at a school that handed out iPads to the middle school students for use in class.
Hearing what they use them for just makes me think that Apple needed someone to dump last year's leftover iPads on. It's really dumb stuff. They don't get access to the internet. They get a handful of stupid "learning" apps to use and a social network type thing that can be summed up as "instagram where mommy and teacher watch and control everything".
The devices are so locked up that inquisitive kids ignore them, dumb kids never figure them out, and everyone in between just kinda lugs them around because they have to.
I am beginning to think that tech capitalists have milked the general market and are now turning to the next juicy targets of education and healthcare.
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#15The cookware analogy is a really good one. A similar one can be seen in the arts: "That's an amazing photo. You must have a really good camera!" which you see here and there. As opposed to: "That's an amazing painting. You must have really good brushes!" (Disclaimer: I'm a photographer and I do know that the quality of the lens and sensor is going to play some role in the output, leaving aside things like Photoshop.…
I agree, the analogy is the only interesting thing about this article.
The $315B figure is there just to have a click bait title. He just assumed teachers only use 30% of the features from the solutions is used, thus 70% of the money is wasted. But in the real world that's not how it works. The same goes for enterprise market, where feature availability is important. It doesn't mean that every business will use every feature but vendors have developed this multitude of features over the years to address specific needs. It doesn't mean that if you don't use every feature you are throwing money away. You are not expected to use 100% anyway.
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#16Many schools do not make proper use of computer labs. While you could teach practical skills such as - how to process images, audio, video - how to code - math beyond silly games featuring anthropomorphic neotenized animals - workshops for chess and go - use one of the awesome open source software for chemistry, geometry, astronomy, etc... Only use for computers is for people to write documents, search online, print…
>While you could teach practical skills such as
Those aren't practical skills that need to be taught to secondary school students. They need to learn mathematics, writing, reading, literature, science, etc. They don't need to learn how to code, they don't need to learn how to make memes in Paint or youtube videos of themselves playing minecraft, nor how to play irrelevant (if fun) games like Chess.
>Only use for computers is for people to write documents, search online, print and... waste a lot of time on games, social networks.
We certainly were not allowed to be on social networks or games during computer lab time whe{re,n} I went to high school.
>Then, test taking could use more automation. Lots of teachers do their test taking by hand... Grading tests without an written answer is very easy to implement.
That's simply not true. Test taking is done in written form for good reason. It's possible to draw diagrammes, to write emphasis, use italics, etc. without learning some arcane editor or (worse) syntax when you're meant to be doing a test.
Marking tests without a written answer might be easy to implement, but that just encourages more fucking shit tests like they have in the US, where there are few written answers. EVERY test should be ENTIRELY written answers.
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#17While interesting, and anecdotally seems correct to me, does anyone here with a background in education and/or education technology have any pointers on actionable ways to use technology more effectively? This piece never seems to get to that point, other than strongly encouraging training for teachers (that they provide if you go with their solutions).
The piece isn't supposed to get to any point, really, because it's long-copy marketing. The whole idea is to keep you expecting a point for as long as possible, without delivering, then stop, hoping you decide to give the writer('s company) money.
Why is that supposed to increase the odds that I'll give the writer's company money? At least to me, it's more likely to give me a distaste of them as windbags who have nothing to offer.
Do companies actually think marketing like this works? (Worse: Is it possible that they're right?)
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#18The author needs a good editor. There's something consistently "off" in both the style and the personality of this article. It made it very hard for me to assess whether what they are actually saying is worthwhile. Also the calculation mentioned in the title (and which he strangely calls 'archaic') is totally spurious.
Agree. The first sentence was so awkward that I stopped reading.
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#19I taught English in Japan for 2 years. I realized that the they spend less on education than America and have better results. The solution to education problems isn't throwing money at it. Or at least spend it on teacher salaries, right?
You need to compare the %GDP on teacher salary's vs overhead to see where America falls down. Remember, the US system is focused on getting as much government funding into corporate hands. So, paying teachers provide little value, but textbooks, technology, and testing goes directly to company's that know how to keep the pork flowing. http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-how-per-pupi... At a ballpark a 30…
This is a very interesting proposition - imagine what could happen if you paid teachers 120k!
Are there any countries that do pay teachers very highly?
Re: Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (2016)
#20I taught English in Japan for 2 years. I realized that the they spend less on education than America and have better results. The solution to education problems isn't throwing money at it. Or at least spend it on teacher salaries, right?
The median high school teacher salary is $57,200[0], the median salary for the same level of education is $48,500[1] and often works more hours on a yearly basis, has less job security, and has worse benefits. Where does this teachers are underpaid meme come from?
[0]https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/mobil...
[1]http://study.com/articles/Average_Salary_With_A_Bachelors_De...