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Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

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Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#151

Post by pjmlp »

throwaway71271 wrote: post #7

Schools+laptops is absolutely crazy. The amount of incompetence is beyond reason. My daughter(12)'s keyboard got broken, now she is afraid she wont be able to take her exam with an external keyboard because there is a spyware extension they use called 'safe exam browser' that might block her computer when she plugs the keyboard. Most of the kids are just using it to snapchat during class. I will honestly prefer to ju…

I really don't get this, as far as I am aware, in Portugal there are still hardly any laptops or tablets in most schools, other than fancy ones for upper class folks.

Everyone else is pen and paper, shared computer labs, and home computers shared by all family kids.

Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#153

Post by ensignavenger »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #64
ho_schi wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I know Sweden is rolling back[1]large parts of the digitalization at schools. Not just because of cloud usage, maintenance and incompetence. The digital devices harm learning. Sweden will spend 60 million for reintroducing actual books, focus on actual reading and writing (important for learning and motoric ability). I’m not surprised. While I’m sceptic about many positions of Manfred Spitzer [2] (Universit…

Actual reading is super important; the letteredness of people has been in decline for decades, and while it's partially to blame on the shift in entertainment preferences, schools de-emphasising reading and understanding in favor of other skills has been a big factor as well. Your remark about the suppliers wanting to get the kids "hooked" on their products isn't new btw, this was happening 20+ years ago already with…

Do you have any evidence that schools in general are de-emphasizing reading and understanding? Anecdotally, my child's school places greater emphasis on reading and understanding (and writing) than my school did when I was young.

Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#154

Post by kergonath »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #134
kergonath wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If anything, schools are failing profoundly in preparing kids for a technological world. This argument is often made (and also wrt preparing pupils for their professional life). I don’t think it the reasons you imply are right. The problem is that nothing they could use now in school will prepare them for what they will need to use in the future. The software, tools and devices they will need will change as technol…

> Yes, Chromebooks are terrible. They are actually a hindrance more than anything else. School budgets for student laptops cap out around $300 and they get cheaper if they're able to. It's a challenge to build a quality device at that price point, even more of a challenge to actually make money doing so. This isn't an argument schools should have more money, they have plenty and some of the areas with terrible perfor…

> School budgets for student laptops cap out around $300 and they get cheaper if they're able to. It's a challenge to build a quality device at that price point, even more of a challenge to actually make money doing so.

I know. Schools already tend to be under-funded in a lot of countries (on average, obviously there are local variations, as you say). But at the same time shoddy computers are not very useful either. I don’t have an easy solution.

Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#155

Post by I_like_pigeons »

pjmlp wrote: post #151
throwaway71271 wrote: post #7

Schools+laptops is absolutely crazy. The amount of incompetence is beyond reason. My daughter(12)'s keyboard got broken, now she is afraid she wont be able to take her exam with an external keyboard because there is a spyware extension they use called 'safe exam browser' that might block her computer when she plugs the keyboard. Most of the kids are just using it to snapchat during class. I will honestly prefer to ju…

I really don't get this, as far as I am aware, in Portugal there are still hardly any laptops or tablets in most schools, other than fancy ones for upper class folks. Everyone else is pen and paper, shared computer labs, and home computers shared by all family kids.

Actually a few years ago schools started lending laptops (which you have to return at the end of the school year), but as far as I remember we never used them in class.

I can't quite recall if this was before the covid outbreak, but I think we still had in person classes that year.

Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#156

Post by sumuyuda »

Stubbs wrote: post #54

This headline is misleading. According to the article schools CAN still use Chromebooks but they cannot enable the tracking functionality on them. "From 1 August 2024 onwards, Danish schools will no longer be allowed to enable Chromebooks and Google platforms to collect students' personal data for processing."

Can you actually disable all the tracking? I suspect not, as it is core to Google’s business.

Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#157

Post by skydhash »

hilbert42 wrote: post #129
throwaway71271 wrote: post #7

Schools+laptops is absolutely crazy. The amount of incompetence is beyond reason. My daughter(12)'s keyboard got broken, now she is afraid she wont be able to take her exam with an external keyboard because there is a spyware extension they use called 'safe exam browser' that might block her computer when she plugs the keyboard. Most of the kids are just using it to snapchat during class. I will honestly prefer to ju…

I agree. Kids don't need these types of concerns and distractions in their formative years. And computers are inherently distracting—as the intrinsic design of modern computers ensures that's the case. Thankfully, my primary education was before computer tech in schools or I'd have been sidetracked by the technology and it's pretty certain I'd have learned much less. Even by that age I was fascinated by electronic st…

When I was a teenager, my mom bought me a computer. By the end of the first year, you'd think I have a computer workshop in my bedroom, due to various part I was trying to add to the cases. I can't even remember the amount of gadgets I've destroyed trying to take them apart.

If you're trying to teach IT to students, have a tech lab. If the students need to watch something, it can be done with a projector.

Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#158

Post by skydhash »

aleph_minus_one wrote: post #99
mikej1000 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they're a problem in universities too. I'm sure I've seen research that suggests students in lectures who take notes on paper get better grades that students who use laptops in lectures.

> I'm sure I've seen research that suggests students in lectures who take notes on paper get better grades that students who use laptops in lectures. Honestly, I hated taking notes in lectures (and considered the necessity for it to be a distraction from paying full attention). On the other hand, there were these students who live-LaTeXed math lectures on their laptops ...

In university, I just took pictures of the blackboard. Then I transcribe them at home.

Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#159

Post by Erratic6576 »

pjmlp wrote: post #151
throwaway71271 wrote: post #7

Schools+laptops is absolutely crazy. The amount of incompetence is beyond reason. My daughter(12)'s keyboard got broken, now she is afraid she wont be able to take her exam with an external keyboard because there is a spyware extension they use called 'safe exam browser' that might block her computer when she plugs the keyboard. Most of the kids are just using it to snapchat during class. I will honestly prefer to ju…

I really don't get this, as far as I am aware, in Portugal there are still hardly any laptops or tablets in most schools, other than fancy ones for upper class folks. Everyone else is pen and paper, shared computer labs, and home computers shared by all family kids.

That’s why poorer countries are thriving in maths literacy according to a report by the OCDE called “computers and learning making the connection” or something like that

Re: Final Decision on Chromebook Case in Denmark

#160

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

caldarons wrote: post #21
throwaway71271 wrote: post #7

Schools+laptops is absolutely crazy. The amount of incompetence is beyond reason. My daughter(12)'s keyboard got broken, now she is afraid she wont be able to take her exam with an external keyboard because there is a spyware extension they use called 'safe exam browser' that might block her computer when she plugs the keyboard. Most of the kids are just using it to snapchat during class. I will honestly prefer to ju…

As someone who went to a high school (Italy) where in the first two years each student had a laptop they could use in the classroom, I agree that having a computer per student is a bad idea. In my experience, what ended up happening was that pupils who already knew their way around a computer didn't really get any extra benefit from using cmputers in the classroom and those who didn't like using computers hated it ev…

> and those who didn't like using computers hated it even more when forced to write out an assignment on a keyboard as supposed to handwriting.

Whether they like it is not is secondary; did they learn to use the machine? Because some amount of ability to use computers is rather important in the modern world.

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