iPads are terrible for education according to Maine teacher survey - Polidicks

[quote]AUBURN — After hearing students and teachers overwhelmingly say iPad computers are used to play games in class, while laptops are better for schoolwork, Auburn and other districts are sending iPads packing and returning to laptops. The Maine Department of Education and Apple are offering Maine schools a “Refresh” swap offer at no additional cost. Laptops and iPads ordered in 2013 can be returned for new and improved Apple MacBook Air laptops, which cost less than the Apple laptops three years ago.[/quote] [quote]Before Auburn decided what to do, the district surveyed grades seven through 12 students and teachers, Auburn School Department Technology Director Peter Robinson told the Auburn School Committee on Wednesday night. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of laptops: 88.5 percent of teachers and 74 percent of students favored them over iPads.[/quote] source: [url]http://www.sunjournal.com/news/lewiston-auburn/2016/05/19/state-offering-schools-ipad-trade/1927446[/url]

All of this is a waste of money TBH. You just need good teachers, a whiteboard, and ideally one computer in each room.

not only games, but writing on touchscreens is just downright ass compared to keyboards, nobody can deny that and they're a pain to manage too [QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50443457]All of this is a waste of money TBH. You just need good teachers, a whiteboard, and ideally one computer in each room.[/QUOTE] some classes require computers now sadly

[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50443457]All of this is a waste of money TBH. You just need good teachers, a whiteboard, and ideally one computer in each room.[/QUOTE] I think you can't go wrong with giving kids laptops--but they need a proper input device. Nothing has come close to a regular keyboard yet, despite Steve Job's wet dreams about touchpad tech. In terms of "are computers necessary in every single lesson". I'd argue they are not, but for some lessons they should be used.

[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50443457]All of this is a waste of money TBH. You just need good teachers, a whiteboard, and ideally one computer in each room.[/QUOTE] Apple really ran a brilliant scam convincing all these retard school districts to buy iPads for their students. It always blew my mind that while schools are underfunded and teachers are underpaid, districts really thought buying thousands of iPads was the solution. [editline]2nd June 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=icarusfoundyou;50443464]I think you can't go wrong with giving kids laptops--but they need a proper input device. Nothing has come close to a regular keyboard yet, despite Steve Job's wet dreams about touchpad tech. In terms of "are computers necessary in every single lesson". I'd argue they are not, but for some lessons they should be used.[/QUOTE] This is what computer labs are for. You don't need a laptop to learn history.

Judging by the way you said it now, I strongly disagree. Quite a lot of the subjects I do this year take me to use a computer, especially essays which I have t make for finals, and not to mention I think it's great to look up information quickly if you don't know how something works. A teacher is not always available immediately, so you can turn to a computer to look it up.

[QUOTE=Merijnwitje;50443475]Judging by the way you said it now, I strongly disagree. Quite a lot of the subjects I do this year take me to use a computer, especially essays which I have t make for finals, and not to mention I think it's great to look up information quickly if you don't know how something works. A teacher is not always available immediately, so you can turn to a computer to look it up.[/QUOTE] Requiring a computer for homework =/= requiring a computer in the lesson

[QUOTE=Merijnwitje;50443475]Judging by the way you said it now, I strongly disagree. Quite a lot of the subjects I do this year take me to use a computer, especially essays which I have t make for finals, and not to mention I think it's great to look up information quickly if you don't know how something works. A teacher is not always available immediately, so you can turn to a computer to look it up.[/QUOTE] Exactly. My opinion is that school should be for teaching basic information and beyond that teaching kids how to learn themselves. The number of computer-literate people who are pretty smart who ask me questions they could answer in 3 seconds on a daily basis is ridiculous.

Schools aren't adapting to the information age, you should primarily be taught how to find and use information, not just to memorize it The failure of integrating iPads and other tech was that schools tried to mold them to the 1800s model of "memorize this it'll be on the test" I don't need to know Washington's birthday off the top of my head, I can access that information in any situation it could possibly matter with the little device in my pocket. They should've taught me what to do with that information and how to find it when I need it.

[QUOTE=Merijnwitje;50443475]Judging by the way you said it now, I strongly disagree. Quite a lot of the subjects I do this year take me to use a computer, especially essays which I have t make for finals, and not to mention I think it's great to look up information quickly if you don't know how something works. A teacher is not always available immediately, so you can turn to a computer to look it up.[/QUOTE] Like I said, that's what computer labs are for, and even then it's really only necessary for low income districts anyway since virtually everyone has a computer already. It's funny, by the time our school system caught up and realized technology was a thing, it was already so ubiquitous that the school's contributions were unnecessary.

iPads can be totally beneficial in the classroom, but the thing is, they have to be used appropriately as a tool, not so much the entirety of the lesson itself. The iPad shouldn't be the teacher and they shouldn't be marketed as such (which they really are). But iPads and tablets have the potential to add to a lesson, rather than become the lesson itself. A lot of these districts are just buying up all the newest technology and then not training their teachers how to use it appropriately, leading to bored students, grades that see no improvement, and a waste of money and resources. Not to mention that computers (desktops or laptops) should be priority over things like tablets. Not every classroom needs a computer, but computers can provide another great new avenue for learning. Teachers and administration are just not bothered with figuring out HOW to utilize these tools. Just that "hey, they work! kids love 'em!" Doesn't work that way, in practice.

[QUOTE=Merijnwitje;50443475]Judging by the way you said it now, I strongly disagree. Quite a lot of the subjects I do this year take me to use a computer, especially essays which I have t make for finals, and not to mention I think it's great to look up information quickly if you don't know how something works. A teacher is not always available immediately, so you can turn to a computer to look it up.[/QUOTE] That's all well and good, but when my high school started issuing iPads, barely anyone was paying attention to the teachers. I remember giving up about halfway through the year and started browsing FP and doing shopping on Amazon in class. They ended up being a distraction more than anything and most of the faculty didn't even know what to do with them. Some teachers actually tried to incorporate them into the lessons, which was fine, but the majority ended up telling students to put them under their desks.

[QUOTE=icarusfoundyou;50443484]Exactly. My opinion is that school should be for teaching basic information and beyond that teaching kids how to learn themselves. The number of computer-literate people who are pretty smart who ask me questions they could answer in 3 seconds on a daily basis is ridiculous.[/QUOTE] Seriously! It's so weird talking to someone and having them ask me technical questions because in the back of my head I'm just thinking of the best search query to Google the question with. It's shocking how inept people are in the information age despite being glued to their devices 24/7.

[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50443457]All of this is a waste of money TBH. You just need [B]good teachers[/B],[/QUOTE] That is the sticking point. There are too few of them and you can't fix that by just throwing ipads into the classroom.

Still think Chromebooks would be a better educational laptop. Dirt-cheap, too.

[QUOTE=Im Crimson;50443517]That is the sticking point. There are too few of them and you can't fix that by just throwing ipads into the classroom.[/QUOTE] This too.

not only does the education system have a boner for new tech, they dont bother training the teachers to use it. not to mention our problems with the education system stem beyond a lack of technology.

I wonder why iPads, why not other kind of tablets with Android, that are cheaper and allows using a broad range of apps, though. I guess someone was convinced by Apple to mass buy them.

I got an iPad for my old college and about 10% of my time with it was used for educational purposes. The other 90% was for farting around with a tablet I got for free. Of course I now have an Android tablet and have had a much more enjoyable time with it.

[QUOTE=Maestro Fenix;50443577]I wonder why iPads, why not other kind of tablets with Android, that are cheaper and allows using a broad range of apps, though. I guess someone was convinced by Apple to mass buy them.[/QUOTE] Some schools get discounts on bulk orders but even then, it's hard to justify the price. Our organization got our hands on 24 Amazon Kindle Fires which can do pretty much everything we would want an iPad to do. And the Fires were only $50 each.

[QUOTE=The_J_Hat;50443507]That's all well and good, but when my high school started issuing iPads, barely anyone was paying attention to the teachers. I remember giving up about halfway through the year and started browsing FP and doing shopping on Amazon in class. They ended up being a distraction more than anything and most of the faculty didn't even know what to do with them. Some teachers actually tried to incorporate them into the lessons, which was fine, but the majority ended up telling students to put them under their desks.[/QUOTE] A big issue with the iPads are exactly this. School IT departments know fuck all about properly locking them down. It'd be a non-issue for the most part and a beneficial tool with competent staff on all ends.

[QUOTE=FlashMarsh;50443457]All of this is a waste of money TBH. You just need good teachers, a whiteboard, and ideally one computer in each room.[/QUOTE] idk, teaching kids to use the best calculator imaginable (spreadsheets) instead of rote memory and repeat math skills is much more interactive. normal math/chemistry classes are boring as it is, teaching kids how to utilize spreadsheets in middleschool and highschool is a very valuable skill. i didn't learn jack in excel till college (granted i probably didn't have many projects that needed it, but science classes would have been more fun)

honestly I think iPads aren't that bad in the classroom as a tool for a lesson, and solely for that purpose. my school decided to ditch textbooks for every student and move to iPads and use e-books of the textbooks, which saves them money on having to buy so many textbooks(makes no sense but eh). they work really well in that case because they include interactive lessons and what not. we still had class sets of textbooks(which were not allowed to leave class), but we scanned QR codes for each lesson, and it'd load up an interactive version. teachers were also trained with them, and the chromebooks that seniors get for college classes, to utilize them well in the classroom. and shit, they work really well. I think traditional teaching shouldn't be ditched for more technology though. I believe it's better to learn from a teacher actually demonstrating how to work out a problem then some iPad textbook telling me what to do in text and some dumb virtual lesson format.

[QUOTE=Water-Marine;50443520]Still think Chromebooks would be a better educational laptop. Dirt-cheap, too.[/QUOTE] I'm seriously surprised that Chromebooks never caught on that much for education. Google Docs is kind of a pain for compatibility (despite it being godly for collaboration), but it's not as bad as trying to use Office on a fucking iPad. What's worse are all of these ass-rate schools trying to entice kids to enroll by offering them a free Macbook. I get at least one email a day from some unranked law school trying to convince me to apply so I can get a free Macbook Air.

[QUOTE=Snowmew;50443852]I'm seriously surprised that Chromebooks never caught on that much for education. Google Docs is kind of a pain for compatibility (despite it being godly for collaboration), but it's not as bad as trying to use Office on a fucking iPad. What's worse are all of these ass-rate schools trying to entice kids to enroll by offering them a free Macbook. I get at least one email a day from some unranked law school trying to convince me to apply so I can get a free Macbook Air.[/QUOTE] Chromebooks were a huge hit here, heck we have thousands at my previous school. An actual laptop for 150 is great. Cant wait for the cheap windows laptops to start heading out too

I think chromebooks would be better for a classroom. WAY cheaper, and have more functionality. Keyboards are more productive also.

its not even a matter of bad teachers (tho there r some dont get me wrong) but its the curriculum they gotta teach. they dont call it common core anymore but its the same nonsensical bullshit theyre forced to teach otherwise they lose their funding. my gf's son math homework has questions like "sarah has four apples, she gives two to jake. draw an apple tree to illustrate this" i shit u not

Related tangent. Why are lectures still a thing for subjects like math when Khan Academy does it better?

[QUOTE=Kybalt;50443963]Related tangent. Why are lectures still a thing for subjects like math when Khan Academy does it better?[/QUOTE] teachers still have to teach, if I'm reading this post right. if you have a good teacher that is well versed in the subject they're teaching in, you'll probably benefit learning from them more then just using Khan. Khan Academy is still a good site though, I used it back in my freshman days for Algebra and it helped alot with homework, but I had a really good Algebra teacher so I learned a lot more from her then whatever I found on Khan.

undergrad went by just fine with pencil and paper the free tablet i got was used exclusively for porn