Who really benefits from putting high-tech gadgets in classrooms?

4 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2012-02-07 22:18

radiorahim radiorahim's picture

This article in the LA Times takes a look at the use of tech in the classroom and comes to the conclusion that the folks who benefit aren't students or teachers, but rather the tech corporations.

Quote:
Apple has become a major purveyor of the mythology of the high-tech classroom. "Education is deep in our DNA," declared Phil Schiller, Apple's marketing chief, at its Jan. 19 education event. "We're finding that as students are starting to be introduced to iPad and learning, some really remarkable things are happening."

If you say so, Phil. But it's proper to point out the downside to one great innovation Schiller touted, a desktop publishing app called iBooks Author. The app is free, and plainly can help users create visually striking textbooks. But buried in the user license is a rule that if you sell a product created with iBooks Author, you can sell it only through Apple's iBookstore, and Apple will keep 30% of the purchase price. (Also, your full-featured iBook will be readable only on an Apple device such as an iPad.)

The rest here

Tue, 2012-02-07 23:27

Fidel

And not only that, Apple is ibased in the iU.S. And apparently there is a move on to make the entire country an anti-union right-to-work state. iJokes I like watermelon.

Wed, 2012-02-08 00:47

Sven

I don't care if tech companies make money or not on technology in the classroom. The only relevant question is: Does technology in schools enhance education? My sense is that technology is too often touted as, if not a panacea, a critical factor in learning today. I'm not convinced that it is.

Wed, 2012-02-08 01:04

Sven

Students would be a lot better served if they were able to read, reason, and write clearly by the time the graduated than being "distracted" (a word used in the linked-to article in the LA Times) by whiz-bang tecnology.

Also, inculcating students with positive personal character traits should be a core part of education, both "moral character" (e.g., don't lie) and "performance character" (e.g., learning the self-discipline to direct sustained effort over a long period of time to understanding intellectually challenging ideas).