3 ms·
Their idea was to overturn the way children were taught in public schools by integrating technology into the classroom. Although inspirational, the idea entaile
by zelos 10y ago
Their idea was to overturn the way children were taught in public schools by integrating technology into the classroom. Although inspirational, the idea entailed competing with a series of multibillion-dollar global leaders in educational hardware, software, and curriculum development.
They've been peddling technology in the classroom as a panacea for as long as I can remember without much impact. What did they really think billions of dollars of technology was going to change?
- bsenftner 10y agoAnd their strategies have been very shallow: many upper middle class school districts went and purchased tablets and iPads for every student - but no software for them to use. Often the "technology" taught is more of a lesson to the teachers than the students - who have been playing with parents phones since birth... I consulted with a few of these education startups over the years, and not a single one I encountered felt like anything other than an investor scam.
- sliverstorm 10y agoThinking back, too, it was always the software that had an impact. Logo, Word, MATLAB, CAD tools, OneNote... most of that was running on clunky, antique machines, yet it brought more to my education than any glitzy IOT device.
- cmurf 10y agoBy all means give kids a taste of how computers actually work, but breaking down problems into small parts, that kind of critical thinking, is useful not just in programming, but as a foundational life skill. Bringing tablets into the classroom is one of the dumbest things I'd ever heard. Those are products. You don't learn technology, at all, by using products. You learn about a thing by deconstructing and constructing.
- 6stringmerc 10y agoI especially appreciate your second paragraph's point - the mechanism of learning. Sure, having a spell-check assist when typing is wonderful, but the user still is designed to bring the language use mechanics. Forming language communications (sentences, paragraphs, etc) is not conveyed by a product or tool, I think, but uses those as conduits from learning the deconstruction and construction parts.