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I question the underlying premise that " each kid needs their own". Every time there's a pilot program that gives every kid a laptop or tablet, it seems to be a

• derefr 10y ago
  They don't need to give the kids laptops or tablets to take home, but having each child be able to do individual computer-supported exercises at their own desk—in effect, turning every classroom into a computer lab—has important benefits for lesson planning.
  • dpark 10y ago
    Such as? I think having computers at home is the one compelling reason for all the "let's give everyone laptops/ipads" initiatives. It means that everyone has a device they can do typed reports or homework research on. I'm much less convinced that computers in the classroom are a clear value-add in many cases.
    • BearGoesChirp 10y ago
      >It means that everyone has a device they can do ... homework research on. I've known a couple of families where the children received take home devices they were expected to use to do further research or school work on, but who were unable to due to the lack of internet. A few had dial-up which can be unusable with some of the education sites (all the js resources take too long to load, time out, and leave the page useless), but some had no internet at all. Some of these families had no heat/ac, to give an idea of the level of poverty. There were no libraries within walking distance either (nor public transit options). I think the devices are a good thing, because it gives some of these kids exposure to computers they wouldn't have otherwise and if the school handles it correctly they can be used to do work from home (have all needed resources already loaded on the device), but I've seen multiple teachers not be able to account for the most impoverished students lacking internet action (I somewhat suspect the teachers don't always have a choice in the matter either).
      • dpark 10y ago
        Internet access is an good point. That would seriously diminish the "equalizing" factor of giving every child a device.
    • sperglord 10y ago
      The idea is that you're no longer constrained by planning around the use of a shared computer lab space. Instead, any activities that benefit from computer use can be used immediately. You don't have a "pencil and paper" lab that is used the entire school day and scheduled around, and now computers have reached the commodity price point where they don't need to either.
      • dpark 10y ago
        I don't think the vast majority of education gets much value from a computer lab, either.
        • sperglord 10y ago
          Well it's probably for the best that hacker news is not in charge of teaching our children. They'd be learning go or rust or JavaScript instead of how to read books.
  • skookumchuck 10y ago
    > has important benefits for lesson planning If computers help learning, why have school results essentially been flat since 1970 or so?
    • ensignavenger 10y ago
      Perhaps the curriculum has changed. Almost certainly the tests have?
• dpark 10y ago
  The premise is that when you to inject tech into teaching it is unarguably better and always an improvement. Why it's better is rarely explained sensibly and so far as I know never really supported with data. I think there are good uses of tech in classrooms, but much of the time it's forced and pointless and expensive.
• MiddleEndian 10y ago
  I'd just be happy if students had digital only textbooks. Would save a lot of back pain and locker trips.
• ensignavenger 10y ago
  I can think of several areas that having a computer for every child would help- but it requires training and adaptation by the teachers. 1) A large pool of free, open e-textbooks that teachers can customize and contribute to for the needs of their class. Textbook publishers are the scum of the earth and most of their textbooks used in education suck terribly. 2) Access to video explanations/lectures, etc. 3) Adaptive assignments and exams like Kahn Academy that allows students to work on solving problems that are at their level and progress at a different pace than the class as a whole. 4) Easier for students, parents, and teachers to track progress towards educational goals over time. 5) Learning about computers. (Keyboarding to programming...) Might be some other ways to use computers in education that would pay real benefits, please comment :)
• madenine 10y ago
  Its really situational. Every student at my school was given a laptop (2005, but that practice started years earlier) - but we were in a special situation being a boarding school. Every student having a laptop meant that teachers could reasonably expect every student to write/research papers, install/run software, use email, etc - on their own time (nights/weekends/study times, etc). My laptop lived in my dorm room, and if I needed it for a class or to go study somewhere I could take it - but that was a 2-3 times a week thing, not every day and certainly not every class. Day (non-boarding) students had it a bit rougher, as they were bringing their laptops back and forth from home every day, lugging them around from class to class. Even in 2005, I don't think campus could have operated with the efficiency it did without every student having a laptop. Important information was sent out via email constantly (Lotus notes...), BlackBoard for class documents, lecture notes, etc. But that was our situation. At a day school, I imagine technology is probably a nightmare. If 1 class each day needs kids to have a laptop, that means every student is walking around with their laptop all the time for no good reason. Sounds like a recipe for failure. Not to mention the effect of "students have this technology so let's go out of our way to use it whenever we can"