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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

by 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.

by dpark 10y ago

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.