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The overwhelming number of websites utilized for an elementary school education drastically overcomplicates attempting to complete my son's school work.. Just

The overwhelming number of websites utilized for an elementary school education drastically overcomplicates attempting to complete my son's school work.. Just for math alone, often times to complete a single day's activitiy, four different websites are involved, usually all requiring different login/password information. Get assignments from Google Calendar Watch instruction on youtube. Do lesson on Zearn.org. Watch video on Khan Academy. Complete quiz on iReady. Take picture of your scratch work so you can upload to google calendar. I am a technology junkie and always have been, but I definitely miss the days from my own schooling where everything I needed to both learn and do in Math for the day was in a single textbook... It's sad how much we have complicated things with technology. Now they have completely changed how math should be done, require many extra "steps" that seem to be unnecessary that parents were never taught, and do not provide a book at all for reference of what these new methods are. It almost seems like they are trying to make learning as frustrating as possible.

Craighead 6y ago
The simple textbook is impossible because of companies like pearson looking to monetize every character of every page through licensing of online textbooks. They could implement this tomorrow but choose not to.
karatestomp 6y ago
Oh god, so much this. If they'd just use books and worksheets and the occasional Youtube video maybe, it'd be so much better. We had prepped worksheet packets for the first couple weeks and it's been hell since those ran out. I'd also love just a simple (please, just the plainest of HTML, it does not need to be another fucking app or "webapp") checklist of what's due for the current week, per day, with a check for "submitted", a check for "received/acknowledged", and a check for "graded" (so don't bother submitted or updating if you didn't already). Maybe make the name of each thing linkable when relevant. [EDIT] Oh and > Now they have completely changed how math should be done, require many extra "steps" that seem to be unnecessary that parents were never taught, and do not provide a book at all for reference of what these new methods are. It almost seems like they are trying to make learning as frustrating as possible. Yes. Ugh. "Word sentence". No. It's a fucking equation. I swear I can't figure out what they even want half the time because they're using weird terms. And this is first grade math.
- karatestomp 6y ago
  Edit option’s gone but I meant “number sentence”, of course. Heh. And yes that’s really what they call them. Half the kids can’t even kind-of tell you what a sentence is in English and they’re using them as a metaphor in math. Clearly a good and useful idea.
cmsefton 6y ago
I also have real concerns about the use of gamification in these online learning apps. It seems to really encourage an unhealthy obsession with points, collecting awards etc. to the point where learning is secondary. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that e.g. a child doesn't learn maths or a language etc. using these apps, but I think there are other things that are being learnt as well. If tasks are not game-based, they're now boring, and are to be avoided. If they require serious focus and thinking with no immediate rewards beyond just learning, they're avoided. What's become more important is immediate gratification and the dopamine hit. I really worry that the over reliance on gamification is encouraging very negative behaviours in young children.
- perpetualpatzer 6y ago
  I share your concern that too much gamification in school helps normalize Skinner-boxy manipulation in other venues (Fortnite, slot machines, etc.). I do think gamification can have positive externalities as well, though. Comparing high scores in Number Munchers was the first time in my early 90s grade school that it was socially cool to stand out academically. That can be socially liberating for smart students afraid to be uncool (or academically liberating for cool students afraid to be seen as caring about school). I don't think you get the same effect if the status signal comes in the form of praise/grades from the "uncool" teacher.

Craighead 6y ago

The simple textbook is impossible because of companies like pearson looking to monetize every character of every page through licensing of online textbooks. They could implement this tomorrow but choose not to.

karatestomp 6y ago

Oh god, so much this. If they'd just use books and worksheets and the occasional Youtube video maybe, it'd be so much better. We had prepped worksheet packets for the first couple weeks and it's been hell since those ran out. I'd also love just a simple (please, just the plainest of HTML, it does not need to be another fucking app or "webapp") checklist of what's due for the current week, per day, with a check for "submitted", a check for "received/acknowledged", and a check for "graded" (so don't bother submitted or updating if you didn't already). Maybe make the name of each thing linkable when relevant. [EDIT] Oh and > Now they have completely changed how math should be done, require many extra "steps" that seem to be unnecessary that parents were never taught, and do not provide a book at all for reference of what these new methods are. It almost seems like they are trying to make learning as frustrating as possible. Yes. Ugh. "Word sentence". No. It's a fucking equation. I swear I can't figure out what they even want half the time because they're using weird terms. And this is first grade math.

karatestomp 6y ago
Edit option’s gone but I meant “number sentence”, of course. Heh. And yes that’s really what they call them. Half the kids can’t even kind-of tell you what a sentence is in English and they’re using them as a metaphor in math. Clearly a good and useful idea.

cmsefton 6y ago

I also have real concerns about the use of gamification in these online learning apps. It seems to really encourage an unhealthy obsession with points, collecting awards etc. to the point where learning is secondary. To be clear, I'm not suggesting that e.g. a child doesn't learn maths or a language etc. using these apps, but I think there are other things that are being learnt as well. If tasks are not game-based, they're now boring, and are to be avoided. If they require serious focus and thinking with no immediate rewards beyond just learning, they're avoided. What's become more important is immediate gratification and the dopamine hit. I really worry that the over reliance on gamification is encouraging very negative behaviours in young children.

perpetualpatzer 6y ago
I share your concern that too much gamification in school helps normalize Skinner-boxy manipulation in other venues (Fortnite, slot machines, etc.). I do think gamification can have positive externalities as well, though. Comparing high scores in Number Munchers was the first time in my early 90s grade school that it was socially cool to stand out academically. That can be socially liberating for smart students afraid to be uncool (or academically liberating for cool students afraid to be seen as caring about school). I don't think you get the same effect if the status signal comes in the form of praise/grades from the "uncool" teacher.