[chbot] Need your help: BYOD in Primary School

[Charles Manning]

On Tuesday 19 February 2013 21:14:58 Hanno Sander wrote:
> Hi!
> The primary school my kids attend is excited to get more shiny iPads into
> their classrooms with a "bring your own device" program.  Although I love
> technology, I know that gadgets are just tools that serve a purpose.  I
> don't want my kids to be restricted in their creativity by limited apps, I
> don't want to waste their time playing games while they should be learning
> in school, and I don't want them to have unsupervised access to the
> internet.  We do have a tablet at home so I'm aware that they can be used
> for good- but I don't see how one teacher can manage 30 eight year olds
> with iPads during the school day.
>
> The school is holding a meeting this Thursday were they're looking for
> input from parents.  I'm planning to present a long list of reasons as well
> as solid case studies showing why iPads/too much technology is detrimental
> to learning in primary schools.  Any help with good arguments and/or links
> to case studies/references is appreciated.

Last year I helped Springston school with their robotics program. The person 
coordinating this is also their two-days-a-week IT person. Springston are 
heavily into computers and ipads in the classroom with many activities being 
videoed and presentations being done as PowerPoint (or whatever the Apple 
equivalent is).

Three things that struck me:
1) Some activities were being held up due to equipment issues.
2) Many things ended up being posed or repeated for the camera. This surely 
undermines spontaneity etc.
3) The ooh-shiny of computing devices makes them displace other methods of 
expression (paper, glue, 

The big argument for computing in school seems to be that if the kids are not 
taught all this stuff early on they will be left behind. As we all know, that 
is complete nonsense.

-- Charles