[Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage

[Mark Scott]

I have said it before and no doubt I will say it again.

The biggest advantage in introducing student owned laptops into a school
is that it can be used as a catalyst for change.

You can start to talk about learner centred classrooms instead of
teacher centred ones.

... and of course this is not the only strategy you try, just one of
several.

Mark Scott
Luther College

-----Original Message-----
From: ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:ipm-bounces at edulists.com.au]
On Behalf Of Michael Walker
Sent: Tuesday, 5 September 2006 3:06 PM
To: Year 12 Information Technology Processing and Management
Teachers'Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Year 12 IPM] Computer Lab usage

>>> Laurie Savage<sav at pvgc.vic.edu.au> 09/05/06 12:07pm >>>
>>And now we have a generation of people who cannot do the simplest
calculation in their head.

Laurie

>>>Mark Scott wrote:
> They said the same thing about calculators back in the early
seventies.

Ah generalisations, you've got to love them... 8^)

I would argue that with the use of calculators, you don't need to do the
simplest calculation in your head. However, it requires a different
skill set to check that your calculator is giving you an accurate answer
rather than no skill set at all, hence the higher emphasis on estimation
that occurs in teaching maths now than when I was at school. Tempora
mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis...

I would also argue that those kids I know of who have trouble performing
the simplest calculation aren't all that flash on using the calculator
either. I would suggest that a greater cause is lack of interest for
whatever reason from boring teaching methods in previous years showing
the kids how irrelevant maths is to lack of support at home for doing
homework and school in general. Now there's a can of worms or three...

Although I don't think laptops are a cure for all ills, I suspect that
under some circumstances they can be a useful tool in the hands of the
right practitioner, and in others are a complete waste of time when the
circumstances of the school and students are taken into account. To give
some examples, I am sure that in some laptop schools, the laptops are an
expensive pseudo notebook / electronic textbook whose primary advantage
is larger capacity, neater handwriting (typing vs scribble) and better
searchability. Obviously Mark's school is not one of them based on his
response. That's not to say schools with poor use of laptops don't
exist, and anecdotal evidence would suggest that they do. On the other
hand, the same applies to schools who have changed their teaching to
make good use of new teaching methods available from every student
having the tool and having been taught a proficiency with it.

On the other hand, I would suspect that there would be scenarios where a
$2000 laptop would be a poor use of family or school resources for the
perceived benefits compared to alternatives. Would a struggling western
suburbs secondary school be able to justify making every student buy a
laptop, even on finance? Would alternative approaches such as good use
of Moodle with external access be more appropriate in terms of bang for
buck?

I would suggest that neither black nor white are correct and that
although there is a place for laptops in schools, it would be silly to
try and suggest that it would be desirable for every school in the state
and every student in the state to have a laptop and be in a laptop
program. Or to suggest that every maths student in the state can't do
simple calculations in their head...


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