The last sentence of the story, ” The software and technology programs the district will use is not yet clear.” Seriously!!!

I think getting kids to use a tablet, smartphone computer early is a good thing. I have software for my kids and I’m working on a few to help her schoolwork out.

But seriously, it’s funny the school district would be spending money on this while at the same time suggesting to do layoffs because of underfunding from the state.. I’m sure there’s some reason, though.. .Like capital equipment purchases comes from one funding source, while as salaries come from another. But it just seems backassward to me.

I do have some concerns about kids staring at an LCD screen for so long during the nights.

I have serious insomnia issues if I true on the computer or tablet in the middle of night. Must be the brightness of the backlighting tricking my mind thinking it’s daylight or something.

The other the the district is not accounting for. Repairs. Lol… If it’s personal property, I take very good care of it. If it’s someone else provided, no so much.

I’m sure parents are going to be thrilled with a repair bill if their kid smashes one in school

Really bad idea. And I don’t think they’ll last a couple of years: they’ll either break down after a few months, OR, kids will lose interest once the next high-tech thingy comes along and their mid 2012 obsolete iPads start looking like an old dinosaur.

I’ll tell you an anecdote from my years in grad school here in California. We had undergraduate students who had been exposed to computers and high technology literally since Kindergarten or earlier. However, the students struggled and had a really hard time learning to use Excel and the like.

On the other hand, we had foreign grad students that had only very limited exposure to computers in their college years (this was almost 20 years ago).

Funny thing is, the foreign grad students learned everything about computers very quickly, and had to patiently teach and tutor the American undergraduate students who struggled with software.

How come the group with NO computer experience in childhood and only very limited experience in college could learn so quickly (even after the language barrier), while the domestic kids who always had computers had a hard time?

The reason is that if you learn elementary and intermediate math very well, then you are well-equipped to learn about hardware and software. But if they teach you dumbed down math, then you’ll always struggle with computers, even if you had them since pre-school.

Flu knows about this… he told us before about how his foreign-born wife can do math in her head effortlessly, etc.

iPads for K-12 students? BIG, HUGE, waste of money.

[quote=Diego Mamani]I’ll tell you an anecdote from my years in grad school here in California. We had undergraduate students who had been exposed to computers and high technology literally since Kindergarten or earlier. However, the students struggled and had a really hard time learning to use Excel and the like.

On the other hand, we had foreign grad students that had only very limited exposure to computers in their college years (this was almost 20 years ago). [/quote]Umm. time-line problem for college undergrads 20yrs ago. 2012 – 20years = 1992. Back about another 20 for year of birth brings it to 1972. Forward to Kindergarten 5 to 6 years.. brings 1978 or so. I don’t think there was even wide spread availability of computers in 1978. IBM came out with the first Luggable in 1975 (IBM 5100).. for $8,000 to $19,000 – a very big sum in those days. Most high schools didn’t even have computers available to them, much less individual homes. The High School I attended was one of the rare one’s who did.. in 1975 (oops, dating myself here). This was the first system I learned to program (Not Basic, the other language that was available on that machine)

There is a ‘current’ problem being noticed where many college undergrads who were ‘exposed’ to computers in the home while growing up, don’t have the ‘expected’ knowledge of them when they enter College. That is because ‘exposure’, ie watching videos, playing games.. is not the same as using a computer as a tool. This problem is exacerbated by the ‘MTV’ generation’s 15 second concentration duration.

[quote=ucodegen]There is a ‘current’ problem being noticed where many college undergrads who were ‘exposed’ to computers in the home while growing up, don’t have the ‘expected’ knowledge of them when they enter College. That is because ‘exposure’, ie watching videos, playing games.. is not the same as using a computer as a tool. This problem is exacerbated by the ‘MTV’ generation’s 15 second concentration duration.[/quote] My point exactly. What we really need are the basics: reading, writing, arithmetic, algebra, spelling. We are failing there… see how many allegedly educated adults spell “alot”, confuse “principal” with “principle,” can’t calculate a 15% tip, etc. Throwing money at fancy gadgets is not going to solve the more basic problem.

[quote=ucodegen](in 1978…)Most high schools didn’t even have computers available to them, much less individual homes. The High School I attended was one of the rare one’s who did.. in 1975 (oops, dating myself here). This was the first system I learned to program (Not Basic, the other language that was available on that machine)
[/quote]

Fortan maybe?