DCI: Too much focus on tablets/devices?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, DCI is middle and upper school. By the time your kids are in 6th or 7th grade they will be dealing with a tsunami of technology and social media. Even if they don't personally have smartphones, their friends will. Just accepting that this is happening and helping to guide kids to use technology appropriately can be a huge benefit to the kid and to the parents.

Second, if the kids don't have their own devices, a lof of school time will be spent pushing around carts of laptops and students powering them up and down. Worse yet, a computer lab that kids go to to do work-- waste of time. When kids carry around their own devices they incorporate them into the curriculum. Teachers plan for computer use and it's fairer for all kids, esp those who couldn't afford a computer and internet at home.

It's for these reasons that most private middle school programs are all moving to 1:1 device programs. This is the future. And for any of you with kids who have organizational problems, ADHD, executive function issues, etc., you'll see that technology will make everything much, much easier. No more lost assignments, no more loose papers, multiple folders, books, etc. It's all on one device.

It's also more environmental. Why print out a finished assignment for the teacher? Just email it. It won't get lost, the teacher can annotate it and email it back. Less paper and ink used.

My DC was in a private school for middle school and used an ipad throughout. Many parents were skeptical and some were downright upset, but in the end the parents overwhelmingly supported the program for the reasons above. And after a while the ipad wasn't the coolest thing ever. The kids got used to it and it stopped being the focus.


I personally think DCI is ahead of the curve.

Not all experts agree with your assessment. Children with organizational and executive function issues often find paper easier for organizing thoughts and computers and tablets distracting. It is too early in this experiment to declare 1:1 devices educationally sound practice. Hate to be cynical, but with the $$$ to be made by tablet manufacturers, consultants and software designers it may be hard to get any objective research out there. Not much money to be made from pencils and paper

[Anonymous]

This article Is fascinating
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/technology/at-waldorf-school-in-silicon-valley-technology-can-wait.html?pagewanted=all/

[Anonymous]

11:24, sorry but the Cloud uses more resources than many developing countries. Also, you need to take into account the resources it takes to build these, the precious metals...and the human cost. In 5 years when this batch of Chromebooks is outdated they will be sent to a developing country where young people (and I mean 15 years..) will stand over burning plastic to hand pick out the precious metals to "recycle". Paperless DOES NOT equate GREEN. Actually if schools really want to be sustainable how about using chalk and slate?
http://nepc.colorado.edu/newsletter/2014/11/Personalized-instruction
http://www.twosidesna.org/e-media-and-paper

[Anonymous]

I would also ask The school about its budgeting. If a charter is hiring fewer teachers in order to afford more technology and arguing that this is sound educational practice it would set off alarm bells for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, DCI is middle and upper school. By the time your kids are in 6th or 7th grade they will be dealing with a tsunami of technology and social media. Even if they don't personally have smartphones, their friends will. Just accepting that this is happening and helping to guide kids to use technology appropriately can be a huge benefit to the kid and to the parents.

Second, if the kids don't have their own devices, a lof of school time will be spent pushing around carts of laptops and students powering them up and down. Worse yet, a computer lab that kids go to to do work-- waste of time. When kids carry around their own devices they incorporate them into the curriculum. Teachers plan for computer use and it's fairer for all kids, esp those who couldn't afford a computer and internet at home.

It's for these reasons that most private middle school programs are all moving to 1:1 device programs. This is the future. And for any of you with kids who have organizational problems, ADHD, executive function issues, etc., you'll see that technology will make everything much, much easier. No more lost assignments, no more loose papers, multiple folders, books, etc. It's all on one device.

It's also more environmental. Why print out a finished assignment for the teacher? Just email it. It won't get lost, the teacher can annotate it and email it back. Less paper and ink used.

My DC was in a private school for middle school and used an ipad throughout. Many parents were skeptical and some were downright upset, but in the end the parents overwhelmingly supported the program for the reasons above. And after a while the ipad wasn't the coolest thing ever. The kids got used to it and it stopped being the focus.

I personally think DCI is ahead of the curve.

I think the jury's still out on that. Paper can be a renewable resource, many of the heavy metals in electronics are not. And it's a big problem recycling them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would also ask The school about its budgeting. If a charter is hiring fewer teachers in order to afford more technology and arguing that this is sound educational practice it would set off alarm bells for me.

I think that is in Rocketship PCS's charter. The "cost savings" are feature, not a bug.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, the "more environmental" thing is a joke. Paper is not the problem. Why not have a plastic-free school or a heavy metal-free school? So lame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ditto -- 7 glorious months of not having to worry about my children's academic future are now over. There is no way I would send my kids to a school with such a short-sighted educational philosophy, which is too bad because we really thought we were all set before...

Ditto ditto. If this is true, our immense joy about a great school and no more lotteries evaporates instantly. This is really that big a deal.

Double ditto. Can't believe DCI would blow the energy and excitement surrounding the school to implement this experimental and potentially harmful methodology. What a disappointment.

[Anonymous]

^^^ PP here who actually had a child in a 1:1 device program for three years so I've seen it be incredibly successful with my own skeptical eyes...

but anyhoo, re: the environmental component, the kids would have had a variety of computers anyway, BESIDES the paper. Some would have had laptops at home for their use, or a tablet or a family desk top; the school would have had multiple carts of laptops, and rooms full of desk top computers. So the chromebooks just replace a bunch of computers that would have been around anyway, and lets those kids have one who would NOT have had one at home, plus removes a bunch of paper and textbooks. The uniformity of the style of computer and the software make it much much easier for teachers to plan computer use. Otherwise it's so ragtag.

My DC is now in a DCPS HS where they don't have a 1:1 device program and I see all kinds of problems that she did not have in middle school. For one thing, there are carts of laptops which must be configured, powered up, used, powered down by multiple classes. Work gets erased, thumb drives are lost. There are some classes which do have etexts and the computers require a flash application which neither our home desk top nor her mac laptop for home use has. She went to the public library and it didn't work there either. She can only do the assignments on a handful of computers in the school's media center. This is so antiquated and such a time waster. It would be much better if all the kids had the same technology so its use could be streamlined and planned.

And when you child gets to college, won't he/she be fully dependent on a laptop by then? DCI's approach just gives the kids a head start on what will be their technology life in a few years anyway. My DC is now regularly turning in work on notebook paper written with pencil -- yes, just like the good old 1950s, unlike middle school where almost everything was written on a tablet and either printed or emailed to the teacher.

You all are thinking of your kids as elementary school -aged. In a few years they will be more than capable of a 1:1 chromebook program.

Your kids will be captivated and obsessed with technology, and even if they don't have a chromebook for use at school they will still be obsessed. This way at least they can start to learn to manage its both its capabilities and its detractions.

[Anonymous]

When I went to law school several years back, I would say 99% of the students used laptops to take notes. I was one of them. However, half of the 99% were online shopping, IM'ing, playing solitaire, and basically not paying attention. These were the same students who did not do so well come exam time. I happened to be disciplined enough to actually take notes using my laptop and generally avoided distractions. If law students cannot resist the urge for a measly hour to IM their friend sitting next to them during lecture, I doubt that middle school kids are disciplined enough to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^ PP here who actually had a child in a 1:1 device program for three years so I've seen it be incredibly successful with my own skeptical eyes...

but anyhoo, re: the environmental component, the kids would have had a variety of computers anyway, BESIDES the paper. Some would have had laptops at home for their use, or a tablet or a family desk top; the school would have had multiple carts of laptops, and rooms full of desk top computers. So the chromebooks just replace a bunch of computers that would have been around anyway, and lets those kids have one who would NOT have had one at home, plus removes a bunch of paper and textbooks. The uniformity of the style of computer and the software make it much much easier for teachers to plan computer use. Otherwise it's so ragtag.

My DC is now in a DCPS HS where they don't have a 1:1 device program and I see all kinds of problems that she did not have in middle school. For one thing, there are carts of laptops which must be configured, powered up, used, powered down by multiple classes. Work gets erased, thumb drives are lost. There are some classes which do have etexts and the computers require a flash application which neither our home desk top nor her mac laptop for home use has. She went to the public library and it didn't work there either. She can only do the assignments on a handful of computers in the school's media center. This is so antiquated and such a time waster. It would be much better if all the kids had the same technology so its use could be streamlined and planned.

And when you child gets to college, won't he/she be fully dependent on a laptop by then? DCI's approach just gives the kids a head start on what will be their technology life in a few years anyway. My DC is now regularly turning in work on notebook paper written with pencil -- yes, just like the good old 1950s, unlike middle school where almost everything was written on a tablet and either printed or emailed to the teacher.

You all are thinking of your kids as elementary school -aged. In a few years they will be more than capable of a 1:1 chromebook program.

Your kids will be captivated and obsessed with technology, and even if they don't have a chromebook for use at school they will still be obsessed. This way at least they can start to learn to manage its both its capabilities and its detractions.

Good luck with that. It is addictive. Have you looked around you lately? College kids have grown up with this (had devises since they were 14 years old) and are the worst. I teach them, I see it. I am hopeful in the next decade we'll come up with social codes that will help people manage the addictive nature of these devices. Yes, for better or worst my kids will face a tech heavy world when they are in college, but till then I will give their minds and their social understanding space to fully develop; I want schools that provide an opportunity for deep learning, and so far the evidence of tech is that it is a barrier to deep learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I went to law school several years back, I would say 99% of the students used laptops to take notes. I was one of them. However, half of the 99% were online shopping, IM'ing, playing solitaire, and basically not paying attention. These were the same students who did not do so well come exam time. I happened to be disciplined enough to actually take notes using my laptop and generally avoided distractions. If law students cannot resist the urge for a measly hour to IM their friend sitting next to them during lecture, I doubt that middle school kids are disciplined enough to do so.

Certainly some law professors are wising up and forbidding laptops (there was a story about this). Students actually learn more when they take notes by hand.

[Anonymous]

DCI will have no trouble filling its classes, but if they do this tech stuff, they will loose a lot of kids from their feeders and thus take in a lot of fresh students. This will be a drag on the school socially and academically. So they will make their numbers but not be the school they want to be.

[Anonymous]

I'm fine with kids using the Chromebooks for classes and accessing educational material. I AM NOT ok with MS kids playing video games, talking on their cell phones, chatting, possibly sexting, sure to be hacking into some inappropriate sites...during school hours, period. If this is true (the other thread saying this) and DCI wants to be taken seriously it will need to stop that behavior immediately. I plan to ask these questions outright tomorrow. DCI if you are monitoring these post (and I suspect you are) please be transparent about what technology is and isn't allowed. That way parent can make an informed decision.

[Anonymous]

What D.C privates are following such an 1:1 approach at the middle school level. I am sure some privates have some classes which are taught using the computer but I double few use the computer for all classes, which is an important distinction. While for some kids with dysgraphia or other issues, I am sure the computer can be very helpful and those children shoudl have access.

In addition, 11 year olds have not properly mastered basic skills, such as writing, to switch entirely to computers. Yes, kids need to learn keyboarding and have computer skills, but they also need to know how to write.

I also worry about the physical changes such prolonged expsure could have on rapidly developing brains. Not enough research has been done so at this point it is would be premature to say 6-8 hour exposure to an electronic device is safe.

I would love to know what research/models the school used in coming up with this approach. Maybe there is good research supporting their method that I am not aware of. Again, I would love to hear from current parents.