DCI: Too much focus on tablets/devices?

[Anonymous]

Most of read and write on the computer. But we are adults who have had years of practice reading and writing. MS students are just really starting to learn these skills. Can they learn them as well just using a computer? Maybe maybe not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I must be getting stupid since I read and write everything on a screen. I'm a lawyer.

If you're a lawyer now, you're still too old to have been affected by tablet screen time the way we're worried about our kids being affected. I have yet to read a study that says the negative effects on executive functioning apply to adults, although I haven't read a study that said it didn't either. I just know most of the studies I've read have been on children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be getting stupid since I read and write everything on a screen. I'm a lawyer.

If you're a lawyer now, you're still too old to have been affected by tablet screen time the way we're worried about our kids being affected. I have yet to read a study that says the negative effects on executive functioning apply to adults, although I haven't read a study that said it didn't either. I just know most of the studies I've read have been on children.

The studies and kids can't be too old since the iPad came out when my kid was 2.5 yrs old and he's 7.5 now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is a link on article.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

This is how I read that article,

Results of studies on paper vs. screens have changed over time, with less pronounced differences since 1993. At this point, it's difficult to conclude that there's a difference, since almost 1/2 of the studies didn't find one, but if there is a difference here are some of the dimensions of the issue:

1) People who are reading long texts, especially ones that are not illustrated, may find that the physical structure of books helps them organize information.

Question: Does DCI require kids to use online books for the novels and plays they read, or can students purchase paper copies and bring them to school?

2) People who read texts that require them to scroll, rather than turning pages electronically, fatigue more quickly.

Question: Are most of the textbooks and other online resources that DCI uses set up with pages or scrolling?

Question: One thing I see a lot in the 1:1 school I know best (not DCI) is the use of Powerpoint presentations in classes. Is there research on this format? Particularly research that compares reading a presentation off an individual device, to reading it off a handout, to reading it off an Interactive White Board?

3) People who read paper based texts are more likely to "reread" and "review", and generally spend more time with a text. When readers are given texts to read on a screen or on paper with a time limit, there isn't a difference in their performance. On the other hand, when readers are given unlimited time, they do slightly better with paper based tests.

Question: This seems to support the idea that reading in the classroom, where there are always time limits, might be fine on the chromebook, but that printing out any reading, particularly lengthy reading, that is done for homework may make sense. Is there any reason why DCI students can't do this?

4) We really have no idea if this is a stable phenomena that will continue into the future, or if we sill see changes as the next generation becomes more familiar with reading on screens. As many people have pointed out on this thread, many adults do most of their professional reading on screens. If reading well on a screen is a skill that can be taught, or that improves with practice, it would seem logical that students should be given opportunities to learn and practice this skill. On the other hand, if reading on a screen is always worse than reading on paper, then students should be given paper for all reading tasks.

Question: Are there researchers looking at this issue?

5) While paper may (or may not) be better for long unillustrated texts, there are other types of texts where the online environment provides great benefits, such as articles with embedded graphics.

Question: What kinds of reading does a DCI student do across the course of a typical day. What percentage is in long texts vs. short, literary vs. informational, or illustrated s. unillustrated.

To me the big take away from this article is that the question of how best to share reading materials with students is complex, and needs more study. In the meantime there are things that a school can do to further reduce some of the already small difference between screen-based and paper-based reading comprehension. These strategies would include providing students with paper copies of novels and plays, allowing students to print things that will be read at home in untimed settings, and looking for ereaders that use pages and not scrolling. Is DCI doing those things? I work at a different 1:1 school, and all of those things are in place at my school.

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP. I am not sure exactly what DCI is doing. I know I would be happier if DCI had some classes, such as English, where the kids were not using the chromebook. Just give them a paperback that they could read at home and at school! It is an easy solution which would provide some balance.

[Anonymous]

Seems like DCI is lacking balance.

[Anonymous]

I prefer that my kid learns to write, compose and take notes on a screen which is what he'll be doing in college and in real life. No one writes with a pencil and paper anymore except kids in early elementary who are being taught to write their letters. The sooner they learn to type the better.

Bring on the chrome books!

- signed a mom who hasn't written anything by hand in years other my signiture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I prefer that my kid learns to write, compose and take notes on a screen which is what he'll be doing in college and in real life. No one writes with a pencil and paper anymore except kids in early elementary who are being taught to write their letters. The sooner they learn to type the better.

Bring on the chrome books!

- signed a mom who hasn't written anything by hand in years other my signiture.

See, that's the thing: they WILL learn how to write, compose and take notes on a screen no matter what. They'll do plenty of it at DCI even if they only take half their classes on tablets. The idea that they somehow would not learn that is really odd and pretty much impossible.

Balance means both. And that's fine that you haven't written anything by hand in years - the fact that you're a mom still means you did once learn how to do it and you have no idea of the benefits vs. costs of kids today NOT learning writing by hand or reading physical books. When I started law school, even though there was Lexis and Westlaw and all these easy ways to do legal research online, the school FORBID us to use online legal research our first year as 1Ls and we had to learn to research everything by book in the law library. They explained it very clearly: they felt that was the best way for us to understand the way case law is organized, not just literally where is it in the library, but how do you follow an argument or a situation to find out what happened in the string of cases, how do you craft an argument and find the case law to support it, and how is legal information organized. Sure you can just plug in key words or the name of a case online, but you don't learn all the logical underpinnings of it that way.

That is a long way of saying: even then, where there was an easier, more "modern" way to do the work, there was a clear and understood benefit to learning the paper way, and my school still has that policy and is a top 15 law school nationally. And somehow we still all graduated very skilled at online legal research. Both are possible.

[Anonymous]

Nothing is wrong with doing things in moderation!

I would also like to add- every child learn differently and some kids might need to physically write out things to help learn them. By limiting kids the opportunity to write after 5th grade they will not have this skill.

[Anonymous]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/opinion/can-students-have-too-much-tech.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

New York Times article about how giving poorer kids electronic devices lowers their academic achievement.

[Anonymous]

Article talking about differences between handwriting and typing notes.

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2014/06/princeton_university_study_finds_students_more_likely_to_learn_by_taking_handwritten_notes.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/opinion/can-students-have-too-much-tech.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share

New York Times article about how giving poorer kids electronic devices lowers their academic achievement.

That's an article about giving low income kids internet access at home, where kids use them unsupervised, not about using devices at school in a classroom.

Is DCI also paying for home internet for low income kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prefer that my kid learns to write, compose and take notes on a screen which is what he'll be doing in college and in real life. No one writes with a pencil and paper anymore except kids in early elementary who are being taught to write their letters. The sooner they learn to type the better.

Bring on the chrome books!

- signed a mom who hasn't written anything by hand in years other my signiture.

See, that's the thing: they WILL learn how to write, compose and take notes on a screen no matter what. They'll do plenty of it at DCI even if they only take half their classes on tablets. The idea that they somehow would not learn that is really odd and pretty much impossible.

Balance means both. And that's fine that you haven't written anything by hand in years - the fact that you're a mom still means you did once learn how to do it and you have no idea of the benefits vs. costs of kids today NOT learning writing by hand or reading physical books. When I started law school, even though there was Lexis and Westlaw and all these easy ways to do legal research online, the school FORBID us to use online legal research our first year as 1Ls and we had to learn to research everything by book in the law library. They explained it very clearly: they felt that was the best way for us to understand the way case law is organized, not just literally where is it in the library, but how do you follow an argument or a situation to find out what happened in the string of cases, how do you craft an argument and find the case law to support it, and how is legal information organized. Sure you can just plug in key words or the name of a case online, but you don't learn all the logical underpinnings of it that way.

That is a long way of saying: even then, where there was an easier, more "modern" way to do the work, there was a clear and understood benefit to learning the paper way, and my school still has that policy and is a top 15 law school nationally. And somehow we still all graduated very skilled at online legal research. Both are possible.

I don't know if there has ever been a bigger waste of time in my entire education than looking up all that crap in the digests. Absolutely unnecessary and antiquated practice. They made us do it because they were still scared of computers. In my 15 years of being a lawyer, this skull has not paid off once. Instead if wasting three hours and probably missing stuff, I go to westlaw and I press the citation button. It takes less than a minute and does a much better job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prefer that my kid learns to write, compose and take notes on a screen which is what he'll be doing in college and in real life. No one writes with a pencil and paper anymore except kids in early elementary who are being taught to write their letters. The sooner they learn to type the better.

Bring on the chrome books!

- signed a mom who hasn't written anything by hand in years other my signiture.

See, that's the thing: they WILL learn how to write, compose and take notes on a screen no matter what. They'll do plenty of it at DCI even if they only take half their classes on tablets. The idea that they somehow would not learn that is really odd and pretty much impossible.

Balance means both. And that's fine that you haven't written anything by hand in years - the fact that you're a mom still means you did once learn how to do it and you have no idea of the benefits vs. costs of kids today NOT learning writing by hand or reading physical books. When I started law school, even though there was Lexis and Westlaw and all these easy ways to do legal research online, the school FORBID us to use online legal research our first year as 1Ls and we had to learn to research everything by book in the law library. They explained it very clearly: they felt that was the best way for us to understand the way case law is organized, not just literally where is it in the library, but how do you follow an argument or a situation to find out what happened in the string of cases, how do you craft an argument and find the case law to support it, and how is legal information organized. Sure you can just plug in key words or the name of a case online, but you don't learn all the logical underpinnings of it that way.

That is a long way of saying: even then, where there was an easier, more "modern" way to do the work, there was a clear and understood benefit to learning the paper way, and my school still has that policy and is a top 15 law school nationally. And somehow we still all graduated very skilled at online legal research. Both are possible.

When did you go to law school? I graduated in the late 90ties from a top ten law school and they taught us how to look up stuff in a library one time. We never had to do it again and I have never had to do it since. I don't remember how anymore either. If you talk to current law students, no one does legal research aside from Westlaw and Lexis anymore.

Even when I went to law school, it was all laptops. No one writes by hand except the people who are 40+.

I don't remember the last time I read anything on paper, book or newspaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be getting stupid since I read and write everything on a screen. I'm a lawyer.

If you're a lawyer now, you're still too old to have been affected by tablet screen time the way we're worried about our kids being affected. I have yet to read a study that says the negative effects on executive functioning apply to adults, although I haven't read a study that said it didn't either. I just know most of the studies I've read have been on children.

The studies and kids can't be too old since the iPad came out when my kid was 2.5 yrs old and he's 7.5 now.

My kid learned to read on a tablet. Don't think that's all that unusual.

I prefer that DC practice his Chinese characters by writing them and math is easier done on paper but if there were better "writing" programs on a tablet, I would not have a preference.