A rant: Technology and Vendors in the Schools, anyone else hate it?

[Anonymous]

Fortunately, this is my last year with FCPS... and I hear ya, OP.

I have a kid who loved Math and was good at Math... but then in Algebra, they used some math program where he had to type in answers rather than write them out.

The program supposedly "walks" you through.

All it did was kill my kid's motivation and waste his time.

He could have completed a worksheet in 20 less than minutes but it took 40 minutes to type numbers into the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fortunately, this is my last year with FCPS... and I hear ya, OP.

I have a kid who loved Math and was good at Math... but then in Algebra, they used some math program where he had to type in answers rather than write them out.

The program supposedly "walks" you through.

All it did was kill my kid's motivation and waste his time.

He could have completed a worksheet in 20 less than minutes but it took 40 minutes to type numbers into the program.
If he can do a worksheet that fast, he's needs are not being met. That's what technology does, meets the kids at their level and moves them. It's adaptive curriculum. He should be challenged

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate computer programs. I want textbooks and homework on paper.

Amen, I don’t know when textbooks were phased out but every year I am disappointed there are none.

I’d say it was mostly in the mid to late 90s. We had a social studies text when I taught 4th grade (I think they still do). I remember a math text through most of the 90s. Other than those I don’t remember textbooks during my teaching career that started 30 years ago.

Do we need to discuss why textbooks are not relevant? Really? Do you think schools could use a set of encyclopedias?

PP here.
I didn’t say textbooks are needed. How did you get that? I only shared when I remember last having them. I answered the OP’s question, so stop with the eye rolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here...
The term is gamification, and yes it is way more effective than drill sheets. But while we are at it, renember when you took home your textbook with whatever assignment and tried to do the work, but didn't get it? Online programs walk the learner through concept, stops them if the answer is wrong, reviews errors, provides more practice. The book does nothing. Books? Exoensuve and outdated. Online materials is current,dynamic, and effective.

OP needs to understand learning and basic pedagogical practice. And stop with the handwriting stuff. No one is required to hand letter anything at all. We literally do not even have to sign a document anymore.

Is gamification an effect or a cause of the lack of attention span in kids today? And is gamification more "effective" than drill sheets? Kids don't remember anything nowadays (it's well studied that people retain less information from a screen than from a book and that writing by hand is better for retention than listening or reading or clicking).

I understand that screens, including Lexia and ST Math, are needed for classroom management. Because kids cannot sit quietly when they're finished with their work. Because kids cannot behave anymore. But that doesn't mean that it's good.

There are new studies showing that screens delay and reduce emotional regulation and maturity. No kidding. Kids look regulated while they're zoned out staring at a screen. But then every moment when they're not staring at a screen they're dysregulated.

Did you mean " affect" or "effect?"

No, gamification increases motivation because it replaces rote out of context drill. There's no instrinsic motivation for drill.
Mentioning studies about retention of information is useless without sources. Would you be more inclined to remember concepts in or out of a context? Screens have nothing to do with it. No, we don't need to write everything down by hand. That is ludicrous.

No one is dysregulated due to screen use. Most of us use screens, but we also eat, cook, clean, drive, play games and sports, socialize, interact, build, create, enjoy, listen, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate computer programs. I want textbooks and homework on paper.

Amen, I don’t know when textbooks were phased out but every year I am disappointed there are none.

I’d say it was mostly in the mid to late 90s. We had a social studies text when I taught 4th grade (I think they still do). I remember a math text through most of the 90s. Other than those I don’t remember textbooks during my teaching career that started 30 years ago.

Do we need to discuss why textbooks are not relevant? Really? Do you think schools could use a set of encyclopedias?

PP here.
I didn’t say textbooks are needed. How did you get that? I only shared when I remember last having them. I answered the OP’s question, so stop with the eye rolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google and Apple and Microsoft have huge nonprofit budgets to push technology in schools. That's where it started.

Ah, no. We buy what we want to do the job. Good grief.

As someone in tech sales that sees how non-profit sales work happens, you are so naively mistaken lol. These vendors are all chomping at the bit for a shot at those FCPS dollars.

[Anonymous]

I'm a middle school teacher (not in DC) and my public school has recently transitioned to a strong tech focus and my students use an online science curriculum (amplify). I hate it. It is one of many reasons I am trying to leave teaching. It is not developmentally appropriate or beneficial for sixth graders to be on tablets most of the school day. Moreover, my admin wants discussion and collaboration-students staring at their screens is not how to get it. I so miss the teaching of five, ten years ago. Our ed system is broken.

[Anonymous]

Ok, everyone, put down your phones right now. No screen use of any kind for a week. Nada..nothing, no phone, no tablets, no desktops, nothing.

Then come back here, OK?

So funny how everyone on a screen today decries the use of screens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, everyone, put down your phones right now. No screen use of any kind for a week. Nada..nothing, no phone, no tablets, no desktops, nothing.

Then come back here, OK?

So funny how everyone on a screen today decries the use of screens.

You think it's the same as talking about kids 6-15 years old using screens all day?

I wish I used screens less frequently. But as a teacher, while I do use tech, I also regularly engage with my colleagues and students. Comparing our needs to young students' education is apples and oranges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here...
The term is gamification, and yes it is way more effective than drill sheets. But while we are at it, renember when you took home your textbook with whatever assignment and tried to do the work, but didn't get it? Online programs walk the learner through concept, stops them if the answer is wrong, reviews errors, provides more practice. The book does nothing. Books? Exoensuve and outdated. Online materials is current,dynamic, and effective.

OP needs to understand learning and basic pedagogical practice. And stop with the handwriting stuff. No one is required to hand letter anything at all. We literally do not even have to sign a document anymore.

Is gamification an effect or a cause of the lack of attention span in kids today? And is gamification more "effective" than drill sheets? Kids don't remember anything nowadays (it's well studied that people retain less information from a screen than from a book and that writing by hand is better for retention than listening or reading or clicking).

I understand that screens, including Lexia and ST Math, are needed for classroom management. Because kids cannot sit quietly when they're finished with their work. Because kids cannot behave anymore. But that doesn't mean that it's good.

There are new studies showing that screens delay and reduce emotional regulation and maturity. No kidding. Kids look regulated while they're zoned out staring at a screen. But then every moment when they're not staring at a screen they're dysregulated.

Did you mean " affect" or "effect?"

No, gamification increases motivation because it replaces rote out of context drill. There's no instrinsic motivation for drill.
Mentioning studies about retention of information is useless without sources. Would you be more inclined to remember concepts in or out of a context? Screens have nothing to do with it. No, we don't need to write everything down by hand. That is ludicrous.

No one is dysregulated due to screen use. Most of us use screens, but we also eat, cook, clean, drive, play games and sports, socialize, interact, build, create, enjoy, listen, etc.

Oh.

[Anonymous]

OP here - glad to hear there are many that share my frustration. Kids need way less tech in schools. Handwriting is important! Read "Paper Notebooks vs. Mobile Devices: Brain Activation Differences During Memory Retrieval" sometime.

To all the commenters trying to dunk on my post and those others sharing our frustrations, like the mental midget that couldn't even spell Colombia correctly, get a life lol. Smarmy jackasses and professional email pushers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, everyone, put down your phones right now. No screen use of any kind for a week. Nada..nothing, no phone, no tablets, no desktops, nothing.

Then come back here, OK?

So funny how everyone on a screen today decries the use of screens.

You are so dumb it's not even funny. Maybe that school board member was referring to you when she said uttered that slur.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate computer programs. I want textbooks and homework on paper.

Amen, I don’t know when textbooks were phased out but every year I am disappointed there are none.

I’d say it was mostly in the mid to late 90s. We had a social studies text when I taught 4th grade (I think they still do). I remember a math text through most of the 90s. Other than those I don’t remember textbooks during my teaching career that started 30 years ago.

Do we need to discuss why textbooks are not relevant? Really? Do you think schools could use a set of encyclopedias?

PP here.
I didn’t say textbooks are needed. How did you get that? I only shared when I remember last having them. I answered the OP’s question, so stop with the eye rolls.

I really don’t understand the follow-up eye roll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fortunately, this is my last year with FCPS... and I hear ya, OP.

I have a kid who loved Math and was good at Math... but then in Algebra, they used some math program where he had to type in answers rather than write them out.

The program supposedly "walks" you through.

All it did was kill my kid's motivation and waste his time.

He could have completed a worksheet in 20 less than minutes but it took 40 minutes to type numbers into the program.
If he can do a worksheet that fast, he's needs are not being met. That's what technology does, meets the kids at their level and moves them. It's adaptive curriculum. He should be challenged

Typing Algebra into a program does not help with being able to do Math.
Having to type brackets, letters, numbers, parenthesis... how the heck does that help with reasoning?
Yes, his need for being challenged with the actual CONTENT of math was not being met because he was spending more time trying to find characters on a keyboard- which doesn't even help with learning HOW to type with speed and accuracy.

As with handwriting, there's a better connection with writing out Algebra than having to type them in.

Thank goodness they didn't use the program for AP Calculus!

[Anonymous]

OP here again - my wife and I read through all the comments and had a good laugh - if we hadn't laughed we'd probably be crying. We watched Idiocracy a few months ago, they skip over the gritty minutiae of how society warps from the society the protagonist leaves at "present day", to the dumbed down future. The replies in this thread are probably a better than anything the director could have conjured up to explain how they would get from "present day" to that future.

Handwriting is dead? No one is dysregulated from screens? Textbooks are a relic? Screens screens screen! And all the people that think they're profound by saying THEN DON'T USE YOUR SCREENS HURR HURR HURR, do you not realize that what you're admitting is that we are trapped in this?? Seriously, this is how we get to going to the doctor, and them diagnosing you like this: https://www[.]youtube.com/watch?v=oCIo4MCO-_U

To the teachers having to focus on Lexia and other silliness, my heart goes out to you. To the FCPS teacher retiring this year, you will be missed. Every time a careerist leaves this system, and your memory of how things used to be departs the district, we all lose out.

The teacher saying reading specialists report your Lexia numbers up to admin is depressing to hear. It is so demoralizing seeing what you have to go through as teachers these days - it is a sad state of affairs and you deserve better. Many people here have already stated the issue - the kids are too distracted by the temptations of other websites, other videos, anything else, and the teachers are spread too thin to manage 20+ learners all on different computers. Behavior issues are such a challenge and the teachers have no tools to use, especially with bully parents insisting it's anyone's fault but their children (or especially the parents themselves). It's a losing system.

To the parent with the juvenile Einstein who gets to do Lexia while they are in class because they are too advanced for the lesson at hand or whatever - your poor tortured scholar! I hope they're in AAP, and I'm sure they have a spot waiting for them at TJ. You should be proud.

In July 1969 we sent a bunch of men to the moon in a complex operation unlike any before it, in a rocket designed, built, and tested by other men and women none of whom had ever done Lexia or ST Math.What have we as a society done since having all this screen based enrichment, other than spawning a bunch of cynical companies farming our likes, clicks, views, hypnotizing us into relying on the convenience, the easiness, the quick button clicks, farming algorithms to time markets, or whatever other insipid garbage most of our economy pumps out? What value is actually being created?

Your phone has more computing power than any of the computers they used to send those guys up there, and some of you can't even spell Colombia correctly. You are the problem, trust me.