Anonymous wrote:What’s particularly galling is that the tech downtown is choosing is getting worse. They’ve canceled brainpop. They’ve added amplify and common lit. Amplify says continents float on water and that human cells are rectangular with no nuclei. DNA is not included in the provided notes on genetics. Food chains start with animals within the program. Do you realize how atrocious this is? We’ve pointed the flaws out repeatedly. We are told to suck it up and use it anyways.

are you a teacher? what level?

Anonymous wrote:I'm a former teacher, and my LinkedIn is literally filled with alternating positions: "Our AI enables students to become better writers because it provides more and quicker feedback!" "Here's the Yale professor that's doing away with online books and doesn't allow iPads in class!" But it's mainly EdTech companies extolling their worth, including those that generate passages for students to read and be tested on. How can anyone love reading and get better at it when they're reading AI slop?

Oh yeah you're making me think about that AI school that opened up in NoVa -- Alpha School.

Honestly as a full-formed adult, I know all this stuff has made my reading, writing, and thinking sluggier. Sometimes I have to actively tell myself, Hey, you need to do your own thinking here! It's so easy to be in the mode of just consuming content. So it's sad to think what that would be like for a kid who is still developing and supposedly just starting to building problem-solving and reading comprehension.

I worked in EdTech in early 2010s so it's been awhile and I don't have a sense of the latest and greatest in the industry. But even so with what little I know, I'm rooting for pushback to grow and win over by the time my kid is in high school, one can dream...

I'm a former teacher, and my LinkedIn is literally filled with alternating positions: "Our AI enables students to become better writers because it provides more and quicker feedback!" "Here's the Yale professor that's doing away with online books and doesn't allow iPads in class!" But it's mainly EdTech companies extolling their worth, including those that generate passages for students to read and be tested on. How can anyone love reading and get better at it when they're reading AI slop?

This is ... incredibly depressing.

Anonymous wrote:I hate the use of tech in the classroom. I disagree with the poster who said you'd care about it less as your children get older - I have a rising middle schooler and care about it massively. It is clearly not good for kids. It's not even good for adults! I just think about how I feel after staring at a screen all day. Jittery and sluggish at the same time.

I feel the same way and naively didn't know just how much tech there is until we enrolled. I don't know about PK but I've seen it for K. I didn't want to be a purist about things but as my kid got older, this became more and more of a concern. We're in Capitol Hill. Don't know where we're headed next

Anonymous wrote:Not true - we have a 4th grader and we care much more now! Looking for low screen middle schools.

Good luck in DCPS. Everything is online including math. I hate it too. My kid has one book for school.

hahahaha

Anonymous wrote:The part of BASIS that I'm exposed to (middle school) is incredibly low tech and old fashioned. Even the copying machines are sometimes not that great!

Anonymous wrote:The Anti-EdTech movement is just getting started. EdTech, for smart kids who maybe have help outside of school, is perfectly fine and probably doesn't impact scores very much. But for the other 80-90 percent, it is actively harmful. It takes up unnecessary time in class (fixing tech, dead batteries, explaining new software), it doesn't actually teach very well, and it is missing the hand-brain connection that creates memories.

If you doubt me, go try learning statistics or the Polish language online and see how you do.

Yes!!

The part of BASIS that I'm exposed to (middle school) is incredibly low tech and old fashioned. Even the copying machines are sometimes not that great!

What’s particularly galling is that the tech downtown is choosing is getting worse. They’ve canceled brainpop. They’ve added amplify and common lit. Amplify says continents float on water and that human cells are rectangular with no nuclei. DNA is not included in the provided notes on genetics. Food chains start with animals within the program. Do you realize how atrocious this is? We’ve pointed the flaws out repeatedly. We are told to suck it up and use it anyways.