We bought a new iPad for our K student to use. The school said it would give devices to kids who didn’t have one available, but it didn’t feel right for us to take one when we had the money to buy our own. Plus now our kid is excited about at least some part of remote school (cool new device), which was a bonus. Would have loved not to spend the money on it, but I also would have loved not to spend the money we’re going to be spending on babysitting during the school day. Oh well.

Can a board administrator PLEASE edit this thread title to "If you need a device and can afford one"? The word "but" is horribly misused; these are not incongruous or competing concepts.

Just had an argument with my DC (in HS) about Minecraft. DC cancelled a scheduled Zoom appointment to play Minecraft on the new DCPS device.

I’m glad we have DCPS devices to support learning. But I’m thinking installing Minecraft on all these devices was not a great idea...

(None of our other devices will support all this Microsoft stuff. And DC’s teachers have kindly emailed us to let us know all materials will be on Canvas. So no, we can not simply return this device that DCOS was so kind to loan us.)

I agree with a previous poster that the district’s communication on this was confusing at best. The commitment, as I understood it, was every child who “needed” a device would get one. We have an old iPad and an old laptop, so I figured we were good. Then, later, tech specs come out that make clear our devices aren’t really going to work. We can afford it, so we bought new laptops per the school’s specs. Now I’m hearing I’m a chump b/c the district has devices for all that they will support (whereas we’re on our own with our own devices). Or maybe they don’t have enough for everyone? Sigh.

I too was surprised that my 5th grader was provided a small Microsoft tablet vs a laptop. The amount of time they will be spending online is a lot, and this screen and processing power is small

For everyone saying "you can't buy a web camera anywhere", Best Buy has like 10 different models in stock and ready to be delivered And has all Summer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing: why in the world did DCPS put Minecraft on my children's devices and how can I disable it?

Minecraft for Education is great. Your child is probably going to use it in one of their classes.

Edited to add, start here if you are interested:

https://education.minecraft.net/

https://education.minecraft.net/chemistry

I'm sure it can be useful, but it's also addictive. Now I have to monitor usage of an addictive game app with some educational usefulness, on a school-provided device that we're supposed to trust our kids alone with for long stretches of time. How is that going to work?

Now, plenty of kids will spend their "independent work" time between whole class Teams video just Minecrafting away, and will show up to the next whole class or small group meeting saying "sorry, I didn't do the assigned work because I didn't understand it. Can you explain?"

Here is your solution. Return the device. Have you child opt out of any assigned word that requires use of Minecraft. Problem solved. You're welcome, you have one less thing to worry about.

How useful was that intervention? What's your point? My kids and all kids in the city need school-provided devices that are safe and conducive to learning. Does it bother you to be told that unlimited access to and excessive use of Minecraft gets in the way of learning? Do you have a kid or two who spend too much time on there? Did I hit a nerve?

+1. This is crazy. School is putting an addictive game as an educational resource? Seriously? That is really irresponsible and incompetent.

There are plenty of educational resources for math, reading, etc...that the school can subscribe and give to families. Our charter gave them out and access to all the kids in the spring and will continue this year. Teachers can see everything the child does on the app, track it, and know exactly what level the child is. Then they did virtual testing at the end of year and plan on doing the start of this year to access where the kids are to meet their needs.

To the PP who had minecratft. I would contact the principal or administration to see how to disable it and ask the rationale for putting this out to the kids. Frankly I think it might hinder their educational progress if they are addicted to gaming or whatever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing: why in the world did DCPS put Minecraft on my children's devices and how can I disable it?

Minecraft for Education is great. Your child is probably going to use it in one of their classes.

Edited to add, start here if you are interested:

https://education.minecraft.net/

https://education.minecraft.net/chemistry

I'm sure it can be useful, but it's also addictive. Now I have to monitor usage of an addictive game app with some educational usefulness, on a school-provided device that we're supposed to trust our kids alone with for long stretches of time. How is that going to work?

Now, plenty of kids will spend their "independent work" time between whole class Teams video just Minecrafting away, and will show up to the next whole class or small group meeting saying "sorry, I didn't do the assigned work because I didn't understand it. Can you explain?"

Here is your solution. Return the device. Have you child opt out of any assigned word that requires use of Minecraft. Problem solved. You're welcome, you have one less thing to worry about.

How useful was that intervention? What's your point? My kids and all kids in the city need school-provided devices that are safe and conducive to learning. Does it bother you to be told that unlimited access to and excessive use of Minecraft gets in the way of learning? Do you have a kid or two who spend too much time on there? Did I hit a nerve?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing: why in the world did DCPS put Minecraft on my children's devices and how can I disable it?

Minecraft for Education is great. Your child is probably going to use it in one of their classes.

Edited to add, start here if you are interested:

https://education.minecraft.net/

https://education.minecraft.net/chemistry

I'm sure it can be useful, but it's also addictive. Now I have to monitor usage of an addictive game app with some educational usefulness, on a school-provided device that we're supposed to trust our kids alone with for long stretches of time. How is that going to work?

Now, plenty of kids will spend their "independent work" time between whole class Teams video just Minecrafting away, and will show up to the next whole class or small group meeting saying "sorry, I didn't do the assigned work because I didn't understand it. Can you explain?"

Here is your solution. Return the device. Have you child opt out of any assigned word that requires use of Minecraft. Problem solved. You're welcome, you have one less thing to worry about.

Anonymous wrote:This thread confuses me too. Based on the tech survey, we were led to believe that there would not be enough devices and, if it was possible, we should provide our own. We researched options, asked the school for suggestions, and made a decision based on best available information. I think the devices we got our kids will work well, but I am starting to second guess myself based on all the comments regarding what is and is not on the computer, tech help, etc. I thought we were helping the district by providing our own, but it sounds like no good deed goes unpunished.

This.

Also, no one should have to feel they need to "help out" the school district by providing their own device. The district has plenty of money and can afford to provide students with devices. It is actually more equitable for all students to be using the same device anyway, and the district will wind up paying far less per device than parents are paying on their own because they are an institutional buyer.

Middle and even UMC parents who request devices are not "taking" devices from poor students, and the attitude that they are is absurd. By the same token should middle class parents be sending their children to mediocre parochial schools (since they cannot afford expensive private schools) to reserve the public school system for poor children? It makes no sense.

It's public school, not sliding-scale private school. Give the kids the devices they need in order to learn. This is very basic.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing: why in the world did DCPS put Minecraft on my children's devices and how can I disable it?

Minecraft for Education is great. Your child is probably going to use it in one of their classes.

Edited to add, start here if you are interested:

https://education.minecraft.net/

https://education.minecraft.net/chemistry

I'm sure it can be useful, but it's also addictive. Now I have to monitor usage of an addictive game app with some educational usefulness, on a school-provided device that we're supposed to trust our kids alone with for long stretches of time. How is that going to work?

Now, plenty of kids will spend their "independent work" time between whole class Teams video just Minecrafting away, and will show up to the next whole class or small group meeting saying "sorry, I didn't do the assigned work because I didn't understand it. Can you explain?"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another thing: why in the world did DCPS put Minecraft on my children's devices and how can I disable it?

Minecraft for Education is great. Your child is probably going to use it in one of their classes.

Edited to add, start here if you are interested:

https://education.minecraft.net/

https://education.minecraft.net/chemistry

Anonymous wrote:Another thing: why in the world did DCPS put Minecraft on my children's devices and how can I disable it?

Minecraft for Education is great. Your child is probably going to use it in one of their classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I"m surprised that my older elementary aged kids got Surface tablets from school rather than laptops. The devices are relatively small, which means the screens are small, which is not going to be great for 4 hours of Zoom a day.

Are you complaining about a free device??

Uh, it's not a toy and it's not a gift. It's the means through which her kids are going to be going to school this year. It's reasonable to question whether it will be adequate. A small screen could definitely make it hard, especially for an older elementary kid who will be doing a lot of math. I might also worry that a small device could be hard on their eyes or bad for posture (hunching over to look at the screen).

It's like being concerned that your kid can't see the board from their seat in the classroom, or that the school doesn't have safe P.E. equipment. It's a normal concern.

Your privilege is showing.

GTFOH - a public education is not means tested

Another thing: why in the world did DCPS put Minecraft on my children's devices and how can I disable it?