Dutch Committee Proposes to Build Steve Jobs' iPad-Equipped Classroom

[Mattie Num Nums]

I think the point is that children should be using their hands to solve maths. It is very important not lose sight of the fact that we learn through different mediums and not suppress one at the cost of other so early in life.

Thts why kdz tlk lk ths thse dyz gotta fit evrythng so I can tweetz. Basic communication skills are going down the drain because all kids do is email, instant message, tweet, and facebook. Pretty soon reading will disappear because Siri will read it for me! As humans we are starting to rely way to much on technology to do things our brains used to do.

 

[guzhogi]

I think mathematics may be one of the BEST opportunities for iPad usage. The iPads can and should be used as workbooks, where children actually practice problem solving. For those kids who breeze through practice questions, the workbook could automatically create more difficult problems that test the same math skill. Meanwhile, those who struggle can get progressively easier questions or automated assistance. The teachers would be relieved of the burden of monotonous grading on this type of work, and the iPads give much more instantaneous feedback than a teacher could ever hope to achieve. All of this can reduce the need for the socially painful practice of grouping kids into levels, physically cordoning them off from peers based on talent.

Yes, you bring up many valid points, but iPads can only offer help it was programmed for. Ask it a question it doesn't know the answer to and where are you then? I don't think we could ever fully replace a living, breathing teacher.

Plus, you say in regular schools, kids are cordoned off from other kids of different levels. With iPads, kids are cordons off from all other people for the most part. Sure you can e-mail, text or whatever, but there is something about actual human contact. I remember this one South Park episode where the internet goes down and everyone's in the refugee. The bitchy sister girl meets her "boyfriend" she met online and they no idea how to talk to each other face to face. They only text each other. Or the movie Wall-E where the two people on the ship are videoconferencing each other-when they were right by each other. I'm a little afraid that this may become reality.

[/rant]

 

[mertyz]

For those who are concerned about the distraction that iPad may cause, I think Apple can simply develop an app for teachers to let them lock the application currently open on the students' iPads so that students won't be able to switch the app until the class is over.

 

[Derpage]

I think it's a great idea, unfortunately, most of the schools in CA are underfunded. They can't even afford the traditional equipment, let alone invest in something new.

 

[JS77]

The truth is, at least for me, there is nothing close to a printed book. So much easier to read it and find things. Write notes, put separators.

I know all these things can be done with the iPad, but somehow it distracts you. What makes good students is good teachers. Not so much if they have iPads and interactive things.

iPad and iPhones and similar devices are great, but from how I see it, most people use them for distraction purposes. Music, Twitter, FaceBook. Even when using it for keeping an schedule, I've found that nothing really works as a paper agenda. Whenever I try and use my iPhone or iPad for that, I end up loosing more time.

It amazes me how now everyone is within their smart-phone, doing, mostly, unnecessary things. It's very common you are having a conversation with someone and they take out their phone and start typing, etc. In the work-space, it is a necessary evil. But in school?

100% Agree.

This "everything digital" mantra is fine for entertainment, and for general media consumption... but for learning? There is a lot to be said for reading an actual book, making notes and then committing those notes/points of reference to memory.

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Thts why kdz tlk lk ths thse dyz gotta fit evrythng so I can tweetz. Basic communication skills are going down the drain because all kids do is email, instant message, tweet, and facebook. Pretty soon reading will disappear because Siri will read it for me! As humans we are starting to rely way to much on technology to do things our brains used to do.

+1 to this too.

 

[anomalogue]

The very nature of education has changed completely, just like the rules of business changed completely in 2000.

 

[icrude]

I don't see what is so bad about the current way of teaching. It is the job of the teacher to explain the lesson. Kids need face to face interaction while learning. Is it really good for them to stare at a screen all day? The class should converse and spend time talking with each other. Plus how ironic is it that the man saying education should change and adopt the iPad is the one who SELLS the iPad. What a salesman... I think we have done pretty well so far with the more affordable classic style of teaching...

 

[tdmartin102]

however I cannot see iPads being that useful in the teaching of maths or physics!

I agree that we can get carried away with technology and loose our focus on the basics of teaching, but I feel the iPad (or similar) could be a VERY strong aid for teaching math and physics . There are many apps that interactively demonstrate physics and mathimatical concepts that very effectively help a student understand the formula or law instead of just memorizing it.

 

[CoolSpot]

I don't believe anything that has Steve Jobs wanting to give stuff away. Apple is about making money before any other concerns.

 

[Shrink]

There is more to a teacher than standing in front of the room lecturing, although that is part of current teaching.

I had teachers who took great interest in their students, along the lecturing. I had a teacher who saw in me a very unhappy, very bright kid. His interest helped my to value the gifts that I had, which were the target of derision by many classmates. He valued and respected my interest in philosophy at an age when not many of my peers valued it. He was an important influence in my life.

This is not to suggest that the use of electronic devices would not be a wonderful tool in the classroom. The amazing ability to have instantly updated, interactive "textbooks" would be a marvel.

But part of what has not changed about education for millennia is still valuable - the student-teacher interaction. I'm not suggesting that this would be eliminated in the "iPad classroom". I am only concerned that in the education "revolution", the baby is not thrown out with the bathwater.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Steve's vision wasn't on the mark with this one. A mixed solution of lecture hall, followed by teaching assistants to rigorous group projects will save education far more than switching from a Textbook to an iPad.

Having the iPad with inexpensive textbooks is a nice step for school districts to reduce their costs on such procurements.

However, application in all subject matters that require team interaction to individual projects is the best application towards understanding any subject matter.

You learn a language and become proficient in it through repetitive application. Repeat and rinse with all subjects, especially mathematics and applied sciences.

Multiple Guess Exams should be banned at all levels of academia, including the University level.

 

[guzhogi]

Just thought of this clip from the 4th season of "The Wire": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdPInPySbiw

"Trick them into not thinking they're learning and they do."

Also thought of something the iPad can't really teach: physical education/gym. Sure, it can show you how to throw a baseball, do a gymnastics routine on balance beam or whatever, but that doesn't really make you an expert. With this, you learn by doing.

 

[Derpage]

Just thought of this clip from the 4th season of "The Wire": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdPInPySbiw

"Trick them into not thinking they're learning and they do."

Also thought of something the iPad can't really teach: physical education/gym. Sure, it can show you how to throw a baseball, do a gymnastics routine on balance beam or whatever, but that doesn't really make you an expert. With this, you learn by doing.

Most schools don't require PE anymore. LoL.

 

[guzhogi]

Most schools don't require PE anymore. LoL.

Where I live, state law requires PE everyday. Kinda glad because think how much fatter we'd be without it.

 

[CFreymarc]

Every attempt at changing the paradigm of the American school system in the public sector has been stopped by teachers unions. There were even attempts at prosecuting home schooling and private, non-union schools for not meeting "standards" which is mostly about a teacher keeping seniority, not keeping up with the times and more interested in their three months of paid vacation and pension. Get rid of the teachers unions, put in achieved professionals in the school that know how to make product and we will have improvement.

 

[Winni]

Thts why kdz tlk lk ths thse dyz gotta fit evrythng so I can tweetz. Basic communication skills are going down the drain because all kids do is email, instant message, tweet, and facebook. Pretty soon reading will disappear because Siri will read it for me! As humans we are starting to rely way to much on technology to do things our brains used to do.

When Dan Simmons wrote about "the reading function" in his book Ilium, I'm not sure he had Siri and iPads in mind, but the similarities are clearly there - including the consequences.

But of course Steve Jobs favored technology over teachers. After all that people wrote and said about him, he apparently was never any good with fellow human beings.

When future generations of tablets actually will turn into Harry Potter-style "magical" books, they might actually be able to truly replace books as we know them today. But even an android as smart as C3-PO won't ever be able to replace a human being when it comes to the social aspects of teaching. Yes, I know that most teachers suck, and so do doctors, programmers, accountants, bankers, bakers, cooks and all other professions. But there are still good ones out there. And even as much as most "wetware" on the net wants to completely dissolve into a digital form of being, we still need human interaction.

 

[CFreymarc]

Just thought of this clip from the 4th season of "The Wire": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdPInPySbiw

"Trick them into not thinking they're learning and they do."

Also thought of something the iPad can't really teach: physical education/gym. Sure, it can show you how to throw a baseball, do a gymnastics routine on balance beam or whatever, but that doesn't really make you an expert. With this, you learn by doing.

The overall problem is the grade systems and grouping performance and reward by age. Some kids take longer. Others are smarter than the teachers, bored and "a problem" for the school. Most western schools are based off a public school system designed in the Industrial Revolution that was designed to create large amounts of minimally educated individuals for military and industrial jobs.

What's needed is a system where each student learns at their own pace, is allowed to work and be profitable at a younger age and enjoy their chosen profession. The current high school generation is full of entrepreneurs making very good money off eBay, selling downloadable apps and even their own artwork. In come cases, the teens are making more money than the parents who are out of work not finding traditional jobs. I know one case where one teenage software developer is in the middle of an emaciation action to keep his parents from taking the money he's earning from on-line software development contract sites.

Get the government off these kids backs and they will thrive!

 

[lilcosco08]

Who needs to do math when they can just use the wolfram alpha app?

 

[Shambles]

Whilst being pretty cool, this idea would just add to the number of obese lazy people in the world. There's far more important things money should be spent on in the school system.

 

[JAT]

how will they be able to keep them on task and off games?

You can't do that with my kid, now, he reads in class. (from books, made out of paper) And he's even in a special school where they cater to kids like him. He went a whole month doing no classwork in one class, his teacher was ready to kill him.

A book, an iPad, a kid walking by in the hall, it doesn't matter. Distractions will be found, teachers have to be able to deal with them.

 

[guzhogi]

Every attempt at changing the paradigm of the American school system in the public sector has been stopped by teachers unions. There were even attempts at prosecuting home schooling and private, non-union schools for not meeting "standards" which is mostly about a teacher keeping seniority, not keeping up with the times and more interested in their three months of paid vacation and pension. Get rid of the teachers unions, put in achieved professionals in the school that know how to make product and we will have improvement.

I agree, unions can be a little anti-change, but so can employers. While I am in a union, there's a lot of stuff I agree with that the union does, and a lot of stuff I disagree with. I wouldn't say I'm really pro-union or anti-union, I just believe everyone involved (employers & employees and anyone else involved) should be treated fairly & safely. If someone's doing great job, reward them. If someone is doing lousy, discipline them. Make sure there's due process and make the the working conditions safe and all should do good. I'd say more, but it belongs in the PRSI area probably.

Yes, I know that most teachers suck, and so do doctors, programmers, accountants, bankers, bakers, cooks and all other professions.

I don't know about "most". Just saying.

 

[kayloh20]

Unless I'm missing something (which might be because I don't use it), can't the school just enable parental controls and block Safari, AppStore, etc.?

Not to mention it's easy to see if someone's playing games on a computer in the computer lab...iPad even easier.

 

[Sixtafoua]

"Steve Jobs Schools"
oh, god.

 

[palmerc2]

This will be just too much technology in our lives. Right now kids barely talk to their friends face to face or even their neighbors, now with this they won't talk to anyone.....

Technology is great, don't get me wrong....but it has gone too far in the sense the human element is gone of communication between one another. One time I saw 6 kids sitting at a table with their parents at the bar, not once in 45 minutes did they look up from their phones and say anything to each other.

 

[SeattleMoose]

Imagine....

We are moving quickly to a point where it will be technologically feasible to have the world's very best teachers reach not just their local classroom, but classrooms around the world.

Why have legions of tired deadbeat teachers simultaneously teaching THE SAME EXACT THING and doing it poorly. All the people who should never have been "educators" in the first place, will be replaced by the very best teachers in the school district (or even the whole state or country).

New educational paradigms could be applied to public schools, colleges, and even VoTech (but to a lesser extent since much of Votech is "hands on"). The coming educational revolution will change everything....and put a lot of teachers, physical textbook manufacturers, and administrators out of work. And even teacher "training" will have to change. For "natural teachers" why even require a 4 year degree? Does jumping thru these hoops make you a "good teacher"? Some people are just born with the gift to convey concepts clearly and succinctly.

New opportunities will arise for people who can invent the best ways to grab students attention, put their brains into "input mode" and convey information, concepts, and solid understanding of whatever it is to be conveyed

Will the teachers of the future put their videos and course materials on the "Education App Store?"

However it unfolds education will become cheaper, faster, more interactive, and most importantly, better for students.