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Nearly 50,000 Students in Glasgow, Scotland to Receive Free iPads to Assist With Education
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Oh I understand and agree with these general concerns. I was mainly looking for a few examples with some measurable outcomes.See post #43 above. The evidence we have is that this kind of thing will have a modest impact. The question, though, is whether that impact justifies the money relative to other initiatives that might be undertaken, such as hiring more teachers or providing better salaries for teachers so that they are truly valued as the professionals they are.
Let me put it this way: What do iPads solve that books, good verbal teaching, and interacting directly with students does not? The University I work at is over half a millennium old, and when I hear the pro-IT guys spout off about the benefits of these machines to education I think 'My god. How did we ever survive the last 500+ years without IT?'.
70,000+ Scottish students are being set up for failure. Elsewhere in the world 5th grade students are being exposed to Linux, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, etc. to prepare for the real world while 12th grade Scottish students are still toying with iOS. Officials there must not care about the future of their children or are getting kickbacks like the Los Angeles Unified School District scandal. In comparison, even a $55 Raspberry Pi 4 is a much better real world educational tool.
It's telling that people have been calling Apple products "toys" since the Apple ][.
Raspberry PI? Why saddle them with that underpowered piece of junk. Just give them Windows 10, Office and be done. You know, "real" tools for "professionals" who do "real work."
Some background not in the main article:
The iPads were agreed two years ago as part of the deal CGI did to take over the contract to run the council’s already-outsourced IT. That’s the 7-year, £300m bit, to run all the council IT, not just roll out iPads.
The same, or similar deal is also happening in another Scottish council’s schools.
No idea why this became news today, the Council made announcements about it ages ago. Somehow it seems to have gained traction today. Even the other council doing this as well has already put out press info about their 30,000 (from memory) iPad rollout.
The iPads were agreed two years ago as part of the deal CGI did to take over the contract to run the council’s already-outsourced IT. That’s the 7-year, £300m bit, to run all the council IT, not just roll out iPads.
The same, or similar deal is also happening in another Scottish council’s schools.
No idea why this became news today, the Council made announcements about it ages ago. Somehow it seems to have gained traction today. Even the other council doing this as well has already put out press info about their 30,000 (from memory) iPad rollout.
This is the same thing as if my company lent me a Ferrari to come to work, but I can't go past 20mph and no one will know I have one. Doesn't make a difference.
Children like iPads because they can watch the modern equivalent of Barney and bitch to their friends about Mom not letting them have McDonald's. Not because it's an iPad per se.
You give them an iPad that's entirely locked to only work with educational apps, you're taking the fun out of it. Doesn't work
Children like iPads because they can watch the modern equivalent of Barney and bitch to their friends about Mom not letting them have McDonald's. Not because it's an iPad per se.
You give them an iPad that's entirely locked to only work with educational apps, you're taking the fun out of it. Doesn't work
Off subject a bit, but a quick look at your link would seem to show that "Barnett Formula" being a bit of a ripoff for England.
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Glasgow is a terrible place? Have you been there? And where do you live that is so wonderful?
Usually the case with Glasgow City Council:
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17693008.glasgow-council-corruption-dossier-is-handed-to-police/
The councillors use a technique called arms-length companies which allows them to pay themselves or their friends high amounts for contracts and keep it all secret. One day it'll all be exposed and I've heard almost everyone in the council is in on it.
This deal has all the hallmarks of this scam since it was awarded illegally:
https://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/new...-council-illegally-awarded-it-contract-to-cgi
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news...al-to-foreign-firm-is-a-betrayal-of-scotland/
Audit Scotland said that 97 staff employed by CGI had actually been hired by a senior CGI director through his recruitment company.
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If you goal is to train them to be an office drone, then Windows 10 and Office might be appropriate, for some sort of vocational training. If you're trying to teach them to think, to learn, to understand how a computer works, and why, a Raspberry Pi (the "i" is not capitalized, it's not an acronym) is a fabulous, and extremely cost-effective tool. Learning Windows only teaches you how to work with Windows. And plenty of offices don't use Windows these days.
(Your last sentence is either quite sarcastic, or written by someone who doesn't know what quotation marks mean.)
Given the post right above yours, I find your comment to be very pro-GOP. I'm not sure if that was your intention though.
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This right here. We want to teach the kids things. Literacy, math and analytical skills, science, languages, civics, etc. They should. Public schools are not supposed to be training grounds in cube farm office equipment. So many people lose sight of that and just want to sit elementary kinds in front of MS office and teach them to be office drones.
£300 million does seem to be quite a lot of money for £12 million worth of iPads.
But the article didn't say that the £300 mil was only for the iPads. It said the iPads were part of a larger deal. Presumably it's a whole bunch of things (they also mention putting in WiFi infrastructure, but one would expect there's a lot more than that).
Wrong. English taxpayers will be paying for it like they do everything else in Scotland and Wales.
I am also a university teacher and I see your point. There is a good positiv correlation between those that uses pen and paper and the subsequent grades. That being said, videos and animations can help reverse the class room so you actually interact with students in project rather than lecture. I am fine with letting the computers replace standard lecturing and teaching content, but problem solving and development of creativity (yes creativity is core also in STEM subjects) is better done by a good teacher.
Very good point with cost benefit analysis. 300 million pounds is a lot but actually not more that 1 more teacher per 50 students over a 5 year period if I have calculated correctly.
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I have worked in Glasgow and it is nice enough. It is not my favourite place to be but there are certainly many worse places in Britain than Glasgow and I think it has an unfair reputation.
Please explain.
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I think even the "unfair outdated reputation" label is outdated.
