Re: [LUG] Penzance School spends £300,000 on an iPad for every pupil

[tom <tompotts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 04/11/11 09:53, Jack Oley wrote:

You make some good points, Anthony.  I was also somewhat disturbed to read about the head saying that  "perhaps"  iPads will "replace pens and paper".  This is a learning establishment we're talking about here, isn't it?!  IT should enhance aspects of traditional learning (and vice versa), not be a sweeping, gratuitous replacement.  It seems that some people think that IT is some sort of panacea or holy grail.   Jack.   Teacher and ITophile.

> Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2011 08:36:38 +0000
> From: anthony@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [LUG] Penzance School spends £300,000 on an iPad for every pupil
>
> Hi,
>
> This was in the Cornishman yesterday:
>
> http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Cornwall-school-gives-pupil-teacher-iPad/story-13743002-detail/story.html
>
> 

IT CAN be a panacea and a holy grail. I would personally say that it will, in the long term, replace a huge amount of the current teaching experience.
Currently it is being used by the deluded/dishonest* and/or greedy to try and foist proprietary wares on people to generate revenue streams.
As a teacher make your lessons HTML and sharealike them so other teachers and students can use them, share them and improve them. If we can get teachers to share lessons rather than every teacher spending their lives preparing the (nearly) identical lessons that every other teacher is preparing then perhaps teachers can get around to teaching.
If we continue to make it easy for companies to introduce these toxic methods into schools we'll keep going backwards.
Tom te tom te tom

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