99 per cent of Quebec kids using iPads in school find them totally distracting

o.canada.com

5 points·ojbyrne··2 comments

"“Some of the teachers were getting the iPad on the first day of school with their students, can you imagine? All the students were on Facebook, Twitter and the teachers were like, ‘Oh my God, this is not working,’ and blaming the technology because he or she was not ready,” said Karsenti, the Canada Research Chair for information and communication technologies in education."

My cousin was required to buy an iPad when he started secondary school (Grade 7). The teacher spent the first week trying to set up his own device.

I don't know how a tablet can prove useful given how most classes are taught in Quebec. You have to adjust how the teacher will interact with the student since the "teacher in front of the class" way won't work with iPads on every desk. I for one also don't listen as much when I have a screen in front of me.

If they're trying to close the gap between technology and learning, they're unfortunately not doing it right.

“You have teachers who are fully unaware of what’s going on in the classroom, they’re sitting reading their notes and the students are doing whatever they want.”

So there's at least some benefit. But a locked-down consumption-oriented device is wrong tool; the kids should have real computers.

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