Sunday, August 21, 2011

Laptops! Netbooks! Tablets! (and books..)

The past year or so,  a wide range of tablets, iPads, Galaxys, Xooms and more hit the streets.   Netbooks are making a splash splitting out the laptop market.  There are so many choices... it's mind boggling!


1.  Why don't we see more kids bringing these devices to school?  If there are so many devices out there ...who has them?  


2. What are the issues with the idea of parents buying digital devices for kids to bring to school? (Instead of paper, pencils, binders etc)


3. What about the school providing a digital device for each student?  What are the good points of this idea?  Bad points?  (Schools have only about $270/student to spend for books) 


Vote:  School vs. Parent 

4. So what's the best all around 'educational learning tool' for a high school student?  ipad?  other tablet?  netbook?  laptop?  book?  Why?

24 comments:

  1. 1. Kids probably own the devices but don't bring them to school because they are worried about getting caught with them. It's unfortunate because they really can help kids but our school prohibits it. I also think more college kids or just not the average kid has them.

    2. Some problems are how would kids turn in, say math homework? Sure we can do it all electronically but then ow can parents be sure kids are using them responsibly?

    3. Good points: Less paper waste, more technologically skilled kids, access to thousands of helpful programs
    Bad Points: Responsibility issues, Less money in the long run, Condition! (what if they break? technology isnt as reliable as actual books)

    4. Since I love technology and I'm comfortable with it I say that ipads would be cool because group collaboration would be easier. But there are a lot of cons so I think books are easiest because high schoolers can read!

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  3. 1) Like Emily said, I think that devices are very common among kids of all ages from elementary to high school. For so long there has been a "no toys and no distractions" mentality in schools that the thought of bring ipods and phones and laptops into the mix seem like too much for them. As long as students are given the chance to use them in class I don't see a problem with kids bring computer devices from home. They are personalized and comfortable with them.

    2) The biggest problem would be low income parents having to provide for their kids. It would prevent learning and set them out of the class. Secondly the computing devices they bring might not have the necessary hardware and software to do the class work. Once teachers embrace using computers classwork won't be an issue but upkeep of the technology will become more of a problem.

    3) Again, student computers might not be as reliable, capable, or stable. I think if schools encouraged kids to bring computers from home and had a backup cart for students who couldn't afford it, the school could save money while catering to all their kids. Using computer as an all in one text book is getting there but still not perfect. Using them as a complete replacement probably isn't a great idea just yet.

    4) I think the durability and dependable laptop is the best solution because it can be tailor fit to any program, purpose, or need. While iPads and notebooks are cool, they don't have the diversity of a full laptop.

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  4. 1. students need more education. i think that electronics would help boost learner amongst students. computers can also help teachers grade test better because some teachers might have problems reading students hand writing.
    2. it can make reaserch easyer and classroom work quicker so that u can teach more subjects to the students. some teachers have to cram things to gether witch makes it hard on the students to remember things.
    3. students should be at a 3.0 or higher grade point averagege. there has been an increase in failing or droped out students each year or there are students who have a grade point average of 1.5 or lower.
    4.

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  5. 1. I think they aren't being brought to because some might be concerned about it getting taken away during class, or theft. Also, these tablets range from $300 to $600 which is a hefty chunk of change. I think only the die-hard tech people and the rich are the ones buying them.

    2. I think if parents have the means to buy their children tablets, laptops, etc. for school they should do so. Now the child needs to be taught when it's the appropriate time to use these devices, and they also should learn to use them responsibly.

    3. If the school can get the funding for electronics, then they should absolutely exploit its benefits. Allowing students to have access to the internet is essential for most research or projects they may be working on. Now some of the students may be technologically savy, and abuse their privilages. The students may not even have a care in the world about the devices at their disposal, and abuse them physically because it's not their property.

    4. I think a laptop would be the best device for a student because of its versatility. Although, the App Store and Android Market offer a large range of school related apps. I think the capabilities of a laptop out-weigh the usefulness of apps because a laptop is built to to do multiple tasks, store important information, and make all of these easy to do on the go. Ohh, I almost forgot to mention, a laptop has a "Keyboard".

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  6. 1. Well, first of all, these devices are pricy and they take a lot of care to be functional. Plus, these devices are easily breakable, i believe that maybe parents and students do not want them to be broken, or in most cases, stolen by people with greed.

    2. Although these devices can be very useful, as i explained above, they are also very risky, a parent would not be open to buy another one if a student lost,broke the original, so i think this plays the key factor in this

    3.I think that might not be a bad idea, although it would be extremely expensive, just a normal notebook would be any were from 400+ dollars and it also has a certin trust issue with some student who might misuse these advantages

    4. Most definently an laptop, nothing can beat something that can access almost anything, wether it is documents, the internet, or online books, you pretty much have the whole world in a device, so it can be very easy to use this.

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  7. 1. The number one reason why I would not bring a netbook (or even my iPod) to school is because it will get stolen. When it comes to expensive new-end technology it draws a lot of attention. I can hardly keep a pencil for the day without it getting stolen, much less something as valuable as a netbook.

    2. I can’t really see parents buying their kids netbooks for school. They are expensive and I’m sure that most parents would rather not have to buy and insure a netbook, tablet, or any high-end technology for their high school student. Parents would reject the idea of children needing computers from home in an educational environment.

    3. Schools would need to have a far greater organizational ability in order to make this plausible. The current system with laptop carts is a great way to get a class online in the classroom without buying each kid a laptop. There are many ways teachers could use a tool as immense as a computer and the internet, and unlike a book you can get the newest latest information. There are, however, many downsides to giving kids the freedoms that come with a computer and it would be impossible to prevent abuse. Number one downside would be the distraction of the entire internet.

    4. The best learning tool is also the most dangerous. The internet can be a teacher’s partner in crime but can also be a teacher’s enemy. There simply isn’t enough time in the day to teach students everything that they should or could know. That is why teachers try to encourage learning outside of just what is taught in the classroom. You can’t learn in class about every battle in the First World War, but the information is all there for anyone interested enough to look at it. The main job of a teacher is not just to cram as much information as possible by the end of the year, but to promote education and the expansion of knowledge. For that reason the internet is the best tool for educational learning. However for the same reasons that make the internet good for learning it’s also very distracting. It’s easy to go from Egypt to the worship of cats to domesticating cats to lolcats; so what started with Cleopatra ends with “I can haz cheezberger? Plz k thx bai.”

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  8. . The main reason we do t see kids bringing them to school is price. The devises usually cost a lot and not everyone can afford a device like that. Paper and pencils are much more cost effective but at the same time they don’t offer the same amount of tools as computer would. People who have a moderate income can afforded these but others who are not as well of wouldn’t be able to afforded them.

    2. The main issue would probably be the kids misusing them in class. Kids already get in trouble with I-Pods and cell phones. It would be very tempting for one of the kids to log on to a website instead of paying attrition. Another issue would be theft if they weren’t taking care of properly they would very likely be stolen.

    3. The good points of providing laptops for every student is it would let everyone have the same technology available. The main problem however would be the price. Schools can barley afford what they have now adding theses expensive prices of technology that if are damaged are unless unlike a book which could be used almost till it falls completely apart.

    4. The best educational tool for a high school student would be a laptop but there isn’t a cost effective way to supply individuals with them. Books are much more cost effective and at this time they are the better choice for most high school students.

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  9. 1. Anyone out there whose rich enough and is willing to pay the absurd ammount of money it costs for those items.

    2. Most kids who get those devices from their parents use them irresponsibly at school. If a kid was given a laptop for school, they would use it constantly for personal enjoyment.

    3. Technical devices can be broken easier than a book. Also, like I stated before, a lot of kids would just use them for personal enjoyment instead of school projects, homework, etc.

    4. It has no apps. You can't flip through tabs. The internet can't be accessed from it. It's a book. Humans have used them for several centuries and accomplished so much. Books seem to be the better choice for school in my opinion.

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  10. 1. Students don't bring electronic devices to school for several reasons. The most probable reason is that they either do not have electronic devices due to financial issues or simply do not want them. Another reason is that most students don't want to risk their pricey electronics being stolen. Ipods and phones are stolen on a daily basis, just think if students started take something even more valuable like an ipad or a laptop. The third, and final reason I wish to propose, is the fact that teachers and administrators frown upon the use of electronic devices due to the gaming aspect they have. A majority of students would simply fail the class and play video games or check Facebook.

    2. The problem with parents buying digital devices instead of school supplies is that most families do not have the money to afford to buy a $500 ipad or a $1000 laptop for their child. If the school required the purchase of these items, even a $200 chrome notebook, families would be even worst off in this economy. Not to mention the point I made in the first question about how these electronic devices would be stolen or misused.

    3. If the schools were to buy each student a digital device by using the $270 allotted to buying books then they would, by default, have to provide an electronic text book system. This means that the school would most likely have to get notebooks or laptops that could access electronic text books. For only $270 the options are slim.

    4. I think the best option is for kids to use the good old fashion books for a lot of their class work and then throw in technology and use it's benefits. If personal laptops are used then the school would have to expand and put even more restriction on it's networks to stop abuse of technology. This, in my opinion is not worth the cost. Books do a job and do it well, so don't replace them. Find the weakness in book (ex. no audio/video) and use technology to supplement that.

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  11. 1) I believe the reason why student do not bring these devices to school is well 1, the schools frown upon some of these devices. 2. they are quite expensive and who wants them stolen? 3. Parents do not want students to lose, damage, or have these things stolen from them!

    2) One well known issue with students bringing these devices to school is the fact that the devices can cause a distraction to learning! With all the social networking sites, many students kinda have an addiction!

    3) A good thing is if schools provided these devices, student teacher connections will increase, and more homework will be turned in. A downside is that is the student where to damage, lose, or steal the device, it would cost the school tons of money to upgrade, repair, or replace!

    4) I would think the new apple Ipad or any flat touch screen device is great for learning. Teachers would be able to see what the students are doing when it is laid down on the table, and they only require fingers! Students can draw out problems and use them on the internet!

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  12. we dont see kids bringing computers and other electronics to school because the kids dont want thier electronics getting stolen. the people at school with computers and electronics are teachers because teachers use them for showing classes projects and research.
    one of the only issues that there are with parents buying thier kids electronics and bringing them to school is that the people who cant afford them will feel left out or try to steal the electronics.
    if the school provided them noone would feel left out and try to steal them. it would also be a lot easier to do school work research projects and do projects.
    the best learning tool for a highschool would be a laptop so you can do projects, research, and other school work. that is just what i think

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  13. 1. I think that as the previous people have commented, these new additions to the market are both valuable and breakable. People are afraid that they might be stolen or broken while changing classes or dropping backpacks. I think that the majority of tablet owners would be parents and rich kids.

    2.If the parents were to buy tablets for their students, they would not want to have the students bring them to school to be broken. They are worth a big chunk of cash and might be picked up by some greedy person. The parents wouldn't want to have to buy another one if the student broke it.

    3. I think that it would be a waste of money for the school system many tablets are over the pre alloted amount of $270 and many would probably break. Some students would lose them or might not even know how to use it.

    4. I think that a laptop is the way to go for an educational learning device. It has internet access and a keyboard for typing up a report. It is a great all-around device that has uses for everything.

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  14. 1)I'm sure a majority of kids have iPods or at least an MP3 but it's a risk to bring electronics worth hundreds to thousands of dollars to School. School isn't a safe place to bring such marvels. Also, they can't be as utilized in school as some would wish. It's just a hassle to bring anything bigger than an iPod to school.

    2)The issue is that in certain areas, like the Scottsdale area, parents have plenty of money to but laptops, but in the moral rural or intercity schools, parents don't have nearly enough money for electronics. The poorer community would suffer harshly while the rich would, essentially, get richer. Also, laptops would have much different specs. AMD processors to Intel Processors, internal graphics v. graphics card. No laptops would be performing the same.

    3) Unfortunately schools don't have enough money to buy laptops for every student. They would also get trashed very quickly. Even electronics that stay at school get trashed. Lending them out for a year then giving them to the next set of kids while upgrading about every 3-4 years would be acceptable, but the schools would need much more funding.

    4) It depends a lot on the students needs per class. Engineering kids would need much better computers, almost certainly the power you could only receive from towers. English kids would only need a netbook, as would the average student. A laptop would almost certainly do the best 'all-around' job for students.

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  15. 1: kids do not bring them to school because they dont want them to get stolen. The people that have them are just anyone, your average person.

    2: I think it would be a problem if the parents are not able to purchase them because they cant afford them it is understandable. Although technology is not perfected, so their could be kids not able to complete an assignment.

    3 : Tech devices are easier to break then books obviously. So they would be a waste of money for the school and our schools right now dont have enough money to buy all those devices for each kid.

    4: I still think that a laptop is the best because you can easily search up something that you need an answer for.

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  16. 1) Most kids have these things. But do not bring them to school because they do not want to get caught with them and get them taken away by staff. Some kids might also be worried about getting these things stolen from them.

    2) For some classes, using electronics might help the kids complete work, like in they had to turn in a paper for class. They can search up the subject, and some people have bad hand writing so typing it would help their work be more legible, and most people are faster at typing than they are at writing.

    3) I think we could use iPod Touches. The 4th generation ipods are great with almost anything that you will need for passing a class. You can search thing on the web. You can write your papers and send them to your teacher though an email. You can write thing in your calendar and that could act as your daily planner. And there are sites that you could go on and view your school books if you needed to. And cost wouldn't be too much of a problem. You said they spend around $270 per student on books. On the apple website, i've seen it say that the 4th generation iPods a going for around $229. And that is the 8G, which would be a good amount of memory for the average student. But, books may be more durable.

    4) I would say laptops. A laptop could do anything that you would need in a classroom. Presentations, essays, research, etc.

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  17. 1. people dont bring them to school, because they will get stolen.

    2. paper, pens and pencils cost a lot less than an $700 ipad 2. Also what device will the parents buy? it would have to be an ipad (tablet everyone knows about) which not everyone can afford.

    3. If the school cant afford the basics like pens and pencils, how can they afford a $700 tablet. They also become out dated every year.

    4. I think the best educational tool is the ipad.

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  18. 1. Kids do not bring laptops and tablets to school because they are afraid they will get stolen.
    2. The issues with parents buying their kids laptops and tablets is there is a temptation to use them for non-school activities. Also teachers are stuck in the past with paper.
    3. the good thing is with the online books they are much cheaper and are not as heavy to lug around. The bad thing is laptops cost more than 270$...
    4. The best educational tool is the ipad because it has many exclusive educational apps, like the one that shows constellations that you are pointing your ipad at.

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  19. 1. I think that the reason that we don't see kids bringing these devices to school is because they might be stolen.
    2. Well the issue that I see with parents buying electronics for school instead of pencils and stuff is that the might be stolen and most people don't have the money to buy the expensive devices.
    3. I think that the school and the students could benefit from using technology instead of using paper and books and stuff. But on the other hand it is pretty expensive to give every student a notebook or laptop. I think that the school and the parents should go 50/50.
    4. I still think that the laptop is the best for school purposes but they are pretty expensive.

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  20. 1.Kids dont bring there laptops because they dont want them stolen or being made fun of.
    2.The parents dont have enough money or there afraid of there kids playing wow all daylong.
    3.The kids might break there laptops, and probably use them for everything but school. They could lower book prices, and kids backpacks.
    4.Probably the laptop because you can do everything on the internet.

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  21. 1. I don't think we see these devices at school because these item are a bit expensive and the idea of them being stolen or taken away during class is always a thought in the student's head.
    2. The issue with students' parents buying them laptops is because of the cost and worry that they will be stolen.
    3. The problem with the schools providing laptops for their students is that students will take advantage of this and use it for non-school purposes or they won't take as much care of them as they would a laptop that was bought by their parents. But the school providing laptops would also be good because the students would always have their work on their laptops so they can have it all the time.
    4. If laptops we not so expensive I believe that they would be the way to go. If each student was provided with one they would always have their work with them.

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  22. 1. I think only people who have money and really want a tablet or netbook because there vary expensive They don't want to get them stolen at school.

    2 Paper and binders pencils ect. are cheap technology is not we would have people who can't afford it.

    3. Yet again it would be really expensive while books are somewhat cheap

    4 Most likely the ipad or netbook because kids look more at technology than books so if we put books on ipads that would be great but expensive

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  23. 1.The reason kids don't bring the tech to school is because they don't want it stolen or their parents don't want them stolen. The people who have them are people who like technology.

    2.Parents don't see ho their kid can use technology for school. They think they will just mess around during class if they have say like a laptop to take notes.

    3. Schools should have computers weather they are desktop or laptop because if the school has only $270 per student computers will be cheaper because computer will last longer then a book.

    4.I think a laptop is the best learning tool because you can have apps, take notes, and look up things on the internet with out having to deal with the touch screen.

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  24. 1) There are so many students with these devices it is just mind boggling. They don't bring them to school due to the fact they are so expensive with such a high risk of being stolen.

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