class room laptops

[idonovan]

it has been a wile since I was in school. Last time I went to school was high school and that was 10 years ago. Now im in collage. A laptop is a big part of the course. Wile I am in a classroom I still use a laptop for almost everything including ebooks and my notes. Highschool was of course the pen and paper and the heave books. Now I can sit in class on FB or SC wasting time during boring lectures and nobody even cares(btw i get grades all in 80s and 90s).... technology sure has changed our lives.
I cant wait till I have kids and they go to school. Apperently a lot of elementry Jn high and high schools all use laptops now too. It would be fun to say :"When I was in school I had to use a pen and paper..."
Anyway what are your thoughts about laptops in school?

[safielstar]

Depending on the school board and the individual school, they might use laptops a lot or only a little and rely just as much on paper/pencil methods as when you (and I) were in school.

I've been in elementary schools where they have portable laptop units that contain a class set of laptops and the kids use those for specific lessons or research projects (in schools where there's only one main computer lab). The high schools have a lot more classrooms that double as computer labs so they tend to use laptops a little less, but that's just in my board. We also rely more on interactive technologies like the Smartboards and First Class to keep the kids engaged during class and connected afterwards than on giving each kid a laptop to use.

I love it in principle 'cause kids can do things quicker on a laptop than using pencil/paper (the amount of time it takes kids nowadays to copy notes astounds me), but its hard to police unless you have one of those programs that lets you access each kid's desktop and control whether they're on game sites and such when they're supposed to be viewing a powerpoint presentation....If a kid's in post secondary I don't care if a they want to mess around on their laptop in lectures, but at the elementary and high school level I'd need to be able to control what they can access to make sure they're actually using the technology for its intended purpose and play games and check FB on their own time at home

On another note, I would absolutely love it if schools would use e-readers instead of actual textbooks, it would make for much lighter backpacks and less money spent having to replace worn out books.

[hollyquaiscer]

I taught in a junior high/high school for years, and up until I had to go on my disability, and probably even more now, the kids were using laptops in every class. We had a computer lab, but a lot of kids did all their work on their laptops and just emailed it to us. Pretty easy way to keep track up big projects and such.

My grandson is in kindergarten this year and in his classroom they have 10 computers. When I watch him after his morning at school, he will go on my DH's mac, he knows how to connect to the internet and how to find his file with all his things in it. It's amazing.

[Jasminenicole]

I'm currently studying human resources in University, and all the student enrolled in a business program were given Ipad's to use in class.

It's amazing the amount of technology we have and can use today.

[SmartShopper19]

haha im taking a legal assistant program and we use pen & paper in class,
i can't concentrate if i bring in my laptop

[idonovan]

I so prefer mine now. The reduction of weight of not needing to bring heavy books is great for me and my back problems

[Darth Penguin]

The BBC B was the first pc I ever came across. Our school had one but it was only for students of physics and mathematics. The rest of us just got a look at it.

When I moved in with DH, he had one and that was the first pc I ever used at home though where I worked had several running analytical equiptment.

Now looking at DH's tiny notebook....how times havae changed.

[idonovan]

yup i first used a commadore 64 i also still remeber the adds when they invented mice

[lekate]

I use my laptop a lot, but I know I learn and remember things better when I write them down with a pen and paper. The catch for me at least, is I broke my wrist when I was little and since then writing has been difficult for long periods of time (as in 3 hours lectures in university would kill!).