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Report: Computers 'Do Not Improve' Pupil Results
An anonymous reader writes:
A report issued by the UK's Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has evaluated how technology in classrooms affects test results, and found that the availability of computers provides "no noticeable improvement" to students' test scores. According to the report, "Students who use computers very frequently at school get worse results." Also, "high achieving school systems such as South Korea and Shanghai in China have lower levels of computer use in school." The organization warns that classroom technology can be a distraction if implemented unwisely, and it also opens the door to easy ways of cheating.
We've moved away from very expensive smartboards and higher-end computers in favor of cheap projectors, whiteboards, and chromebooks.
The chromebooks are strictly for web-research, writing, spreadsheets, and presentations.
The projectors help a teacher share content with a class during a lesson.
We have some iPads, but we only use them to run some special-ed specific reading apps. They do help the kids read material that would otherwise be very difficult for some.
The past few years have been filled with schools blindly deploying smartboards, iPads, and high end windows/apple laptops. Unfortunately many of these districts didn't put in enough support systems or integrate the technology into the curriculum. We are only deploying tech where we see tangible benefits to classroom activities.
I'm guessing you mean in the USA? This isn't generally true in the UK.
Yes it is, just in the opposite direction. In the UK, minorities in the cities are doing relatively well, and it is the white people in Northern England, and the Scottish Lowlands, that are failing.