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发帖数: 19398 | 1 Technology is doing more harm than good in schools'
From The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday, April 1, 2016. See http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/the-reality-is-that-technology-is-doing-more-harm-than-good-in-our-schools-says-education-chief-20160330-gnu370.html#ixzz44xdVlNHh
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'The reality is that technology is doing more harm than good in our schools'
says education chief
By Eryk Bagshaw
Private, Catholic and public schools are reducing their reliance on laptops
and tablets following a damning international assessment and concerns over
the impact of social media on learning.
"The reality is that technology is doing more harm than good in our schools
today," the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's
education chief Andreas Schleicher told world leaders at a global education
forum this month.
Last week, John Vallance, the principal of one of Sydney's most expensive
private schools, Sydney Grammar, said that laptops were not necessary in
class and that more traditional teaching methods were more effective.
Schools in the Catholic sector are also moving away from laptop centred
learning after an OECD report found that countries which have invested
heavily in education technology have seen no noticeable improvement in their
performances in results for reading, mathematics or science.
Australia has spent $2.4 billion putting laptops in the bags of as many
schoolchildren as possible through the Digital Education Revolution of the
Rudd and Gillard governments.
"Education is a bit like the stock market, it overshoots." said St Paul's
Catholic College principal Mark Baker. "Computers have been oversold and
there is no evidence that it improve outcomes. Giving out laptops was the
educational equivalent of putting pink batts in people's roofs".
Mr Baker said every school in NSW has become a Google or an Apple school. "
If I put McDonald's signs all over the school saying McDonald's was bringing
you education, there would be an outcry."
The Manly school has banned laptops for one day a week in an effort to get
pupils out onto the sporting field and away from LCD screens. "If you say
that at an education meeting you are branded as an educational dinosaur,"
the principal of 17 years told Fairfax Media.
Public school Hunters Hill High also has a relaxed approach to laptop based
learning, parents say, with students able to opt for textbooks in the
classroom and typing up assessments at home, in line with Department of
Education policy that allows decisions around technology to be made at a
school level.
While laptops have brought a plethora of resources to the fingertips of
students, educators remain concerned about their use as tools of distraction.
"The problem is maturity," Mr Baker said. "They are very good at using
technology for social interaction but not for learning."
A new survey of 1000 young adults has found that 39 per cent obsessively
compare their life and achievements to others on social media, according to
the Optus Digital Thumbprint program.
Mother of three Katrina Chambers said that removing the technology from
parts of the day was about teaching children to switch off.
"They can get really uptight about what everyone else is doing online, my
eldest can get a bit agitated," said Mrs Chambers, who has three boys aged
under 14.
"You can tell them they can't go out but then their Snapchat next day is
full of 15 things that they missed out on."
Mr Baker believes that removing the centrality of the laptop in the
classroom might be the first step in getting that balance back.
"Parents expect schools to have the technology," he said. "The issue is the
appropriateness. Anyone who says we should stop using textbooks is peddling
dangerous nonsense."
Education leaders agree: "If we want our children to be smarter than a
smartphone then we have to think harder," Mr Schleicher said.
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SIDEBAR VIDEO: Schools snoop on all pupils' online activity. School
supplied computers, laptops and tablets are being watched closely for any
sign of radicalisation or bullying according to Australian principals
federation
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SIDEBAR PHOTO: St Pauls students Aiden Helu, Bailey Miller and Jasper
Toshack . Photo: James Brickwood
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SIDEBAR PHOTO: Andreas Schleicher of the OECD is concerned about falling
Australian standards. Photo: Jeffrey Glorfeld
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SIDEBAR PHOTO: St Pauls Principal Mark Baker. Photo: James Brickwood
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