Laptops and Education
From Wiki4dev
WaPo article: For Some, Laptops Don't Compute:
- "There have been studies that try to show that laptops and test scores are related," said Larry Cuban, professor emeritus of education at Stanford University. "There have been correlated rises but . . . no evidence to show that simply giving out laptops will raise test scores or close the achievement gap."
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Oversold and Underused
- IN his conclusion, Cuban lists three reasons for bringing computers into the classroom: to increase learning, to have students seize the means of education for themselves, and to prepare students for the New Economy. These separate agendas temporarily united parents concerned with their children's achievement, progressive-minded educators, and New Economy technophiles. But not one of these groups has gotten what they wanted. As Cuban points out, there has been little progress on any of these fronts. First, the connection between computers and improved achievement scores remains hotly debated by researchers. Second, children do not spontaneously teach themselves when set in front of a computer. And third, preparation for working in the New Economy has little to do with the trivial computer tasks being accomplished in American classrooms. As Cuban remarks in one of his less guarded passages: "E-learning in public schools has turned out to be word processing and Internet searches."
