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Re:Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (... by dmreedy on Thursday March 30, 2017 @05:15PM (#13998937)
The classic, cliché-for-a-reason recommendation here is Mindstorms by Seymour Papert. It discusses a very tangible, very realizable, ground-up system of education built on the foundation of the computer as a universal, interactive tool that can meet the needs of any learner. It's a very good read, and a very good starting place if you're curious about this sort of stuff, alongside parallel work from people like Alan Kay and his Dynabook. However, there is a lot of inertia behind the education institution, so even something actionable like the path described in Mindstorms still has a massive uphill battle of winning hearts and minds; just because it's a good idea in principle doesn't mean it's going to be a good idea in practice, or that it's worth the cost of investment when the current system is, under some definition, 'working'.

Still, like a lot of stuff coming out of Computer Science in the 60s, Papert et al. are a good place to go for raw inspiration channeled into consumable, actionable ideas.

Re:Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (... by Pulcinella on Thursday March 30, 2017 @08:21PM (#14000216)
This. I feel like the biggest problems in EdTech are Bret Victoresque. The problem with fetch isn't that the software and technology isn't user friendly enough. The problem is that most EdTech is fundamentally X-but on a computer. Write an essay, but on the computer. Create a presentation, but on the computer.

Technology needs to facilitate student learning in new, better ways, not just be paper version 1.1.

Even this low bar often trips up EdTech companies. Why is my lesson planning webapp still broken on mobile after 5 years? Why does my digital grade book require some many clicks to do anything? Why does Google classroom still not have a student view for teachers?

Re:Why Classroom Technology Is Costing More Than Its Worth (... by zepto on Friday March 31, 2017 @01:24PM (#14005983)
School is to learning as hospital is to health.