Firstly, let us start by imagining; you have a science question. You have checked all the sources you have but you cannot figure out the answer to this question. You have asked your classmates but they all have the same problem. What would be the common solution among you and your classmates?
Check google! It gives you masses of sources in less than a second. Although some sources may not be reliable, as long as one possesses the skill to differentiate between reliable and non-reliable sources, it will become a breeze for you to find out the answer! Such technology right at our fingertips can really help us to improve.
Secondly, laptops are extremely welcome among all the students as it helps to enhance learning during lesson time itself. For example, some teachers use the Future School programme to their maximum benefit and productivity. For example, my IH teacher, Ms Yeo, asked us to do a project on google docs. This way, while we were doing our work on the google docs document, she could type in her feedback about our work on the google document. Such an instantaneous feedback would help us improve better, and faster as well.
Thirdly, there is another reason why laptops are extremely welcome: Who in the school does not enjoy the use of laptops over pen and paper? Would you rather complete a worksheet or an online quiz? Would you rather write an essay or type it out? Especially when one has to have constant corrections, typing just requires a little editing. It would be an extreme waste of time to rewrite a whole essay just due to a few mistakes.
However, nothing is perfect. With strengths come weaknesses. Firstly, the internet connection in the school is not very stable. At times, the internet does not work, and the online lesson is cancelled due to such lessons.
Also, during online lessons, even if the internet connection does work, the computers take very long to load. This takes up to ten minutes of the lesson, and thus leaves lesser time on work.
However, as we all know, the gist of the discussion was about students making use of the internet to do things that we are not supposed to do. Even though many precautions have been taken to prevent such actions, such as the placing of mirrors behind classrooms, some students are still taking the chance to go to various game websites.
Even with so many problems and weaknesses, the Future School programme's merits greatly outweigh its demerits. Thus I feel that the Future School programme should be continued, but it must be used with efficiency and control. For example, students could start up their computers immediately after the period before the online lesson is over, so that when the online lesson teacher comes in for the class, our computers are all fully prepared and ready.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI think that your blog post shows a lot of depth in thinking and I agree with some of the reasons you give about supporting Future School. I believe that technology is beneficial to the human race and can give us an edge in our education. However, I think that you missed out on the gist of the matter. For the Future School Programme to work, one needs to possess a lot of responsibility. This is extremely important because students need to know how to use the laptops for the right reasons and not abuse the privileges that they are provided with. Also, I don't really enjoy the Future School idea because we will lose out on our social skills and that is our loss when we apply for job interviews next time. In conclusion, I think that the Future School programme is a good initiative carried out by the school. however, there is an eminent need to balance between technology, and pen and paper.
Loo Nathanael (18)
Hi Wen Hong,
ReplyDeleteI think your post was quite in depth and expressed most of the major points. However, I feel that you were wrong in your analogy of a science question. The problem of Future School is not the use of laptops, but is the use of laptops in school. Why not use Google at home? Why do you need to bring your laptop to school to use Google?
Secondly,when you mention the use of Google Docs and Microsoft Word, sometimes I actually prefer pen and paper. For example, my Microsoft Word recently glitched and I was unable to edit documents, and in Google Docs, my group kept accidentally editing over each other.
I agree with Nathanael about the need for a balance of technology and pen and paper. I think that we cannot rely on either too much, and different situations call for different usage.
Kenneth Pay(20)
I agree with Kenneth's comment, that the question was never about the use of laptops, but where and when to use them. Anyway, I do know of several students who prefer the use of pen and paper as a medium of expressing themselves and submitting homework, as opposed to the use of online programmes. The former do not lag. There is a place and time for each medium.
ReplyDelete