[LINK] NSW Nettops for Students to Keep

[Richard Chirgwin]

Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> Tom Worthington wrote:
>   
>> However, my main concern is that no one seems to be worrying about 
>> what the computers are going to actually be used for. Even if the 
>> cost of running the computers is paid for, is anyone investing in 
>> content and training for the computers to be educationally useful?
>>   
>>     
> I agree. Learning to use a computer and having access to computers seems 
> to be a useful component of school education, but so are a lot of other 
> things. Why buy each student (and I assume all students who start school 
> from now on) a computer? What happens when new models issued? Will they 
> replace all those out there? If not, then it is likely that new and 
> younger students will have more powerful machines than older ones who 
> need computers for more advanced uses.
>
> Do schools or the government provide anything else of a similar nature? 
> Do they provide books, writing materials, sports equipment, uniforms?
>
> It all sounds like policy on the run to me. Not much thinking it through.
>   
Wow, an outbreak of everybody-agrees!

Including me. It was an inevitable outcome of long-term advocacy /
lobbying which put the machines at the centre of thinking. "Get
computers" instead of "create the right curriculum" was always
short-sighted and polluted by sales pitches.

Because of the way computing-in-schools has been pitched, the mere
existence of the computers themselves has become a "see, we care"
emblem; an easy and visible expression of a commitment which doesn't
really exist.

RC