Comment Laptops for Teachers (Score 1) 340
I'm a high school mathematics teacher, typing this on one of the Toshiba laptops that my school leases for each full-time staff member. I think this is the right way to go: providing laptops for students would be extremely expensive and (more importantly) of dubious educational benefit. But providing laptops to teachers offers potential benefits in terms of school administration that allow me to be a better teacher.
The programme was only begun this year, and efforts are currently focussed on getting classrooms wired to the school network and in providing training to the teachers (a very wise decision was made to employ a full-time trainer). Currently, I'm using the laptop mostly to record student achievement, to e-mail other teachers, and to access the school's database of student information (timetables, class rolls, contact details for parents, and so forth). By the end of the year, I will be able to provide up-to-date information to the school office on student attendance, and automate production of reports.
All of these things are timesavers, allowing me to spend less time on administration and more time interacting with students. In a classroom of twenty to thirty students, the amount of time I can spend paying attention to each individual student is limited, and anything that increases it has a direct educational benefit to the students.
- Pogo
The programme was only begun this year, and efforts are currently focussed on getting classrooms wired to the school network and in providing training to the teachers (a very wise decision was made to employ a full-time trainer). Currently, I'm using the laptop mostly to record student achievement, to e-mail other teachers, and to access the school's database of student information (timetables, class rolls, contact details for parents, and so forth). By the end of the year, I will be able to provide up-to-date information to the school office on student attendance, and automate production of reports.
All of these things are timesavers, allowing me to spend less time on administration and more time interacting with students. In a classroom of twenty to thirty students, the amount of time I can spend paying attention to each individual student is limited, and anything that increases it has a direct educational benefit to the students.
- Pogo
