<div>Thanks Roland - I really despair when I hear people ask "we've just bought a heap of interactive whiteboards/iPads/digital video software/wireless netbooks/whatever , can someone please tell me what we can use them for?"<br>
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<div>It's not just teachers who ask either...</div>
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<div>Ken<br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 12:15 PM, Roland Gesthuizen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rgesthuizen@gmail.com">rgesthuizen@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<p>Here is an important article with some serious stabs at our heavy investment in expensive virtual learning environments, costly electronic whiteboards, expensive commercial software upgrades and opressive IT departments that work so hard to cripple what can really be done by the end user. Interesting to consider the way forward hinted by mLearning, open source and student ownership of the hardware. Regards Roland</p>
<p><strong>Quotes:</strong></p>
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<p><a title="2010 October - feature: do schools need ICT?" href="http://diigo.com/0do0e" target="_blank">2010 October - feature: do schools need ICT?</a></p>
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<li style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.6em">Ian Yorston explains why the current investment in ICT doesn't pay "If you had to spend a million pounds, you'd really hope to have something to show for it. Yet most schools have spent at least that on ICT and get nothing obvious in return — aside from a few hundred PCs running Windows XP and a handful of smart gadgets."</li>
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<li style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.6em">If you had to spend a million pounds, you'd really hope to have something to show for it. Yet most schools have spent at least that on ICT and get nothing obvious in return — aside from a few hundred PCs running Windows XP and a handful of smart ! gadgets.
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<li style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.6em">Schools are different. They're different because they have invested millions of pounds in ICT for no obvious cost saving whatsoever.
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<li style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.6em">Valuable contact time has been offered up to teach ICT while staff training opportunities have been squandered on yet another integration of Microsoft Office or the introduction of an even newer, smarter, brighter VLE
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<li style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.6em">The real curiosity is that, even when the newest, fastest, coolest computers have been purchased, heads promptly sit down to draw up policy statements that effectively cripple the machines before they have even been booted up.
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<li style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.6em">Our schools are now a desert swept with the winds of yesterday's technology; meanwhile our students can be found drinking from an oasis of smartphones, smart apps and smart interfaces.
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<li style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.6em">Schools don't need ICT. It's coming through our doors every day. We just need to adopt and adapt a little bit.
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<p></p><a style="MARGIN: 5px 0px; FONT-SIZE: 10px" href="http://message.diigo.com/message/2010-october-feature-do-schools-need-ict-972983" target="_blank">Read more »</a>
<p style="FONT-SIZE: 9px">( <a href="http://message.diigo.com/message/2010-october-feature-do-schools-need-ict-972983" target="_blank">http://message.diigo.com/message/2010-october-feature-do-schools-need-ict-972983</a> )</p>
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