Even I'm surprised. Australian school dumps iPads for paper books.

[tvguy]

https://www.smh.com.au/education/ma...g_UkuRyf83hnr2XVo7ZFjgpRhzemr2qQ0BXCCTV5V85Qg

 

[MomOfDisneyPrincess]

Oh, if only DD's school would do this! I understand the reasoning behind going digital, but it has been a disaster for my daughter and I suspect plenty of others. I can't wait until summer when the silly thing gets turned back in and I don't have to fight with her about it for a little while. As a parent, I am completely powerless to help her with homework or even know what the assignments are in order to make sure they all get done. If you have a perfect kid who is a good student, it's probably working fine. But when you have a child with any kind of issue, it makes everything more difficult than it needs to be for both parent and child.

 

[Lumpy1106]

My daughter HATES the iPads. Reason is the homework - You are not done with the assignment until you have answered a certain number of questions in a row. You miss one, even if you just enter it with even one wrong symbol, and it bumps you back. It seemingly never ends. What's worse is she still carries around just as many books - it hasn't lightened her load one bit.

Totally agree with ^ too. I have no idea what my kids' homework is unless I grill them about it.

 

[wenrob]

Oh, if only DD's school would do this! I understand the reasoning behind going digital, but it has been a disaster for my daughter and I suspect plenty of others. I can't wait until summer when the silly thing gets turned back in and I don't have to fight with her about it for a little while. As a parent, I am completely powerless to help her with homework or even know what the assignments are in order to make sure they all get done. If you have a perfect kid who is a good student, it's probably working fine. But when you have a child with any kind of issue, it makes everything more difficult than it needs to be for both parent and child.

You don’t have something like Infinite Campus? All my kids assignments are posted there. I’m not understanding how it makes it impossible to help with homework. We bust out paper and pencil when needed and one of the upsides I’ve found to digital assignments is that if *I* don’t understand it there’s further explanation built in.

My daughter HATES the iPads. Reason is the homework - You are not done with the assignment until you have answered a certain number of questions in a row. You miss one, even if you just enter it with even one wrong symbol, and it bumps you back. It seemingly never ends. What's worse is she still carries around just as many books - it hasn't lightened her load one bit.

Totally agree with ^ too. I have no idea what my kids' homework is unless I grill them about it.

This sounds like one of the programs like Aleks where the idea is to practice. I’ve never had my kids bumped all the way back to the beginning though, a section, yes, but not the whole thing.

Disclaimer-I didn’t read the article.

My kids have Chromebooks for school. Before this I was happy if my son was able to pull C’s. Now he is a solid B student with an A or two. The Chromebooks make it easy for them to finish what they started in class at home and keep up with the class if they miss school. For us, they’ve made life easier.

 

[Colleen27]

Business Insider had an article a couple years back about a study that measured the differences in comprehension between paper and electronic resources that I found interesting enough to forward to our school principal, who is all about the move to e-textbooks and online resources. It is nice to see at least some schools acting on it.

I have such a love-hate relationship with the Chromebooks at DD10's school. On one hand, it has opened up possibilities they didn't have when they were limited to their on-site resources, like taking Japanese as her language (my second kid to do so). But on the other hand, I agree with the parent above that said it has make it difficult to keep tabs on homework assignments. That's partly because of how the teachers manage it. One ongoing problem is that students are expected to have a certain number of activities completed in certain programs per marking period, but the report from those sites aren't processed and updated in the grade book until the end-of-term due date so there's no way for me as a parent to tell if DD is falling behind. That would be fine in high school as a lesson in responsibility, but I think in 4th and 5th grade it is reasonable for parents to still have a more direct/interventionist supervisory role.

The other issue I have with it, specific to how DD learns but maybe not unique to her in light of the BI article/underlying study, is that her comprehension and retention is simply lower with all-digital activities. We first noticed it with spelling; she can pass all the spelling assignments all week long on her Chromebook and not remember how to spell a single word for the Friday test. But it also applies to other tasks of memorization, like times tables. So the transition to digital has put us in the position of expecting her to do her assigned homework plus additional paper assignments to boost her retention, which has been a battle at times. But I know the school is saving a small fortune on consumables and textbook upgrades thanks to the digital transition, so I don't think it'll go away any time soon.

 

[MomOfDisneyPrincess]

You don’t have something like Infinite Campus? All my kids assignments are posted there. I’m not understanding how it makes it impossible to help with homework. We bust out paper and pencil when needed and one of the upsides I’ve found to digital assignments is that if *I* don’t understand it there’s further explanation built in.


This sounds like one of the programs like Aleks where the idea is to practice. I’ve never had my kids bumped all the way back to the beginning though, a section, yes, but not the whole thing.

Disclaimer-I didn’t read the article.

My kids have Chromebooks for school. Before this I was happy if my son was able to pull C’s. Now he is a solid B student with an A or two. The Chromebooks make it easy for them to finish what they started in class at home and keep up with the class if they miss school. For us, they’ve made life easier.

No. I do not have access to assignments. Only the name of assignments and when they are due. Nothing that actually tells me what is supposed to be done with the exception of math. Some are paper assignments and if DD leaves them at school or looses them, I have no way of printing them off. The kids use Google classroom, but I don't have access to it unless DD logs on and I look over her shoulder. Many teachers don't even use the features in Skyward, so even that is useless st times. It does give me a list of missing assignments, but it only says, "Jackson Eras Federalist Papers"' or something like that. So what the assignment is remains a mystery.

If there are resources available that I don't know about, no one has bothered to enlighten me. I email teachers on a weekly basis, at least the problem classes, and have had numerous meetings with the principal and counselor. If I were missing something, I hope someone would have pointed it out by now. The school year is almost over.

 

[MrsDuck]

I think this is wonderful.

 

[Minnesota!]

Oh, if only DD's school would do this! I understand the reasoning behind going digital, but it has been a disaster for my daughter and I suspect plenty of others. I can't wait until summer when the silly thing gets turned back in and I don't have to fight with her about it for a little while. As a parent, I am completely powerless to help her with homework or even know what the assignments are in order to make sure they all get done. If you have a perfect kid who is a good student, it's probably working fine. But when you have a child with any kind of issue, it makes everything more difficult than it needs to be for both parent and child.

YES!!!!!!! I thought the iPads and such were GREAT ideas at first but they are surely not for any kid with issues (which my second one has). I never know who or what or when things are due. I don't have anything to reference without a book - all that is on the iPad is the assignment.

You don’t have something like Infinite Campus? All my kids assignments are posted there. I’m not understanding how it makes it impossible to help with homework. We bust out paper and pencil when needed and one of the upsides I’ve found to digital assignments is that if *I* don’t understand it there’s further explanation built in.


This sounds like one of the programs like Aleks where the idea is to practice. I’ve never had my kids bumped all the way back to the beginning though, a section, yes, but not the whole thing.

Disclaimer-I didn’t read the article.

My kids have Chromebooks for school. Before this I was happy if my son was able to pull C’s. Now he is a solid B student with an A or two. The Chromebooks make it easy for them to finish what they started in class at home and keep up with the class if they miss school. For us, they’ve made life easier.

We have infinite campus and that is not how it works for my older son. All that is listed is the assignment and the due date. No explanations (like a book would have), etc.

I have come to LOATHE it and I think it makes the kids lazier..

 

[Magical2017]

Oh, if only DD's school would do this! I understand the reasoning behind going digital, but it has been a disaster for my daughter and I suspect plenty of others. I can't wait until summer when the silly thing gets turned back in and I don't have to fight with her about it for a little while. As a parent, I am completely powerless to help her with homework or even know what the assignments are in order to make sure they all get done. If you have a perfect kid who is a good student, it's probably working fine. But when you have a child with any kind of issue, it makes everything more difficult than it needs to be for both parent and child.

This! I am glad they have devices that enhance the curriculum (watch this clip and then complete the discussion questions in your group, etc.) but it is all online. We can see many of the assignments online (parents have some access). The kids bring their devices home and parents have to sign a waiver. If anything happens to the device, you are liable for thousands. They are constantly in need of repair. Paper pencil fan, here.

 

[wenrob]

YES!!!!!!! I thought the iPads and such were GREAT ideas at first but they are surely not for any kid with issues (which my second one has). I never know who or what or when things are due. I don't have anything to reference without a book - all that is on the iPad is the assignment.



We have infinite campus and that is not how it works for my older son. All that is listed is the assignment and the due date. No explanations (like a book would have), etc.

I have come to LOATHE it and I think it makes the kids lazier..

For my kids the explanations are within the lesson on the Chromebook. Infinite Campus tells me when something was assigned, when it is due and whether or not it has been completed. My kids walk in the door after school and know they can’t snow me on whether or not they have work to do because they know I check it daily. It has made my kids more productive, especially my son and their grades are higher. I guess it’s all a matter of how the schools implement the programs.

 

[mickman1962]

Tablets are great for reading a book. Textbooks not so much, you need to keep flipping around (at least I always did) when doing homework. Real paper is the only way to go, tablets are too hard to navigate.

 

[lifesavacation]

Our SD supplied IPADs to every student. Starting next year, they are moving to Chromebooks so it has obviously not been 100% successful.

 

[Kitty 34]

Love electronic devices but a good paper back book to read (for me) is awesome.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Just talking about doing math homework with a friend who is also a retired math teacher. Her grand daughter has no math book, everything is electronic. Thank heavens her granddaughter has her and access to her math books for reference!

 

[SaraJR]

I wish schools here would too, they are trying to make online courses mandatory, I know I wouldn't have passed without in class help, plus not every kid has access. As if that's not enough, screen time in developing brains in linked to ADHD, ADDetc

 

[tcufrog]

A friend of mine has a 6th-grade son who has ADHD. She insisted that the school take back his iPad because it was such a problem at home. He's the only kid who does his schoolwork using a pencil and paper. He hates it but she says it's made a huge difference in his behavior at home. DS8's school has practice work he can do at home online but we usually don't do it. He seems to be learning just fine without it so I don't see the point. Recent research shows that people retain more when they read something on paper versus reading it online.

 

[tvguy]

Our SD supplied IPADs to every student. Starting next year, they are moving to Chromebooks so it has obviously not been 100% successful.

LOL. Our anchors use a mix of iPads and Chromebooks instead of paper scripts. Monday the iPads all went down and we had to print paper scripts for the anchors with them. Wednesday the Chromebooks went down and we had to print paper scripts for the anchors with those devices. Of course, before Chromebooks and iPads, the PRINTERS used to go down, so you can't win

 

[PollyannaMom]

Tablets are great for reading a book. Textbooks not so much, you need to keep flipping around (at least I always did) when doing homework. Real paper is the only way to go, tablets are too hard to navigate.

This exactly! When DS was first learning to read, he actually preferred the tablet - more "fun factor" (and I suspect also because he could make the font bigger and feel like he'd read more pages .) But once some of his textbooks started going digital, he hated it! It's so much easier to "move around" and refer back to charts and illustrations in a paper book.

Just talking about doing math homework with a friend who is also a retired math teacher. Her grand daughter has no math book, everything is electronic. Thank heavens her granddaughter has her and access to her math books for reference!

I hear you! I got very good at screenprinting, pasting, and printing out homework problems for DS the year the math book was digital.