One of the first big tasks facing the new Rudd Government is delivering on its promise of an education revolution. Does a computer for every child guarantee a better future, or will other issues such as teacher training also play a part?

Here are some points of interest.

• Having laptops are in the classroom will force the teachers to think about their own skills and training forcing administrators to consider the educational curicullum.
  
• Remember the labour education document stated "students will have their own computer and access to the schools' extranet and classroom content, both from their desktop and remotely" and the tax policy is for rebates for home computers not necessarily laptops
  
• There will be less of a need for school books if everything is saved onto the hard drive
  
• What about upgrades, maintenance and software for the computers what will the government support and endorse for the education of our children?
  
• A desktop computer consumes about 500 watts of power with a monitor. A laptop consumes about 50 watts of power- now multiply this by the number of students in the schools. Have we really considered the environment and are we being as green as possible?
  
• From my experience the most effective learning is where there is a small group of students working with a computer. One student per computer is not necessarily the most effective way for collaborative learners to learn. 
  
• Apart from the laptops within this education revolution- more urgent is the priority for teacher development. How many teachers have kept up to date with the digital age?
  

Will the computer be more beneficial and versatile to the students than the teachers?

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!