The BBC has posted a news article today stating that “tablets are in 70% of schools” – it is based on a report from an organisation called “Family, Kids and Youth Research Group”. I’ve not heard of them and I am not going to quiz their stats or research.
I am somewhat annoyed with the headline. What does that statement actually mean? Well in essence it could mean that there is one tablet in each school for 70% of the schools in the UK. That would be pretty lousy wouldn’t it? What it goes on to say is that actually they only found 9% of the schools sampled providing ‘one tablet per pupil’. That equates to 450,000 devices in their research. It goes on to say that this number is expected to reach 900,000 devices by 2016. Well someone needs to get a move on.
That however is not my grumble, my grumble is that the BBC article appears to try and draw a direct correlation between giving pupils and students tablets and it improving levels of attainment. Something refuted by one of the experts. Well done Dr Clarke. Thank you for your sanity. Give me a helicopter… it doesn’t mean I know how to fly it.
Dear BBC, the technology is just the tool set, we still need to educate our future workforce in the right way. These developments in tech are just following on from the slate and chalk, the pencil and exercise book, the technology in itself will not make our kids smarter or more intelligent, but it will certainly help them process the information in a far more productive way.
Don’t expect technology to improve exam results, that will still come from good teaching and a student’s power to learn, absorb information and problem solve; and for now, that can’t truly come from a machine.
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