Part I
After weeks of being asked by my school to use the computers I wrote a computer lesson for this week. Halfway into the first lesson of the day (with four to go) there was a power failure at the school which means it will now be off for at least the rest of the day.
After weeks of being asked by my school to use the computers I wrote a computer lesson for this week. Halfway into the first lesson of the day (with four to go) there was a power failure at the school which means it will now be off for at least the rest of the day.
This is why I don't write computer
lessons. And that's what I will tell them next time they try to
insist. (I did have a plan B!)
I learned my lesson on this back in
England when the college I taught at decided to replace all the
whiteboards with smartboards and then had the lot break down leaving
all the classrooms with literally nowhere to write anything. In
classroom situations I firmly believe the lower tech the better.
Part II
Part II
More reasons NOT to put computers in
classrooms.
My classrooms all have computers that
project onto retractable screens which raise or lower in front of the
whiteboards. I've mentioned before the problems with preparing
detailed whiz-bang computer lessons only to arrive and find the
computer isn't working or there has been a power failure. This week I
had another problem. My lesson has no computer content but three
times out of thirteen lessons (so far) I've arrived in class to find
the retractable screens broken and stuck in the down position. This
has meant teaching without a board to write on as the board has been
wholly covered by the screen which I can't write on. From now I'll
always have a "no materials/no board" back up plan too.
Computers in classrooms seem superficially to be a good idea but in
my experience they are more trouble than they are worth. To quote
Scotty from Star Trek, "The more you complicate the plumbing the
easier it is to stop up the drains."
