Jack Davis CT 5 minutes ago The 'Horse is out of the barn' ---

Teach students to discern what is happening, and how to handle it.

Arm them for all technology-- current and future.

Then they would be prepared, educated.

That is Education. Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

dogsecrets GA 5 minutes ago The are getting all the megadata they can about they kids, I would bet google forces them all to get sign up for gmail, youtube and all the other crap from google so they can track and learn as much about these kids so they can then turn around and sell it to every company to make another buck.

Google can not be trusted, they care not about your privacy. Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Vaughn nyc 5 minutes ago Fortunately for the kids, the most innovative company of the post-industrial epoch will likely continue to deliver the highest quality educational products the world has ever seen to our children essentially for free in spite of all the ungrateful whining. I haven't seen anyone articulate a remotely cognizable harm here, whereas the benefits are myriad. If Chicago public school kids start graduating with fluency in spreadsheets that opens a world of opportunities to them in the modern economy. Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Peter Vermont 5 minutes ago I am a college professor teaching in a technology field, and I definitely see over reliance on technology among many of my students. It is common for students to use Google search to find information about homework questions. That is fine as far as it goes, but then they often blindly copy that information into their answer. Unfortunately the material they found, while correct enough in its original context, is often completely incorrect in the context of my homework question. What worries me is that the students seem unable to assess what they found. They don't have the skills or knowledge to judge the relevance of the search results. Of course I try to address this issue in my teaching, but I see students coming from high school very "infected" with this problem. Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

David Nevada Desert 8 minutes ago The key to STEM is understanding basic algebra . Algebra Two, Geometry and Trig in high school are usually a snap: lots of looking things up in mathematical tables or using (in my time) a slide ruler. The problem arises in college with Calculus. To do it you really need a good understanding of basic agebra.



So, if you don't care about solving the quadratic equation because you can look it up on your computer, how are you ever going to be a scientist, engineer or doctor? Smart parents place strong limits on how much time children spend on television, smart phones and computerized learning because this isn't real learning. As people in this comment section have noted, ask the tech people where they send their children to school. Flag

Flag Reply

1 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Anthony Sunnyside, Queens 9 minutes ago The 21st technology emerging in classrooms across the world is unstoppable & powerful in more ways than one. Google Classroom is an amazing educational platform that has incredible potential for designing effective & engaging lessons. However, the tools are only as good as the skills & talent of the user. GC saves time, energy, and is extremely user friendly but can be limiting if training & peer to peer sharing doesn't happen systematically. Let Google do their magic and alert administration that investment in proficient & effective use of Google Docs, Forms, & Classroom is critical.



You can put a Maserati in the hands of those used to driving an ordinary car but this could do more harm than good not knowing how to navigate & utilize its technical power. Writing with Goggle Docs requires a systematic teaching approach that avoids wasted time & lazy writing that produce inferior essay products.



Google Classroom should be experienced by teachers but 1st have the advanced teachers & PD people show the myriad ways in which GC & tools can be utilized avoiding substandard teaching with a super charged technology. This is a serious issue & concern. Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

vandalfan north idaho 9 minutes ago Outrageous. Public schools, on sale now to the highest bidder! There is the name of only two teacher in this article. Then we get: former chief information officer for the New York City Department of Education, the director of Google’s education apps group, Jonathan Rochelle, Mike Fisher, an education technology analyst at Futuresource Consulting, a research company, Mr. Casap-Google’s global education evangelist, Bill Fitzgerald of Common Sense Media, Bram Bout, director of Google’s education unit, Douglas A. Levin, the president of EdTech Strategies, a consulting firm, Lachlan Tidmarsh, a school district’s chief information officer, Jason Markey, principal of East Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Ill., David Andrade, a K-12 education strategist at CDW-G, a leading Chromebook dealer, Barbara Byrd-Bennett Chicago Schools Chief Executive, Patricia Burch, an associate professor of education at the University of Southern California. Oh, and one of the two teachers is now a salesman for Google.



Has any one of these named people ever taught classes for an entire school semester? Even a day? How can extremists bemoan the "failure" of public schools when we have prioritized private profit? Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

efbrazil Seattle 9 minutes ago I worked on Microsoft Class Server and we always had the problem of trying to configure and manage pcs for the role of teacher and student, especially in a rotating computer lab environment. Chromebooks are really perfect as they eliminate the role of the individual machine. Microsoft and Apple especially just aren't there yet- their strength is in offline editing and software, which requires IT investment that schools don't have. My wife is a teacher and can't even install printer drivers because IT has to lock down all the PCs just to keep a handle on things.



Microsoft has strengths that Apple doesn't. For instance, it's well set up to integrate Active Directory with the school information system to get credentials and info for students, teachers, and administrators. It also has Office and cloud services that can compete with Goigle, but in the end it's half way between all cloud (Google) and all device (Apple), and schools with reliable networks work best in the all cloud model. It means minimal IT costs, minimal hardware costs, maximum ability to collaborate. If Google ever creates a decent Powerpoint clone then game over! Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

GreatScott Washington, DC 9 minutes ago Sadly American public education lurches from one fad to another. Remember "schools without walls" or the "new math"? Chromebooks are simply the latest fad.



There is little evidence that computers in classrooms produce student outcomes superior to traditional teaching methods, at least when the latter are implemented properly.



Elite private schools have computers, but they are far less central to the educational process. Instead, smaller class sizes and better quality teachers are emphasized.

However, these are a lot more expensive than Chromebooks! Flag

Flag Reply

2 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

DaveG Manhattan 30 minutes ago I decided to reread George Orwell’s, *1984*, last night. Apparently from the 75-cent paperback I still have, I read it last in 1967.



I forgot that the all-seeing, all-hearing “telescreen” of Big Brother is introduced in the book immediately in the first chapter, an all-pervasive presence along with posters of “Big Brother is Watching You”.



Google’s all-seeing, all-hearing, all recording penetration into the classroom also starts in an early chapter of people’s lives, along with for many, Microsoft’s Windows 10/Office 2016.



Orwell’s forced surveillance in *1984* is so crude in comparison. With far greater finesse, Google, Microsoft, and the others lure you and your children into a far more pervasive surveillance. With GPS, they even know exactly where you are; Orwell’s “telescreen” couldn’t follow you.



And it’s not being done by a totalitarian state, but by American business. Orwell never saw that coming, unlike Huxley in his 1930’s *Brave New World*, where “God” is replaced by “His Fordship”, Henry Ford. Huxley also foretold that there would be little need to ban books, when people no longer wanted to read books.



In Newspeak/Doublespeak, that’s all “doubleplusgood” for Google, Microsoft, etc. Anything else apparently in a classroom of learning, “ungood”. Your children will except far more surveillance of their lives than you ever would have.



And with Orwell, it was “Ignorance is Strength”. Current spin: “Alternative Facts”, 140 characters, max. Flag

Flag Reply

6 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter dogsecrets GA 5 minutes ago So maybe big brother was not the govt, but big corporation such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon who only goal is to gather as much data about you so they can market more crap to you to keep making a buck Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Mark Scottsdale 30 minutes ago When something is "free", you are the product. Flag

Flag Reply

8 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter Percy Los Angeles 7 minutes ago Mark, well said. No free lunch for these children...... Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Adam St. Louis 30 minutes ago The education consultants in the article are a bit out of touch with reality.



Here's a quote from Mr. Levin: "'Companies are exploiting the education space for sales and public good will,' said Douglas A. Levin, the president of EdTech Strategies, a consulting firm. Parents and educators should be questioning Google’s pervasiveness in schools, he added, and examining 'how those in the public sector are carrying the message of Google branding and marketing.'"



Ah, yes Mr. Levin, let's return to the pre-Google days where no company exploited the education space for sales. Microsoft certainly wasn't exploiting the education space for sales. The textbook publishers certainly weren't exploiting the education space for sales. The people who make pens and notebooks I'm sure weren't exploiting the education space for sales. Most of all, I'm sure that YOU, as an education consultant, are not exploiting the education space for sales.



And a quote from Mr. Fisher: "'If you get someone on your operating system early, then you get that loyalty early, and potentially for life,' said Mike Fisher, an education technology analyst at Futuresource Consulting, a research company."



Google does not give a crap about hooking these kids on ChromeOS, the operating system on the Chromebooks. Google cares about hooking these kids on their app ecosystem. You graduate, have a different laptop, but still use google docs because it's convenient and easy. And Google gets advertising dollars in return. Flag

Flag Reply

1 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

jjc Florida 30 minutes ago Jonathan Rochelle: “I cannot answer for them what they are going to do with the quadratic equation. I don’t know why they are learning it.”



Well, the quadratic equation and the quadratic function are both pretty darn useful if you're going to build a suspension bridge or an arch in a building or track the flight of an object in outer space, among an endless list of other things. There may be no point in just looking it up on Google if you don't understand what it means or where it came from. You need to learn that stuff in school, no matter what Mr. Rochelle says. Flag

Flag Reply

6 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter cloud9ine CA 10 minutes ago Nobody says quadratic equations and their solution are useless. The point is that such a small percentage of the students end up needing to use it. And even if/when they do, (-b /- sqrt(b^2 - 4ac))/2a does not need to be remembered for 30 years. The concept needs to be taught.



The point is that education should evolve to problem solving using all available tools and not learning things you can look up in a second. Its great to learn the underlying concepts and in fact, more fun and engaging too. Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

David Kristofferson San Mateo, CA 31 minutes ago Is Google pedaling intellectual crack???



This quote in the article astounded me:



“The director of Google’s education apps group, Jonathan Rochelle, touched on that idea in a speech at an industry conference last year. Referring to his own children, he said: “I cannot answer for them what they are going to do with the quadratic equation. I don’t know why they are learning it.” He added, “And I don’t know why they can’t ask Google for the answer if the answer is right there.””



The quadratic formula has many uses in science, engineering as well as in higher math. Telling one’s child that there is no reason to learn it (as well as undoubtedly the many related things that might cause discomfort to young brains) will quickly close off several technical career options to them!



I have seen my weakest math students use Google to look up 3 times 5!!! This is the end result of this philosophy - students who fail because they have not acquired a minimal amount of foundational knowledge.



Educators need to stop swallowing this swill hook, line, and sinker! Talented and creative people often develop new ideas because their brains combine older ideas from disparate fields in novel ways. Deprive people of their base of knowledge by telling them that they needn’t bother to learn things when they can just look them up, and they will be transformed into mindless drones!



This is the equivalent of intellectual heroin pushing and should be VIGOROUSLY OPPOSED by educators!!! Flag

Flag Reply

8 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Miami Joe Miami 31 minutes ago Thank you, Google. Okay, the rest of you can keep complaining now. Flag

Flag Reply

3 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

KT MA 31 minutes ago Using the word "Googlification" in context to our children's public school education says it all. Flag

Flag Reply

2 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Rage Baby NYC 31 minutes ago The cloud ate my homework. Flag

Flag Reply

4 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

PS Massachusetts 31 minutes ago If you think Google is the solution, then just put kids in front of the computer all day and walk away. Be done with it. No? Then invest in good teachers.



Been teaching a long time and have yet to see how technology has made anyone smarter. Greater access to information, sure. But if you don't know what to do with the information or how to qualify/critique it, then what does it do for you? What I see are cell-phone addicted young people who spend HOURS each day online - but to what end? I have to nudge someone away from their phone every single class period. Gee, thanks Google, Apple, blah blah. Sorry but I am so over hearing how technology is the solution. Speaking from the front line here - it isn't. Flag

Flag Reply

7 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

james graystoke colombo 31 minutes ago how sad that books and technology cannot be mised and the best of each used positively.

i am still haunted by the memory of sitting outside a cafe by the sorbonne a couple of years ago when an american student asked me the time, i showed her my watch, she saod No, no, your iphone....she didnt know how to read time from a numeralled watch Flag

Flag Reply

2 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Galfrido PA 31 minutes ago Is anyone looking into the possible risk of cancer for these kids who are presumably exposed to radiation through wifi? The levels of radiation are probably low, but they are constant and these are children surrounded by it all day long. Flag

Flag Reply

1 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Robert F Seattle 31 minutes ago Wow, it is amazing to read a story in a newspaper about technology and education that isn't a thinly disguised promotion. Thank you. Flag

Flag Reply

1 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

jay reedy providence, ri 32 minutes ago And we need to be very careful when we assume, in our technophilic miasma and preoccupation with white-collar employment, that computer training and Internet "research" is the heart and soul of education. The lack of broad curiosity about our own history/society/polity/economy, not to mention about the rest of the world, that was evinced by so many voters in recent elections highlights that more education in the liberal arts, social sciences and civics in particular is desperately needed. Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Lil50 United States of America 32 minutes ago This article seems more concerned with Google making money and using kids as targets of advertising than what the laptops are doing to help educate students.



In my school, we have 15 laptops per class, so that teachers cannot use them as a way to avoid teaching and just tossing kids on the internet. They are meant to be used for differentiated instructions, while teachers work either one-on-one with other students or in stations. Most of our teachers do not use Google Classroom or any Google apps; they create their own lessons or with another cloud based program that we purchase, which is not Google-related.



I have been using Google Docs since its inception. As a teacher, it has been so freeing, being able to access my work from any device I have access to. When I hear other teachers having meltdowns that all their PPT slides from the last 5 years were just lost when a computer is stolen or is infected with a virus, I simply do not understand why they would not use cloud based apps to do their work.



I understand the fear that technology is being used in classrooms irresponsibly, or that it is not as beneficial as we had hoped. However, this article doesn't address those concerns, but only focuses on the possibly nefarious use of Google to make some money. Flag

Flag Reply

2 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

EaglesPDX Portland 32 minutes ago Hmm....Oregon, one of the early adopters of the Google program, has one of the worst high school graduation rates in the nation. While Google doesn't seem think teaching the math that underlies the technology that powers Google is important, the educational results for which Google bears partial responsibility would appear to prove otherwise. Flag

Flag Reply

1 Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Kevin Perera Berkeley, ca 32 minutes ago Thank you for the informative long form article, but I wish the distinction between the old line computer companies - Apple and Microsoft - and Google's cloud-based systems was made clearer and mentioned earlier in the article. When Chromebooks were first launched the concept was ridiculed for being absurdly restrictive - all your data, projects and applications had to be accessed via a web browser through an online connection - no local files. But this notion was a revolution for schools - no tedious installing of apps and OSes on every machine, and the hassle of keeping them all up-to-date - everything could be universally updated remotely. And all students projects and work could reside in a much more secure remote repository that could be administered more effectively, all at a dramatically lower cost.



This is such a complete shift in how student computing has been handled for the last quarter century. I wish the NYT would take a less pessimistic tone in their headlines and really champion these dramatic improvements - something like "Revolution in Classroom Computing" and lead with some of the dramatic benefits rather than starting off from a position of a dark corporate takeover. (Remember when Apple dominated the school systems?) Flag

Flag Reply

Recommend

Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter

Loading...