tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7029419017923677229.post5511793253845565602..comments2023-10-26T04:38:06.297-04:00Comments on TeachPaperless: A Cost Measured in Lives: Responding to John SpencerAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14091328599818819777noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7029419017923677229.post-11364518031547559942011-03-06T03:59:41.187-05:002011-03-06T03:59:41.187-05:00Would like to disagree re: math textbooks.
Goin...Would like to disagree re: math textbooks. <br /><br />Going textbookless is not a big deal in math... as there are enough sources to teach concepts, and lots of great ideas in open source can be mashed up to suit students. (mathelicious.com doesn't have information to fill a year, but lots of gleanable stuff, also see http://blog.mrmeyer.com/ for example, and the loved/hated Khan institute comes to mind as an open source of information graded to learners needs. Alpha Wolfram and its step by step setting is also incredible as a tool... and as a quick way to check answers to everyday spur of the moment problems.) <br /><br />We never had it so good. The pieces are out there, but the strong point of textbooks is not that they serve the students needs, but that they make the teacher's preparation easier. <br /><br />Sticking to the coursebook for me is like ordering pizza... every day. There are pizzas that are better and healthier than others, but none of them will get me excited after a couple of weeks of nothing else. <br /><br />Those ideas of centuries are mostly opensourced now, and those bad last couple of decades just happen to be the only ones we have to pay for...mattleddinghttp://twitter.com/mattleddingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7029419017923677229.post-14928459108468051882010-07-29T10:14:51.964-04:002010-07-29T10:14:51.964-04:00I see problems with the dream here.
1) I don'...I see problems with the dream here.<br /><br />1) I don't think that schools are going paperless. We've seen the claim before in the business world, but the "paperless office" never materialized. If anything, the heavy reliance on computers has increased the amount of paper pushed in most offices, because cheap ink-jet and laser printers are ubiquitous. I believe that the total paper usage per person has increased in most offices over the past 2 decades. (Sorry, I don't have a citation for hard data on that.)<br /><br />2) Getting rid of textbooks and going to original sources is really only feasible in a few fields. The original sources in math are incomprehensible to most students, teachers, and even mathematicians. Math textbooks represent centuries of refinement on how to present ideas in the simplest, clearest way (followed by a few decades of obfuscation in some recent, bad textbooks). Science textbooks introduce concepts in a logical progression, not in the rather haphazard way they were originally discovered. History textbooks try to make a coherent story out of the messy entangling of millions of people's lives over centuries. People need this sort of distillation in order to learn, so text books in some form will remain essential. That form may become electronic rather than paper (which would be a good thing if it reduced the weight of middle-school backpacks), but we aren't magically going to be transported to a world where "you take the filter of textbook editors out of the classroom and you let students and teachers engage directly with primary sources via the Library of Congress, United Nations, New York Public Library, etc."<br /><br />Certainly good teachers will (and already do) supplement their textbooks with more direct access to primary sources, particularly in history classes. Certainly some of the textbooks currently on the market are so bad that any competent teacher can do better by ignoring them, but there is no replacement for a good textbook, nor is there a need to replace them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7029419017923677229.post-25870539221046801902010-07-07T10:13:52.612-04:002010-07-07T10:13:52.612-04:00@John
Yes, I think Open Source and non-Textbook g...@John<br /><br />Yes, I think Open Source and non-Textbook go hand-in-hand; and getting rid of vendors means getting rid of marketing and a ton of the school-related waste that industry accounts for.<br /><br />Physical school design is going to be forced to change by the move to hybrid online/f2f models that's already a part of so many strategic plans. I'm thinking smaller, more open-area, community based schools -- perhaps even linked directly to neighborhood public libraries, local museums, theatres, art centers, and community-based tech access/help points.<br /><br />ShellyAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14091328599818819777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7029419017923677229.post-3737120809313841062010-07-07T10:06:17.150-04:002010-07-07T10:06:17.150-04:00I enjoyed your response!
We're going paperles...I enjoyed your response!<br /><br />We're going paperless again in my classroom (netbooks, cell phones, etc.) with a goal toward conservation. Something as simple as screen brightness can make a huge difference. I asked last year's students to do research on this and they did a great job.<br /><br />I think there are bigger issues that are a part of reducing waste: supporting open source applications, getting rid of high-priced vendors, being smarter about the physical school design, considering a hybrid model of in-person and in-community.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10956056168256756705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7029419017923677229.post-59432231713626981792010-07-06T22:29:40.284-04:002010-07-06T22:29:40.284-04:00thank you Shelly. important stuff.
i especially l...thank you Shelly. important stuff.<br /><br />i especially like this: <br />Their use of the technologies causing the problem could potentially help solve the problem; further, the technological development of the poorest parts of the world will empower those people to engage directly and anti-hierarchically with the people whose consumption is causing the greatest distress.<br /><br />if we're smart about things.. pay off is huge. needs diminish.<br /><br />i also have to add - since it's so good - and since underlying all of this is a better world.. John's book - teaching unmasked - is an excellent read filled with great insight.monika hardyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17903730727359304285noreply@blogger.com