Thai Experts Worry Computer Tablets Will Do More Harm Than Good

[Rosco911]

I concur. Learn the basics first.

And that's the experts.

[Buchholz]

"If children use the tablets all the time, they will develop bad eyesight and abnormal brain development," Assoc Prof Nittaya Kotchabhakdi, a paediatrician at the Mahidol University's Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, said.

For me, the jury is still out on this tablet scheme. Tablets in general are great little "read only" devices - great for reading on, not so much for the lengthy online interaction some have cited as a concern. Yes, they can also be used for games, but would rather wait and see how they end up being used rather than judge now.

However, the comment above by the so called "Professor" is downright farcical. What on earth does he mean by "abnormal brain development"? The opposition to these projects seems more clueless than the people in charge of implementing it.

I know PT are likely to make a monumental cock-up of this (while no doubt shaving off nice little earners in the process) as per usual, and there's still the huge issue of what software and educational material is going to be installed on the things. But - in principle - I think there should be no age or class restrictions on technology at all.

Search YouTube for videos of kids using iPads. Impressive stuff.

I think they'll get something more like Chinese MID tabs and not iPads.

[sparebox2]

Same argument when UK school abolish LOG BOOK and introduce CALCULATOR.

Move on, will ya.

Well, that settles that then. The voice of authority and commonsense. Doesn't seem to have done much education-wise for you, if that is a sample of the resultant school output. "UK schools abolished log tables [books] and introduced calculators...". Is that what you want to say?

Correct.

Things change. Technology improved. The reason why Kodex have to go belly up is because they underestimated technology.

Compating a tablet and textbook, it is like comparing an airline jet to a steam loco.

Yes, there are some nich area where steam still serves it purpose, or jet cannot fully take over, by large, jet win.

[sparebox2]

lingluck promised ipads she is a lier!

ipads? show me a photo where she ever held one up.

[MEL1]

In addition to Insight's insight, I believe the reading material contained in a tablet should no doubt be much better than the reading material contained in Thai comic books which, to be honest, is about all most Thai children read at Prathom level; and Matthayom for that matter)!!

-mel.

[sparebox2]

Thai Experts Worry Computer Tablets Will Do More Harm Than Good?

So is TV (tele). Want to ban children from watching the box (panel)?

Edited February 22, 2012 by sparebox2

[atyclb]

While I fully support the usage of Educational Courseware on tablets, I do not think it is a good idea at Pthaom 1 (even higher grades) to simply pass the tablets to the kids without supervision.What would be better is the way it was done durng the pilot testing done (where I was part of) in another ASEAN country.

In that pilot, the tablets stayed in the school, and handed out in the classroom during the periods dedicated to e-Learning. The kids were using the tablets under the guidance of the teacher, and Internet connection was not even in use. WiFi connection was used to intereact with the Server in the school to upload results (courseware was stored locally to reduce traffic)

It was observed during the oukits that the kdis love this period of learning so much that teachers start to use this periid as a incenttive for the kids to behave bettter and work harder. Bad behabviour led to less time and god led to more time ion the tablets. The results spoke for itself - a 30% increase in the classes with lowest grades (versus a test group w/o the usage of the tablets). Kidx intrbviewed on TV said they love the periods as it was like playing computer games and tehy learnt and remember bettrer and can corrrect themselves till they get it rigght - sort if a leveling meachnism that give the slower kids an equ;l caacne to learn if they are willing to put in the effort.

That sounds like the right way to do it, but then again, the tablets are also part of the bribes for votes and likely the parents want them available 24/7.

[Insight]

I think they'll get something more like Chinese MID tabs and not iPads.

Dear oh dear. If those are the tablets the kids will be receiving, they don't look like they're worth whatever money PT will be paying for them. (And that video clarifies a recent blog post discussing whether such tablets are worth bothering with). It looks like they'll require some serious hacking to be able to do anything with them.

BUT... I still stand by my original post. If a small group of kids per school figures out how to hack them (and not depend on some back-street, MBK-style IT shop dosshouse), the project still has some value. Not in the way the PT govt, teachers or parents probably envisaged it, but value for the kids all the same. It'll be the teachers then asking these kids how to use them, so they themselves know teach the rest of the kids. (Hmmm... sounds familiar....)

I'm not very comfortable with supporting anything these inept, self-serving goons champion. But for reasons personal to me, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and let history judge them on this one.

[bigbamboo]

I concur. Learn the basics first.

Very true ...

Unfortunately there are no Thai experts in education in the government.

[alanferdi]

Thai people were promised i pads but will get cheep copy android systems that are worth 3000 baht each, With poor resolution, hurting the kids eye sight.....

YEAH.... I thought I got it wrong - Ipads! were promised by those in Power now as a "carrot" with Scopad now running in the lead to be the sole distributor, (Chinese Company - Has Thaksin shares in there) This has become an Iwash and with poor standards of manufacture...the children would certainly have EYEPADS

[alanferdi]

I concur. Learn the basics first.

Very true ...

Unfortunately there are no Thai experts in education in the government.

Its a shame they put all the Thai educated at Cambridge to sit on the bench and watch the circus

[alanferdi]

Thai Experts Worry Computer Tablets Will Do More Harm Than Good?

So is TV (tele). Want to ban children from watching the box (panel)?

The Govt. is keeping a TABlet on the children! FROM. iVOTE to iPad in School, to iChoose a chinese company to iEducate the iGeneration in iThai fashion to be the first iWash in digital

Edited February 22, 2012 by alanferdi

[longway]

I think they'll get something more like Chinese MID tabs and not iPads.

Dear oh dear. If those are the tablets the kids will be receiving, they don't look like they're worth whatever money PT will be paying for them. (And that video clarifies a recent blog post discussing whether such tablets are worth bothering with). It looks like they'll require some serious hacking to be able to do anything with them.

BUT... I still stand by my original post. If a small group of kids per school figures out how to hack them (and not depend on some back-street, MBK-style IT shop dosshouse), the project still has some value. Not in the way the PT govt, teachers or parents probably envisaged it, but value for the kids all the same. It'll be the teachers then asking these kids how to use them, so they themselves know teach the rest of the kids. (Hmmm... sounds familiar....)

I'm not very comfortable with supporting anything these inept, self-serving goons champion. But for reasons personal to me, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and let history judge them on this one.

Last year I tried the 5,000 baht tablets available in MBK that have the same specs as those the government is buying, and they are dire, they just don't work properly and are very frustrating to use.

[TongueThaied]

I am an ardent supporter of education, but this is one of the most ill-conceived educational ideas I have ever heard of.

Even if the idea were educationally sound (isn't), if one poor kid accidentally drops his/her tablet and breaks it, will he/she get another one? Or be condemned to be the only kid in the class that doesn't have a tablet. What about the inevitable thefts?

If these tablets have 3G connectivity, which they must have if they are to be effective, god help us all that live in the sticks and depend on Edge or 3G for Internet services. Already, at a little after 3 in the afternoon when the kids get out of school and crank up their iPhones, etc., my Internet connection slows down to an unuseable crawl. Now just imagine giving every kid in the village connectivity. It is a nice idea, but the infrastructure simply does not exist.

It is all such a shame, as this money could be spent on top notch computer labs for all the schools. The primary school in my village only has a couple of broken down and virus ridden computers that barely run. The cart has gone before the horse, as mandated by a jackass.

Edited February 22, 2012 by TongueThaied

[masterbiker49]

No need to worry about communication,they all use FACEbook,no problem.

[David006]

Personal experience so far shows they are used by students mainly for playing games and chatting with friends on Facebook. If you want your kids to do anything at all, such as help with chores, get some exercise, or do their homework, they are very reluctant to do so. I am genuinely concerned therefore that this is not only a waste of taxpayer money, but will cause behavioral and lifestyle problems for growing adults further down the line. If this has already been thought through by the boffins, I'm keen to know, to assuage these concerns.

I have 15yo step daughter ...about 18 months ago she took an entrance exam to get into a technical school to study "computers" ( not sure what was on the syllabus)..passed in top 4 of 450 odd applicants..

Anyways last month gave her access to my laptop...did not know how to access internet, opened Word okay but then got lost using it and gave up...pushed the power button to turn off computer while I was not looking.

Last month gave her a 4Gb USB memory stick.( needed for homework I was told).....wife told me last week that daughter cannot use it as it no work ...sigh.

Last week she was doing a homework project which consisted of drawing butterflys for the cover of her work book!

Perhaps it is more about her lack of natural ability in IT but one has got to wonder about the teaching methods....

I give up ...

[KKK]

children between six and eight - the average age of Pathom 1 students

Strange way to show an average....shouldn't it be just one number rather than a range.....

[TackyToo]

There should be a lesson learned from another invention that spoiled the skills of many Thais already: Calculators!

Been to shop lately where the shopassistant was capable to sum up to items sold hundredfold a day without a machine?

Edited February 23, 2012 by TackyToo

[whybother]

I am an ardent supporter of education, but this is one of the most ill-conceived educational ideas I have ever heard of.

Even if the idea were educationally sound (isn't), if one poor kid accidentally drops his/her tablet and breaks it, will he/she get another one? Or be condemned to be the only kid in the class that doesn't have a tablet. What about the inevitable thefts?

If these tablets have 3G connectivity, which they must have if they are to be effective, god help us all that live in the sticks and depend on Edge or 3G for Internet services. Already, at a little after 3 in the afternoon when the kids get out of school and crank up their iPhones, etc., my Internet connection slows down to an unuseable crawl. Now just imagine giving every kid in the village connectivity. It is a nice idea, but the infrastructure simply does not exist.

It is all such a shame, as this money could be spent on top notch computer labs for all the schools. The primary school in my village only has a couple of broken down and virus ridden computers that barely run. The cart has gone before the horse, as mandated by a jackass.

They tablets will only have wi-fi connectivity. No 3G or Edge.

[Buchholz]

I am an ardent supporter of education, but this is one of the most ill-conceived educational ideas I have ever heard of.

Even if the idea were educationally sound (isn't), if one poor kid accidentally drops his/her tablet and breaks it, will he/she get another one? Or be condemned to be the only kid in the class that doesn't have a tablet. What about the inevitable thefts?

If these tablets have 3G connectivity, which they must have if they are to be effective, god help us all that live in the sticks and depend on Edge or 3G for Internet services. Already, at a little after 3 in the afternoon when the kids get out of school and crank up their iPhones, etc., my Internet connection slows down to an unuseable crawl. Now just imagine giving every kid in the village connectivity. It is a nice idea, but the infrastructure simply does not exist.

It is all such a shame, as this money could be spent on top notch computer labs for all the schools. The primary school in my village only has a couple of broken down and virus ridden computers that barely run. The cart has gone before the horse, as mandated by a jackass.

They tablets will only have wi-fi connectivity. No 3G or Edge.

Now if they could only have the wi-fi connectivity at the school end of the connection...

He is confident that Thai students will have the tablets ready for use by May.

However, he conceded that as many as 20,000 schools under the OBEC's supervision are awaiting the installation of Wi-fi system

2,000 schools with no electricity

20,000 schools with no Wi-Fi

0 tablets purchased so far

Program begins in 10 weeks

No Problem

Edited February 23, 2012 by Buchholz

[Udox]

I suggest that the huge amount of (ever increasing) cash used for this 'scheme' would have been put to much better use getting some decent teachers who can teach the basic subjects which Thai kids are obviously lagging behind in and forget about trendy, vote-winning, silly ideas.

If the teachers are failing to educate the kids using traditional books and pen and paper - how the hell will they succeed with cheap Chinese copies of something which seems to be the worlds most expensive games machine (If all those with i-pads on the BTS are anything to go on).

You have to learn to walk, before you can run.