Bill Gates Says Tablets Aren't Much Help In Education 575
An anonymous reader writes "In a detailed interview on the future of education, Bill Gates was surprisingly down on tablets in education — considering that Microsoft just released Surface. He said low-cost PCs are the thing for students, and he dismissed the idea that simply giving gadgets to students will bring change. Quoting: 'Just giving people devices has a really horrible track record. You really have to change the curriculum and the teacher. And it's never going to work on a device where you don't have a keyboard-type input. Students aren't there just to read things. They're actually supposed to be able to write and communicate. And so it's going to be more in the PC realm—it's going to be a low-cost PC that lets them be highly interactive.'"
"considering that Microsoft just released Surface" (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, really? Last I heard, nobody had actually been able to use one for even 15 seconds. Why, even MS executives on stage were not able to demo one for 15 seconds without it locking up.
Seriously though dumbass, learn the difference between "pre-announce" and "release".
Bill, Are You That Much Out of Touch? (Score:2, Informative)
10 WAYS THE IPAD WILL FOREVER CHANGE EDUCATION
http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2010/06/21/10-ways-the-ipad-will-forever-change-education/ [onlinecolleges.net]
SD Unified Purchases 26,000 iPads For District Students:
http://www.10news.com/news/31225263/detail.html [10news.com]
Re:Considering the source... (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps because his philanthropic work is focused in part on education, and understanding which kinds of philanthropic investment produces positive results.
Re:i don't really like bill gates that much but... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:i don't really like bill gates that much but... (Score:5, Informative)
I really find very little Gates says or does that I actually argue with.
All of you must be a bit new here, or a bit on the whipper-snapper end of the age scale.
Gates destroyed a lot of companies through anti-competitive business practices which had very real potential to offer choice and alternative in the market. No, most people don't care about that because "look at the Gates Foundation!!". Netscape had a great product before Microsoft ruined that company and The whole SCO, Novell and Microsoft Linux thing a Gates effort to ruin Free software [cnet.com].
When you watch some really great companies, and products, get decimated by corporate strong-arming over 20+ years you tend to become a bit bitter towards anything Microsoft or Gates. Even the philanthropy. I wouldn't be surprised to find he's making shady money on it.
Re:Forget the PC (Score:5, Informative)
Pencil. Paper. Calculator. The keyboard gets in the way of doing anything useful, especially if you're trying to do things involving symbols (like math).
This is why a tablet would be better in most STEM classes than a low cost PC. I tried using my laptop in a CS course for taking notes. But because it wasn't a simple coding class, but more of a mathematical/theoretical course, there was no way I could. Even now, it's hella hard to try typing up papers with any sort of mathematical representations(unless you type everything in LaTeX or try using a GUI equation editor).
Have you ever actually tried to take mathematical notes on an iPad? I have
It sucks. Utterly sucks. The touchscreen is nowhere near responsive and accurate enough even with a stylus.
The best thing I've ever found for mathematical/science notes is a Livescribe pen. Paper, pen, nothing else to learn- except that everything is stored and synced to audio.
Re:i don't really like bill gates that much but... (Score:5, Informative)
Uh, you might want to look into what charities he donates. A few recently have been good;many in the past have been ethically questionable.
Donating to provide free microsoft products to africa and microsoft training? I wouldn't act like such a "charitable act" is as much as it was a business decision.
Re:i don't really like bill gates that much but... (Score:4, Informative)
Right now they are just toys. They are not doing anything currently that is in any way advancing computing, except by being portable. They're basically just larger smartphones, not as portable as a smartphone but not as powerful as a desktop computer. They're so new that they are still fads at the moment, and a fad should never be treated as a must-have in education, no matter how often people keep making that mistake.
Education is full of fads and the next magic bullet to teach with. Very little of it lasts or is shown over time to be useful. This is just another one of the things to give kids something to do while the teacher can grade tests in peace. Filmstrips, then VCRs, modular workbooks, learning labs with audio cassette tapes, Apple IIs given to schools (and TV ads that imply you're a bad parent if you don't buy one) and then ignored and warehoused, etc.
We have a history of "kids must learn this because it's the wave of the future". In 20 years the future will not look like it is now, learning to use DOS in elementary school 20 years ago isn't that useful a skill today. But parents and politicians have a fear that the children will not be good workplace drones, so they're focusing on drone like workplace skills instead of teaching students to learn and think. If you have a work force that can learn and think and adapt then we'll have a very good society. Learning and thinking are hard and will not happen with some magic bullets, it requires face to face teaching that no technology will help with.
Re:i don't really like bill gates that much but... (Score:3, Informative)
I would put money on the fact that my 15 year old daughter can T9 text on her phone faster than you can type.
Oh buuuuuuuuullshit. The record (as in, fastest typists in the world) at T9 are barely beating 30wpm, which puts the average typist (which your daughter likely is, despite how special a snowflake she is to you) significantly below that.
Anyone who can touch-type on a full size keyboard is going to beat that easily, let alone the world record holders (which is apparently in the league of 215wpm).