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Demetri Alexander-Lukas

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Debate: Should students rely on technology for their homework?

Today, students use ipods, ipads, phones, laptops, and different tablets to use the internet to help them with their homework. Don't know a word? Google it. Don't know the answer to this math problem? Use a calculator. And so on. Does this make sense?

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Topics: education technology
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  • hcdoitsu gotweed

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    Oct 31 2012: Manipulating technology to solve problems should be a central part of their education. As for the usual complaint raised at this point, my opinion is that there is no better way to learn a system than to try to cheat it. We teach our kids what to think and not how to think. I firmly believe that each human being harbors something singular. Something that will draw him in and become a permanent and satisfying part of his life. Teach children to use the machines that will open the vast array of knowledge we have accumulated in five thousand years. In simpler terms teach them the basics and then get out of their way.
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      Albert Fuglsang-Madsen

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      Nov 10 2012: I'm a student and we use technology integrated in our school and education system – which I believe gives me a credible insight to the issue.
      Yes, I think your idea of trying to use "reverse psychology" to make students smarter by 'tricking' them into thinking they're cheating is a good idea, and perhaps also a healthy challenge to creativity. The problem is that it cannot be an official announcement, because cheating is illegal.

      Secondly, and most importantly, what I've experienced so far is that we have a new subject in maths, for instance, and learn a lot of new methods and techniques as to how to solve the problems. When we've learned that, we learn which commands to use in our calculation programs, and how to solve such problems, then we write those down – and every time we get a home assignment, we simply use those commands and let the calculator-program do all the work. By the time we get to the final exam, and we can no longer use the computers, far the most people have forgotten how to solve the issues by hand method

      We become too dependent on the computers, because we are taught how to solve the issues by commands, and not by how to think of the answer by ourselves. That is an issue, and creativity dies out that way. Something needs to be done about it, and I think "encouraging" students into cheating by being smart might be a healthy solution to that issue.

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