laptops, ipods: are they friend or fiend? - electronic whiteboard

When Tara started using the computer, she was four years old.
At the age of six, she was introduced to email and visited her first website Barbie doll. com.
Now 9-year-old Tara is an example of what is called a "digital native" whose natural habitat features computers, the Internet and video games.
"As I get older, I'm getting more interested in computers and I can type faster," said the third grade Xavier College student . ".
"It's part of my life.
"Education this generation of technology
Smart kids, the school is forced to rethink the technology in the classroom.
This month, a national government agency called for a "cultural shift", so ipod and mobile phones are seen as tools rather than interruptions.
Educational institutions.
Teachers need to learn the digital language to keep the school relevant, Au said.
At Xavier, Phil Callil, head of the IT department, oversees a range of initiatives to use digital devices.
"These children are using the technology every day outside school," he said . ".
"There is no doubt that technology inspires students and we have to take advantage of that.
"On the school's junior high school campus in Kew, students in grade 3 and 4 use portable word processors in class, while students in grade 6 are experimenting with handheld computer devices.
The use of the Ipod is restricted but not banned, so students can use it as a storage tool for the school and plan to start the student broadcast program in the podcast drama department next year.
Even in previous classrooms, mobile phones may soon become part of the campus environment.
The head of the Methodist Women's College, Rosa Storelli, predicts that the mobile phone policy will change within 12 months, for example, the mobile phone will become an organizational tool to advise students on schedule changes
"We should not be afraid of new technologies. we just need to educate our children to make informed decisions," said Storey . " MS.
The absorption of technology is not limited to resources --
An affluent independent school in eastern Melbourne.
At the holps intersection of the muthheath Primary School in Delhi, there are classrooms in the whole town that can use digital cameras, videos
Conference cameras, interactive whiteboards, and data projectors.
Georgina Pazzi, information and communication technology manager at the school, said the benefits of technology lie in the way students interact with these tools.
"It captures more of the senses that they can really hear things and relate to things," she said . ".
"If you 've just got a book, you're basically reading and getting information, and that's what they can contribute.
"At present, these schools --
School-age children are part of a generation called millennials.
Social researcher Mark McCrindle said millennials have been growing up in "a world of websites and pdf" since they were born in 1982 and warned that traditional lesson plans will not keep them
"It's hard to teach them pure chemistry or physics and they find it boring or irrelevant.
"We have to think about how chemistry is connected to technology," Mr McLendel said . ".
"The name has changed.
It's not just a single theme, it's penetrating into each theme just like the environment they breathe in.
"This is reflected in the new national curriculum, which lists ICT under" subject cross-learning.
Advocates of these new technologies say that the positive elements of education include increased student interaction and flexibility to meet individual learning needs, but it may be a difficulty to ensure that students actually use these tools to complete their studies.
At Kaili grammar Baptist school, students can access the internet at any time on their laptops, and President Phil de young admits that some may not use them "on the task at hand.
"7-year-old children may be a little excited to take their first computer with them, but novelty will disappear," he said . ".
"Laptops are a distraction, but we don't think it's a big problem.
"Another question that bothers some educators is whether digital devices can really improve students' learning, and Simon Gibson, principal of St. Michael's Grammar School, is cautious about these developments.
"The proliferation of electronic devices does not necessarily increase the opportunity to learn, it just increases the opportunity to present information in a variety of ways," he said . ".
"We must be careful not to be tempted by gadgets at the expense of ignoring relationships.