Madam, - The announcement of a €150 million investment in laptops for classrooms (News, November 16th) at a time when the Minister for Education seems intent on increasing the student to teacher ratio, illustrates perfectly the value our Government puts on human relationships. - Yours, etc,
DAVID QUINN,
Churchtown Road,
Dublin 14.
Madam, - It is 30 years since I launched my computer studies Leaving Certificate course in a number of schools, mostly in or around Limerick. The course was recognised as a pilot programme by the Department of Education. This was important in that teaching on the course was recognised from a resourcing point of view. I designed the curriculum, trained the teachers, set and marked the examinations, issued certificates, graded the scripts for CAO purposes for over 20 years, and outsourced support after that. We never got the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment or anyone else to provide national recognition of the course. However, it was accepted by a number of third-level colleges as a Leaving Certificate subject.
The skills-based ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) programme, while useful, is a poor substitute for a proper computer studies curriculum, but better than nothing.
A primary and secondary curriculum, based on using currently available systems, would provide real opportunities for pupils to learn about design and innovation in an extremely user-friendly and supportive way, and at the same time pick up many useful computing concepts.
I welcome the recently announced proposed provision of information and communications technology (ICT) resources for schools. If all schools had broadband, those resources would be much more useful. The crucial need, 30 years ago and now, is for teacher support and training. There is a core group of pioneering and wonderful teachers doing wonderful things with ICT resources already in many subjects, including computing itself. We need to get to the greater number of teachers who are willing to embrace ICT in their teaching and learning, but who are not yet comfortable users of ICT resources in the classroom. My proposal is to establish partnership learning between teachers and pupils on the grounds that many pupils are expert in the operational aspects of ICT and can help their teachers to access and use ICT to enrich their teaching and learning of their subject. - Yours, etc,
Prof EAMONN McQUADE,
University of Limerick.
Madam, - As soon as a computer and its associated software and licenses are purchased, they begin to go out of date. Throwing computers wholesale into classrooms to satisfy a panic attack is a waste of money.
Not all teachers are trained to get the best use of computers and it is difficult to see how computers can aid in various primary school situations. There is no evidence that the computers for schools project has raised grades in schools. A computer is effectively obsolete or broken after three years, so the investment has no return.
A better solution would be to make available browsers for schools - browsers on screens that would make available a range of applications across an intranet, or the internet, so that the hardware in schools is limited to screens, keyboards and mice.
In this way, a provider of applications could regularly update the applications without any need for hardware or software upgrades at the schools, so a lot of money would be saved.
Spending €150 million on soon-to-be obsolete computers is a waste. Money spend on a playing field, gymnasium or playground would continue to show returns years later. Is it too late to ask for a different plan? - Yours, etc,
SHANE O'DOHERTY,
Hollybrook Road,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.