Laptop School?

[Gaby]

I go to a laptop school. We had to buy them first, and we don't really have any real software, just something from where we download the documents uploaded by teachers. And I still print the materials, I can't study from the screen. And it's really not that helpful. Maybe next year it'll be. But from what I've heard, IB Maths HL students have their textbook on CD and they find it easier to use it on laptops rather than bring a book to school.

[Lindsay]

Computers are useful, espcially for programs such as Microsoft Office Onenote. Having different programs on the computer enhance your skills and help broaden your knowledge about different ways to present projects. It is also great for editing.

However having said that, it is also important to hand write things as exams and such are taken without computers. Therefore I find computers a great way for projects and taking notes in some classes, while practising hand writing in other situations fairly important too

[The Rainbow Connection]

The school that I attend requires each student to own a laptop. We use laptops in nearly every single class. Personally, I wouldn't know what to do without a laptop. Everybody takes their notes in whichever way they would prefer. I usually use Microsoft Word or Pages. However at my school we usually have to print our assignments. But we do get our report cards sent to us online. I believe laptops during school are very effective because of the simple way to write notes as soon as the teachers say something. With laptops you need to have strength to not divert to other websites. Most of the time I'm fine with that. Another bad thing about taking your notes on the computer and typing essays etc. is that you start to lose that skill of handwriting! Believe it or not, you need to really practice handwriting. Something that I really should do more often! Our school is a mac school and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Mac > PC!

[breanna_cheer]

I wish my school was a laptop one. Our IB classes allow laptops sometimes while taking notes and such, but they dont like them when we're doing much else. However if an administrator or regular teacher walked in and saw us using laptops they'd get taken away. The rest of the staff is not lenient towards laptops. We cannot use the wireless network in the school or else they take your laptop away. Plus my laptop is hefty and I dont really like carrying it around all the time. I do wish we were a laptop school and that i could afford a Macbook, it'd be so helpful!

[MariusIBDP]

Our school is partly compiuterised - all of our marks are online, some of the assignments are online, some are not. Younger teachers use Internet a lot - send us assignments, homework, useful stuff, etc., older teachers do not use Internet at all or just as least as possible. Therefore, it is better to carry a laptop with you, but it's not necessary.

We get iPads, but only IB2 gets them and it's not very good for work, so most of us have our own laptops. I passed through 1st and half of 2nd term without laptop easily.

Anyway, I take notes by hand, however, I think about switching

[Sandwich]

In my Uni exams, I'm one of the few people who finished - why? Not intelligence - sheer writing speed. If you can write quickly and legibly it really can be the difference between maybe +/-20% in an examination. Or at least 20% more questions attempted, not necessarily answered correctly

If you can ace your handwriting at school, it really does put you in a better position to take notes in real-life situations (e.g. I can write full sentences in my lectures so everybody else stares at their notes in puzzlement when going through them a few months later, whereas mine are more or less intelligible).

For that reason (and also that I think reading off a screen and typing are less helpful for putting facts into your memory, at least they are for me) I would say using laptops in school is actually detrimental. Especially because we learn how to type quickly etc. in our own spare time, so the skills that they add are ones we more or less all acquire 'naturally'. Whereas without a need to write, few of us would write much with a pen. Certainly after long summers of no school I'd spend about a week getting used to my handwriting again having written barely anything by hand for months - no need!

One of my friends did no essay subjects at school after about the age of 15 and seriously struggles with completing tasks within time frames purely because she can't get the answers down quickly enough by hand. Knowing that you could have answered the last 5 pages of an exam if you could only write faster is depressing. For the IB timings aren't so bad, but at University some exams are crazy for time. I've done some where you have to write 18 essays in 3 hours. At 10 mins an essay, you're up against it if you don't get a move on and have the hand-stamina to go 3 hours. Mental exam.

[Cronos]

Depends on the subject, for example: Maths doesn't need a laptop unless you're working with your teacher on your portfolio, you can use a laptop for economics, some parts of chemistry, definitely biology and languages.

I recommend you get one, and if you need help choosing I'll gladly assist you

[Austin Glau]

My school doesn't give us laptops because we would all be playing skyrim or having a halo lan party during english class (been there and done it).

[Mike Damaschin]

No laptops here. We do occasionally use some ridiculously cheap netbooks, but I've only seen them used once. We usually bring our own laptops. I use Evernote for Mac OS and I've never had a problem with my note-taking!

[ananya.agrawal95]

Currently in grade 10, but after grade 7-8, most people bring their own laptops to school (mainly macs). School has two IT labs with windows computers (about 60 total) and a lab with iMacs (25). Most classrooms have windows machines for teachers and some have macs. The library has about 10 windows machines.

However, we all prefer our own laptops cos they're set up the way we want with apps like Alfred/BetterSnapTool/Chome/Pages / FinalCut Pro.

Some classses allow laptop note taking, especially with younger/more tech savvy teachers. Most people use Pages/Evernote/Word. You can also use calendar/planner apps like iCal to track your assignments and tests.

One of the biggest issues in school is : patchy WiFi coverage.

Also, if you use laptops in school

Get a charger

Get your textbooks scanned. So much easier

[haydenj96]

Let's see...the official policy here at Modesto High is unclear. "Electronic devices" are banned. No one really knows. We only have 3 30 computer carts with WiFi that can be checked out but they never are. The school has WiFi but few know how to login (I do and people ask me), it is very spotty, and all Windows devices are blocked from using it. I had to install Ubuntu just to be able to use it. I can use my laptop for ITGS (along with my assigned PC), English, and Spanish. The chemistry teacher is vehemently against any kind of technology; the history teacher doesn't even allow us to type papers, much less notes in class; and I have never asked the math teacher because it just wouldn't make sense in his class. I would need an input tablet. I hear from the juniors that most of the teachers are more accepting of laptops next year.

I'm really jealous of all of you that get given laptops by the school.

Edited April 12, 2012 by haydenj96