[rustynails]

After reading this article, I have no idea about how Google Chrome gives any advantages over paper and pencils. The gist of the article is that it allows students to collaborate.

What I don't understand is how the technology is actually being used to extend education.

For example, Wikipedia is a dynamic encyclopaedia. Dictionary.com is an online dictionary/thesaurus. I can obtain photos through a Google search. I can find articles by searching for them... so, what does Google Chrome actually provide?

I often think back to Alexander the Great. He was taught by Aristotle. What was his teaching technique? It was about a way of thinking, not the vehicle for teaching. Mac/PC/Chromebook. They all offer the same basic opportunities to online resources. The difference (superficially) is cost and admin.

My children still generate real world artefacts (eg. Paintings/posters/models). These can't be marked or submitted electronically. This means that it can't be about aggregating student work, unless you only allow electronic work, which would be crazy.

We use a tool called seesaw. As a parent, it gives me warm and fuzzies seeing my kids sitting with other kids in a classroom (it's being used as Facebook for classrooms). I never get copies of homework sheets or a good idea of the actual work being done. This is an example of how technology can be used in all of the wrong ways (technology for technology's sake).

So I'm back to my original question. Other than cheap cost and simple integration of basic office tools, how does this product actually help students?

Disclaimer: I spent several years developing an electronic education system. I asked myself this same question often!