rantingteacher.co.uk

Does not compute

So the great ICT revolution finally rolled into town. I got half a dozen computers to squeeze into my classroom with the unspoken message that I should be grateful that I wasn’t forgotten this time round.

Admittedly, I was excited. There are lots of possibilities for my lovely new PCs. But there’s also the downside, as I’m learning rather too quickly:

• the incessant whirring
• the slacker contingent of Year 11 who haven’t completed coursework, and whose bloodshot eyes plead to be let onto the computers while I’m trying to calm down Year 8
• the printer running out of ink very frequently. Or just not printing. Or churning out pages of rubbish from the previous lesson that will never be collected
• missing mouse balls. It’s just the thing to steal them, so it seems, rendering pretty much the whole PC out of use
• the gradually increasing litter pile stuffed behind monitors: a collage of sweet wrappers and lolly sticks
• the beeping every time some kid decides to lean back on a keyboard with his monster rucksack, or fiddle with the keyboard by squashing his hand or face onto it (and yes, it’s inevitably a he)
• dyslexic keyboards, the result of some crafty key swapping behind my back or when I’m not in the room. Usually only discovered when a pupil presses something drastic like delete or escape, when the key says something innocent like “page down”
• software not installed properly so that the only available clip art is circa 1991
• an overzealous firewall that refuses us access to any websites of any use, and won’t let me download programs to make things work, like RealPlayer
• an IT technician who is so snowed under that he hasn’t yet realised it’s spring, let alone been able to look at my seemingly optimistic list of things that need doing.

So yes, the great ICT invasion has revolutionised my classroom, but not in the rosy visioned way I’d anticipated. In fact, dare I say it, these PCs seem more trouble than they’re worth. Not only because of the list above, but also because now I’m expected to do great things with them, which I don’t have time to plan right now. If I want permission to use a website, I have to provide a review for some committee at least five days in advance. My computer corner is like a drop-in centre for undesirables, and I’m already witnessing things that an innocent teacher shouldn’t know about, such as how easy it is to hack into the online reporting system.

Besides, I thought these things were supposed to make our lives easier? Now I feel a massive burden of extra work, and another variable to consider in the lesson. As far as I can see, so far these computers have cost a fortune in set-up fees, wasted ink and paper, and odd bits and pieces that have needed replacing already because of vandals. I had great plans for classroom PCs, but in practice it’s not working out as I’d imagined. It’s with a slightly more understanding frame of mind that I now peruse those articles saying that ICT in the classroom is over-rated…

added 3/5/05

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