School-home link

[jago25_98]

I work as a tutor and in schools. Printing stuff is annoying. Sometimes I recommend things for students to read and the parents just don't do it.

It would be really handy if I had a device in every student's home so I can send them anything to read and ideally, to listen to.
From hard learnt experience, I'm afraid I don't trust parents to help me manage the device so I need complete control over the device.

Ideally, it would be <$100 and eInk because I will have to buy so many. I'm thinking about getting the cheapest 6" devices I can with a backlight and customize them with Android apps.

What do you recommend, if anything? Colour LCD screens are not acceptable. They're too addictive and parents don't like it.

[DiapDealer]

Color LCD screens are addictive? Wow. I must have missed that announcement.

You know what else parents might not like? Devices used by a non-guardian adult to deliver reading/listening content to their underage children that they have absolutely no control over.

You've led the horses to water. Trying to force them to drink will only end badly.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by jago25_98

It would be really handy if I had a device in every student's home so I can send them anything to read and ideally, to listen to.
From hard learnt experience, I'm afraid I don't trust parents to help me manage the device so I need complete control over the device.

You want to put a device in homes for kids and tell the parents they have no control of what content you're sending to their children? That scheme would have ZERO chance of working in my house. I'm guessing I'm not alone on this.

[Quoth]

I'm sure in most countries it's illegal, never mind what the parents think.

This is even stupider than the IoT and a gift to miscreants. How on earth would you make it secure even if it was legal.

Parents might even have their children taken into care for agreeing. The ONLY system is where users, or parent controlled users place the content. It's not like a TV channel which is regulated and public, so a million people spot immediately if you are broadcasting nasty content. With this scheme each person could have different content in the content pushed. It's an evil idea worthy of Alphabet or Facebook.

[Dr. Drib]

Parents won't accept the the fact that a tutor has "complete control over the device" for questionable content that enters the house, educational or otherwise.

I wouldn't allow it one bit.

Better to be annoyed, rather than fired.

[DNSB]

For what it's worth, I bounced the query off a lawyer here in western Canada. His response was that what you wanted to do would not be considered acceptable by any school district unless you managed to have the parents/guardians of every student agree in writing to your actions and even then, you would be leaving yourself open to potential legal consequences. The doctrine of informed consent would likely come into play.

[jago25_98]

OK, OK! I get it regards privacy.

Let's try something else: Offline syncing.

Each student has their own device, which can't be used for anything else like playing games. When they come to class every week they bring their (Kindle?) to school in their bag. It automatically syncs over wifi.

The kindle will only connect to the school wifi and not home.

The benefit here is that when a parent sees their child using the device they know that they're working, unlike using the computer, a tablet or a phone.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by jago25_98

OK, OK! I get it regards privacy.

Let's try something else: Offline syncing.

Each student has their own device, which can't be used for anything else like playing games. When they come to class every week they bring their (Kindle?) to school in their bag. It automatically syncs over wifi.

The kindle will only connect to the school wifi and not home.

No, you still don't quite get it. A push service by a licenced broadcaster is fine because
1) They are regulated.
2) Everybody gets the same so obvious if it's dubious and then there can be a complaint to the Regulator, broadcaster fined and content never repeated.

You can't force kids to read stuff that's not actually on an approved curriculum. In most countries kids can only have extra material via library or bookshops and only PUBLIC recommendation to entire class.

The problem with any electronic gadget to read is that actually even WiFi isn't true broadcast. An unscrupulous teacher or school could give some students different material or edit the content of the same material for reasons of:
Religion
Cult
Sexual exploitation
Politics
etc.

Any delivered content has to be Publicly listed to class, school, parents etc. The students then need to download that on an anonymous basis, so it can be proved there is no cheating by the school or teacher.

Most countries the students can get what they like from a public library, though some have age limits. Most school libraries only have approved texts in most countries. And in most countries the actual text books or official reading list is decided by a School board, A local Education board or the State.

Obviously homeschooling, which varies between needing a licence and being illegal in some Countries works differently.

Content outside of the school curriculum needs to be transparently and publicly offered.

Even official content should not be delivered in an automatic push fashion. It needs to be more transparently available to the students.

Even official stuff you can't FORCE people to learn or read it. Though Schools have tried and even used beatings.

[jago25_98]

<shrug>
I have a one room classroom language school in China. I want to help kids and parents find things they can enjoy reading and also cut down on a bit of printing.

Originally Posted by Quoth

No, you still don't quite get it. A push service by a licenced broadcaster is fine because
1) They are regulated.
2) Everybody gets the same so obvious if it's dubious and then there can be a complaint to the Regulator, broadcaster fined and content never repeated.

You can't force kids to read stuff that's not actually on an approved curriculum. In most countries kids can only have extra material via library or bookshops and only PUBLIC recommendation to entire class.

The problem with any electronic gadget to read is that actually even WiFi isn't true broadcast. An unscrupulous teacher or school could give some students different material or edit the content of the same material for reasons of:
Religion
Cult
Sexual exploitation
Politics
etc.

Any delivered content has to be Publicly listed to class, school, parents etc. The students then need to download that on an anonymous basis, so it can be proved there is no cheating by the school or teacher.

Most countries the students can get what they like from a public library, though some have age limits. Most school libraries only have approved texts in most countries. And in most countries the actual text books or official reading list is decided by a School board, A local Education board or the State.

Obviously homeschooling, which varies between needing a licence and being illegal in some Countries works differently.

Content outside of the school curriculum needs to be transparently and publicly offered.

Even official content should not be delivered in an automatic push fashion. It needs to be more transparently available to the students.

Even official stuff you can't FORCE people to learn or read it. Though Schools have tried and even used beatings.

[Quoth]

Offer the files.
Don't push or control. Especially in China!

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by jago25_98

<shrug>
I have a one room classroom language school in China. I want to help kids and parents find things they can enjoy reading and also cut down on a bit of printing.

If the childrens' parents or guardians have computers at home, then assign public domain texts that are free, downloadable, and easily teachable. Advise the parents on what is going to be downloaded for that day/week/month by supplying the students with your syllabus. As well, make sure you get permission from the school to pursue your defining educational goals and that they remain within the school's curriculum. Send a cover letter to every parent/guardian explaining what the goal is in your classroom.