<p>D is a freshman and ended up in Math 3 instead of Math 2 where she belonged due to poor advising. Now she is barely pulling a B-/C+ and the Advisor just shrugs and says good for her for sticking it out and figuring out how to get by (e.g., tutoring plus a couple websites that explain Math 3 better than her professor). Excuse me?</p>
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<p>Just an FYI, this is the case with my program at Michigan too. There’s a course you can sub out for 3 of our requirements that wasn’t listed anywhere on the website until a few weeks ago (and even now you really have to dig). It wasn’t an obscure thing either, most choose the class over the BIC requirement.</p>
<p>Oh, I also haven’t seen or spoken to my advisor STILL (four months in). She’s on sabbatical and refuses to respond to emails. sigh…</p>
<p>Right - D hasn’t actually had ANY advising so far this year either! Her advisor is AWOL.</p>
<p>Kennedy 2010,</p>
<p>"Close the schools - you are still left with the same students, teachers, administrators. How does that help? " </p>
<p>Hopefully, reorganization will open a window to restructure (fire) at least some teachers and administrators. Yes, it will help.</p>
<p>"My son’s private school does everything on iPads and in the specific school it is the greatest thing ever. "</p>
<p>What can you do on iPad? Seriously? Skype? What else? Why not a desktop?</p>
<p>Programing on iPad is a nightmare. Desktop is much better, IMHO.</p>
<p>Why would anyone trust college or HS advisor? Isn’t it obvious that the advisor (like attorney) is hired by HS or college for the benefit of HS or college?</p>
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<p>Sure. And it is in the best interest of the HS and college to get their students through and graduated as best as possible.</p>
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They take their notes on the iPads, the teachers use them for providing the lesson material, they use apps together that the teacher puts information into, the teachers make short videos that they must watch, all work is turned in via apps. A desktop is not portable. So that was very silly. A laptop could work as well, but this school chose the iPad and it has been an absolutely amazing experience. THis is not, however, a public school, so they get new iPads every second year. The teachers are incredibly well versed in the technology and they utllize its resources to the ultimate degree. It’s just been amazing. I don’t know if it would be as amazing in a co-ed school.</p>
<p>californiaaa, have you ever worked on with a tablet? There are very few academic things I can’t do on a tablet that I can do on a laptop. (Run SPSS is one of them, but I figure it’s only a matter of time.) </p>
<p>No, you’re not programming on a tablet. Most high school students aren’t programming though.</p>
<p>Exactly romani. And for those of us who have just ordinary kids, getting the homework turned in as easily as possible is quite enough.</p>
<p>romanigypsyeyes ,</p>
<p>Yes, I have iPad (I got it as a present, would never buy it myself). It’s a nice combination of phone-Skype-internet - Netflix-games. </p>
<p>Still trying to figure out anything “educational”, except National Geographic.</p>
<p>“And it is in the best interest of the HS and college to get their students through and graduated as best as possible.”</p>
<p>No. It is in the best interest of the HS and college to get their students through and graduated as EASY as possible.</p>
<p>Maybe you aren’t familiar with the apps and websites used by teachers. Most of my son’s textbooks have apps, which allow him to review the chapters, watch videos and do practice exercised that are submitted for automatic, instant grading. His schoo, uses an app called Edmodo to manage class work, homework, communication and quizzes. He also has to carry only the iPad and not six textbooks. Like I said, it isn’t perfect for everyone, but eliminating the need to carry textbooks, as well as the need to bring homework to school and hand it in is ideal for some kids, particularly disorganized ones like mine. Also, some of the apps do genuinely helpful things, like the periodic table app or the italian language app that speaks to you. I can also see everything he is doing (or not doing) very quickly.</p>
<p>Taking notes on iPad? You can’t type fast on iPad without a keyboard (at least I can’t). </p>
<p>Last year my D. was using iPad for iMovie. Pretty soon she had to move to iMac, iPAd was not powerful enough to process video.</p>
<p>zoosermom ,</p>
<p>Thanks. I’ll try Edmodo.</p>
<p>The problem with closing schools is the unnecessary cost versus just firing the teachers and administrators that need to go. It’s the “round about way” versus addressing the issue head on.</p>
<p>Californiaa, the cool thing is that the kids don’t type. The teachers pop notes Into the chosen apps (depending on subject) and the kids write on the screen like that football coach thingy with lines and arrows. The teachers do the same on video and post the video onto Edmodo for the kids to view. There are a lot of different, specialized apps. It is not like at home, personal use. It is a completely different experience. I had the same perception as you until I saw what was possible. It is beyond anything I could have expected.</p>
<p>Here’s what I do on my tablet: take notes, view ppts, take notes on those ppts, view videos, stream lectures, read textbooks, read pdfs. I’m sure there’s more but that’s what pops into my head. </p>
<p>Heck, the only thing I <em>don’t</em> do is make long powerpoints and write long essays… because I do those at home, on my laptop.</p>
<p>Tablets have keyboards btw. Mine doubles as a screen protector.</p>
<p>zoosermom , Thanks!</p>
<p>I like my ipad for many things - viewing reports and stuff clients send me, research information, keeping track of progress for my clients. Other stuff, too. </p>
<p>What I don’t like - getting tendonitis-like symptoms from using ipad, sometimes. Often, reports sent in non-pdf format look odd. </p>
<p>Laptop is still my go to device when trying to write reports, work on my business site, etc. my ipad not optimized for certain sites I need. </p>
<p>I can take notes faster by hand, that I then transfer in for meetings. If I were currently a college student, I wouldn’t use it for taking notes. That is just me. </p>
<p>It is handy to take books with me on trips, but I am old school and would actually rather have a textbook or book in my hand than online. Just easier for me. </p>
<p>There are some good apps for students. Our school district is trying out ipads this year, and honestly, it is not going as swimmingly as they predicted. Lots of lost, broken ipads, inappropriate sites, broken filters.</p>