I’m getting sick of having the following conversation:
Somebody: My elementary students like the Chromebooks way more than the iPads.
Me: Really? Interesting.
Somebody: Yeah, they like them way more. It’s because of the keyboard.
Me: Oh?
Somebody: They have a really hard time typing on the iPad keyboard. The real keyboard is much better.
Me: Uh-huh.
Somebody: I like the keyboards much better. I want more of those.
And there you go. It’s the “Kids can’t type on a flat screen” argument. And it’s old and it’s not true. What we have here is a residual-need from the legacy teachers that are inevitably telling me this. Teachers that have always had a physical keyboard and nothing else- who, by the way, are teaching students who do not have the same perception of “real” keyboard versus not.
It becomes just another case of an educator imposing their own needs on the students as an excuse to not adapt to new technology.