Concern over extent of iPad use in the classroom

Concern over extent of iPad use in the classroom

Like many schools around the world, the use of tablets to enhance learning has increased over the past couple of years. However, some educators believe that, particularly in China, the use of this technology could in fact be problematic for students- especially when it comes to writing Chinese characters.

Shanghai second graders are used to taking all their English and Math classes using iPads. But now they're going to be using the tablets to learn Chinese as well, beginning two months from now. They love the idea.

But that, some say, is exactly the problem. Rather than remembering how to write characters by hand, many young people are just typing out the sound of the characters and letting the computer choose the characters for them. It's easy and very popular.

But the increasing use of pinyin and typing instead of handwriting the Chinese characters are making some teachers and parents worry the children's handwriting abilities will be affected. They say the worry is not groundless based on their own experience.

Teachers are careful to add more sessions of handwriting at school.Earlier this year, the education ministry and China Central Television organized a national dictation competition in Beijing. 32 groups of students from all over China competed by writing by hand the words that were read out. As an education expert says, writing Chinese characters poorly doesn't just mean that people forget the strokes required to create each Chinese character.

Some children are now practising Chinese characters in hobby groups, and wind up knowing the traditional form of each character. This also helps them catch mistakes.

The experts say that using smart tools is an irreversible trend in education, but that they do have their limits. And one of those limits is in learning to write Chinese properly.