While it’s easy to joke about pupils using the latest global lockdowns to binge on Fortnite, the reality is that kids are missing out on key education due to the ongoing pandemic. This puts extra pressure on parents, who not only have to ensure that their children are able to learn from home, but also have to provide them with the equipment they need to effectively study from their bedroom.
Many households may have access to a computer and broadband, but with the entire family working from home, there may not be enough screens to go around. One nifty workaround that some UK schools are suggesting is the PlayStation 4, which can be used as a makeshift computer. Many portals and services like Microsoft Teams are supported by the built-in web browser, meaning the console can be a lifesaver during these difficult times.
Obviously it’s not an ideal environment to work from – especially with the temptation of Minecraft just a few clicks away – but in reality this is a really smart workaround for kids who may not have access to their own computer or laptop. It’s worth mentioning, if you don’t have a PS4 or Xbox One, then you could also try a smart television or even a device like a Raspberry Pi.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 39
Education has No Limits™
"Education has No Limits" is a trademark of Sony Educational Entertainment. Sony Educational Entertainment is a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment is a division of Sony Corporation 2021 all rights reserved. Yeah screw you SEGA we can make our own Pico bitc--
Finally, some use for this piss rock!
Don't take this comment seriously.
The homeschooling is honestly just going to widen the gap between affluent kids and well, everyone else. Dunno what the alternative is though. Somewhat surprisingly however, I seem to have done better in uni this term than I did the last couple of years despite being at home and binging 10 Assassin’s Creed games in 4 and a bit months.
@HotGoomba___Rebrand Piss rock!? How dare you. That right there is a double decker sandwich
@nessisonett Whilst I do agree with you, the current situation in hospitals is just too bad to let schools continue, especially with the increased infectivity of the new variant in children as well. Let's just hope that schools are the very first thing to open when cases start reducing again, so that the time children spend away from schools is as limited as possible
As someone who remembers the BBC Micro in school back in the 1980s, good to hear. Funny though, I think lots of kids at the time pitched the Spectrum or C64 to their parents as 'educational', but really just we wanted to play games.
They should just open the schools. An entire generation of kids missing out on proper education, and an environment to socialise with other kids their age. My 6 year old daughter is missing out massively. Me and my wife do what we can but it's nowhere near the same. I'm entirely against schools closing and I don't care who gets upset with me saying that.
I shocks me how ok people are will leaving behind a generation of kids, all for a virus with a survivability rate of 99.8%
I've lost 6 army mates to suicide during lockdown and my little cousin who killed herself near the start of it. Lockdown kills, and we don't know the full damage lockdown will cause longterm. The government are refusing to release their report on that, only one impact assessment has been released by a professor at Bristol University, and he's projecting 500,000 deaths from lockdown. But as long as we saved the NHS I guess...
@BranJ0 I fully agree with schools being closed, I just worry about the consequences. As with pretty much all decisions that I fully support to suppress the spread of the virus. I’d rather people were alive first and foremost.
@Total_Weirdo Amiga was a great computer, I only had the C64 myself before moving to consoles. My friend had an Atari ST though and spent ages playing Dungeon Master on there.
Just play Brain Training until you're 16 and apply for a job at McDonalds.
@TheFrenchiestFry Yeah, a double decker sandwich made out of Piss Rock!
@oldschool1987 Even if the virus was as simple as the 99.8% figure touted about, that 0.2% of the population of the world is still far, far higher than the number of suicides due to lockdown. If you wanna play the numbers game, Covid wins.
whether or not schools should be open right now, doesn't change the fact the govt's vaccination strategy to allow them to reopen is utter bananas.. wherever they're getting their advice from, it's not mathematically justifiable. starting with the over 80s makes no sense, since they're not the most likely to be superspreaders.. i don't know many over 80s that might typically interact with huge numbers of people on a daily basis.. unlike younger people like school kids. vaccinate them, they're not going to catch it to spread it to granny, or any of the other 200 people they might see in a school. vaccinations used to be given regularly in schools when i was kid.. why not the covid one?.
The biggest problem for me with this whole pandemic is that there is no goal. There is no agreed threshold we can reach where we ‘get back to normal’. The goal posts can’t continue to move. I can only comment based on where I live, but based on current science and statistics, I see no viable reason why we don’t ease restrictions once long term care residents, frontline workers and other at risk members of the population are vaccinated. As terrible as people losing their lives to this disease is, the economic fallout from this continuing indefinitely will be far, far more devastating and far reaching than any statistics can quantify. Restrictions are necessary to a point, but we do need people pushing for normalcy and accountability. There is a time for everything. Peace be with us all as we navigate this difficult time.
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Yessss man, get Ghost of Tsushima and Assassin's Creed booted up.
@oldschool1987 Except you can’t drive a vehicle without passing a test that proves you won’t go out and kill people. Same way that you have to be wearing a mask and socially distancing to go into the shops. Endangering others is a very real risk and I couldn’t imagine being so incredibly selfish as to put other people and their families at risk by downplaying the risks and not adhering to the strict scientific guidelines. If telling people not to needlessly endanger the public is virtue signalling or moral supremacy then I fully own your rather ridiculous attempts at an insult. Any deaths are bad, never mind the 76 thousand people that have already died from this virus that could have been prevented if idiots just took it seriously, stayed home when necessary and didn’t act so bloody selfish.
I think they should re-do the entire school year tbh. It wouldn’t have been so bad if it was a few weeks or a single term but they’ve missed so much. Home learning is hopeless.
On the positive side, my Nephew has become an absolute pro on Fortnite and his YouTube channel is growing by the day... If his education fails him, maybe he can make a living as a YouTube person or an Influencer 🤣 Silver lining and that 👀
God* help us all! 🤪
*If you believe in that kind of thing
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@nessisonett Please use the report system for comments that might break the rules — it's not worth engaging and starting an argument that drags through the entire comments section.
We've taken appropriate action in any case.
@Quintumply While they're recommending the PS4 as an alternative to a computer for school work, they could also recommend Dreams as a learning tool. Sony could do a Lockdown Discount.
Lols at this comment section. Lolz!
@Gravity_Bear Funnily enough, Dreams is half price at the moment.
Here in Indonesia, we use Zoom meeting for Online Learning from school.
Students also have to do their assignments and have to submit their works to Google Classroom.
@Quintumply that's great. I wonder how well it's selling. Can't wait for the PS5 version.
@nessisonett
I have 4 kids mate and honestly my kids have improved overall since home learning. 2 of them had been struggling the last couple of years and they’ve really caught back up. I guess it depends on the kids and parents though. I don’t take any crap off mine. 😂 For me my kids are to treat the hours of 9-3 as school time regardless of how long it takes them to do their work and aren’t allowed on there computer until after 16:00 which is typically when they’d get back from school. It’s working for my family so far. Think I’m drinking a lot more now though with this all homeschooling 🤦♂️
Look at all the deleted comments. Its like YouTube and Twitter here with the censorship of alternative views from the narrative.
@leucocyte You always vaccinate people who are likely do die from something first so even if it is spreading in schools, the people vulnerable to it don't get infected and die. There's so much we don't know about how all of this is gonna play out that it's the only strategy that can work
Yep lockdown hit us like %^&*( slap. Had a couple of hours to sort out screens for the kids so panic bought the cheapest chrome books I could find. There was only 1 left at John Lewis and I got it. Wish I'd have known this PS4 option first though.
We have 2 primary school kids and me and my wife work most hours of the day. Its a complete nightmare, but I also understand it. Its not just about Covid. Even with massive lockdown the hospitals are full and all non Covid procedures are being stopped such as Cancer treatments. Its not just about Covid deaths but all other deaths that happen without a healthcare system to help out.
Regarding the mental health fallout - yes its a problem but possibly one everyone should do their part to help out, however that may be.
How about setting up a huge Push Square gaming meet every week to help with keeping people socially active? I suppose even if it helps just 1 person it would be worth it?
PS4 with built in web browser wins the day again...
It's a tricky time, but schools being closed is still the best thing at the moment. In Europe, there are plenty of examples of kids not starting school until they're 7, and those countries actually have better results long term than children in the UK who start at 4/5. So for the young primary school children, it's not strictly necessary.
As for the older children, closer to exam age, they need to take responsibility for their learning and should understand the weight it carries more so.
One of the most frustrating things is that no matter what the government does, people complain. They've not handled it as well as they could have, but it's a tricky one to balance. They relax the rules, people complain, the tighten things up, people complain. On some level, people need to take responsibility and put the onus on themselves instead of having someone tell them what to do. We're adults.
And i thought the only reason to use the playstation browser was to see some HD, large format por....
When did push square turn into Facebook 🙄
Wait is this a gaming website or LBC?
"Web browsers? We don't need no stinking web browser". Says Sony about their PS5 while X Box series S and X have one.
Education indeed has no limits. But I agree that when it was lockdown it was pretty hard to study when everyone was at home. I've never used PS for educational purposes, but I can imagine how hard it can be, especially for school kids to resist playing something. Studying during lockdown was quite complicated, and for me, it took time to switch to such a format. But then it became better, and such a challenge helped me to find a lot of educational resources, and sites, which I still use. When I need help with writing, I use https://edubirdie.com/pay-for-research-papers and that service always helps me out. Writing research papers is very hard for me, so if I'm stuck, I prefer using help.
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