Posted on 08/18/2005 6:21:50 PM PDT by Petey139
VAIL, Ariz. - Students at Empire High School here started class this year with no textbooks — but it wasn't because of a funding crisis. Instead, the school issued iBooks — laptop computers by Apple Computer Inc. — to each of its 340 students, becoming one of the first U.S. public schools to shun printed textbooks.
School officials believe the electronic materials will get students more engaged in learning. Empire High, which opened for the first time this year, was designed specifically to have a textbook-free environment.
"We've always been pretty aggressive in use of technology and we have a history of taking risks," said Calvin Baker, superintendent of the Vail Unified School District, which has 7,000 students outside of Tucson.
Schools typically overlay computers onto their instruction "like frosting on the cake," Baker said. "We decided that the real opportunity was to make the laptops the key ingredient of the cake. ... to truly change the way that schools operated."
Two years ago, about 600 school districts nationwide had pilot projects to provide laptops for each student — a figure that's likely doubled since then, said Mark Schneiderman, director of federal education policy for the Software and Information Industry Association in Washington.
But most still issue textbooks — for now.
"Because most schools are not starting from scratch ... most districts are using a blended approach now and will phase out their printed textbooks," he said.
For example, in the Henrico County school system near Richmond, Va., students in 23 middle and high schools will be using laptops for the fifth straight year, though teachers still use textbooks, said spokesman Mychael Dickerson.
Many publishers of traditional textbooks are offering digital formats to address the growing use of computers, and that provided some of the material for Empire High's curriculum. Teachers also used subscription services and free Web resources.
Students get the materials over the school's wireless Internet network. The school has a central filtering system that limits what can be downloaded on campus. The system also controls chat room visits and instant messaging that might otherwise distract wired students.
Students can turn in homework online. A Web program checks against Internet sources for plagiarized material and against the work of other students, Baker said. "If you copy from your buddy, it's going to get caught," he said.
Before Empire High opened, officials looked at the use of laptops in other schools and decided that high school students were more engaged when using computers. Unlike many adults, teens weaned on digital material seem to have little difficulty adapting to reading primarily on computer screens, Baker said.
But educators also decided they could do more with the technology.
In addition to offering up-to-date information, teachers can make the curriculum more dynamic. For example, lessons in social studies, which might previously have been done in summaries, can include links to full Supreme Court rulings or an explorer's personal account of a discovery.
Social studies teacher Jeremy Gypton said the transition was easier than expected. Gypton said he assigns readings based on Web sites, lists postings to news articles, uses online groups and message boards to keep the students connected on weekends and asks them to comment on each other's work.
One of the more surprising things, he said, was finding that students' proficiency at video games and e-mail hasn't always translated into other computer skills.
"One of the greatest challenges actually is getting the kids up to speed in using Word, in using an Internet browser for other than a simple global search," Gypton said.
All of Empire's students knew about the laptop-only setup when they enrolled, and students who were uncomfortable with it were allowed to enroll in the district's other, more traditional schools. But Empire has a waiting list.
Julian Tarazon, a freshman, said he doesn't miss lugging around a bag full of books.
"It was kind of hard at first, because you had to put things in folders," Julian said, referring, naturally, to virtual folders on his computer's desktop. "After a couple of days, you kind of get used to it."
Freshman Morgan Northcutt said the computer system has made it easier to do assignments, and she isn't as likely to lose them.
"There's complications like hooking up with the Internet, but other than that it's been pretty easy," Morgan said.
The school isn't entirely paperless, however. It has a library, and students are often assigned outside reading.
"We're not trying to eliminate books," Baker said. "We love books."
actually it is fairly easy to lock down a laptop so that the kids can't do ANY surfing other than what is intended. If you make it so that the student is using a user account and not an admin account, they won't be able to change it either.
I do like this idea, as the kids may find out there is more out there to learn than just what their teachers tell them.
The next school district over in my area uses laptops, and it works out for them.
ugh...I work on a computer all day and if I had to read, I'd rather do it from a book.
But having to lug around a laptop would probably be better than 15 lbs of books.
Just watch for the stampede to buy these used in 4 years.
I popped in to check on them and lo and behold, one of the boys had found out how to circumvent the school's block on porn (search Google images "babes", for example.)
Lol, Just like the $50 dollar ones couple of days ago.
I rarely doubt any school will filter search engines.
Oh great, uneducated imbeciles communicating at the speed of light.....sounds like DU. Sorry, this is not a step forward. Technology, and the advantages it provides should be well founded in the understanding of how that technology evolved. Don't believe me, take a look at the mid-east.....
Our junior high actually started this last year, and our town is barely over 3,000 people. (They can't get porn.)
The weird thing was, one night she had until midnight to turn in a report, so we drove to the school (only about 5 blocks from our home) to email it via the wireless service to the school. When we got there , there were kids sitting all up and down the sidewalk doing the same thing. My, how times have changed!
It will be interesting to see what happens when these kids go to college and have to read multiple textbooks. College is all about the skills you learned in high school. Probably the kids who find school boring will find the computer learning boring once the newness wears off.
Indeed. They should instead be given hammers and chisels - and learn writing (and proper written style, and spelling, too!) by hand-carving some textual inscriptions into rock cliffs. They could start with carving an ongoing chronicle of War on Terror. Since it is Arizona, cliffs should not be a problem. A teacher will be issued a long whip, so the discipline in the class would not be a problem, either.
Books are so much harder to properly edit...into PC shape
Revisionists will find iBooks so much easier....to revise
imo
Try thinking about it this way, this is the first step to the complete eradication of public schools and public school teachers.
They don't realize it yet, but once all the books can be had on a software or even internet basis why do I have to go to a building to get an education? You might go to a YMCA as some smaller schools do for sports, but I don't have to go to a school building for an education.
The only thing I will have to do is meet the state and federal requirements for reading, math, science, and history.
Science and history might be political hot topics, but it will be much easier to find teachers and books on a non integrated NEA level that agree with our values and still meet state and federal standards.
Imagine if groups of people could get together to for classes and still meat all the state and federal standards, but get to pick and choose the teachers whom they think will best provide for that education, that is where we are heading to whether they know it or not and there is not much they can do about it. Online and integrated personal education is already here and you can not stop the progress.
College texts are running about $600 this year. It might actually be cheaper to go electronic, and if the possible advantages of computer power are realized there should be excellent results. Some universities are gearing up to provide the full curriculum over the Internet, which means the students could be anywhere, even in Africa or on the moon if we ever get back to the moon. High school might be a little early to be doing this.
You are an adult, you earned your education by reading, writing and working hard. You didn't send your love notes to the kid next to you via Ibook and stylus. I don't think books are a thing of the past, and lugging 10-15 lbs of books walking home isn't a bad thing either, IMHO..
i can't stand reading on a laptop.
Exactly LOL. I would run the kids through networks, wireless, IC development, and design and then show them a picture of a Ibook. All those that get "A's" actually get to use one......but I'm old fashioned.
yeah besides I don't write these days anyway...
all my notes where on my gateway laptop and my homework and test papers were typed :)
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