Posted on 06/30/2009 9:18:04 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Thousands of Maine high school students will receive new laptops this fall through an expansion of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI). The Maine Department of Education announced it has placed an order for more than 64,000 MacBooks for students and faculty in grades 7 through 12, and will place an additional order for up to 7,000 more laptops in the coming weeks.
MLTI has provided Apple notebook computers to all Maine middle school students since 2002 – making Maine the first and only state with a statewide implementation of laptops for every student. The high school expansion will mark the world's largest educational technology program of its kind, once again putting Maine at the leading edge in using technology to support education.
"We have seen incredible success with our middle schools showing increased student engagement and achievement with MLTI in place and we want to bring this same opportunity to our high schools," said Maine Education Commissioner Sue Gendron, in the press release. "This is not just about technology – it’s about using the technology to support education. Apple has been a great partner and consistently demonstrates that it understands the need to provide a complete solution that puts education first. We're very excited about the new school year."
"The state of Maine has been working with Apple notebooks for the last seven years to help enrich middle school students' learning environment," said John Couch, Apple's vice president of Education, in the press release. "The MacBook's compact, durable design is perfect for learning in and out of the classroom, and includes the world's most advanced operating system as well as Apple's innovative iLife and iWork suite of applications."
The laptop package provided by Apple includes a wide array of educational software, professional development, repair and replacement and technical support. In addition to learning how to use technology, students do research, write and edit, conduct online simulations, take online tutorials – just a few examples of the ways in which the technology is incorporated into classrooms every day. The high school expansion is an extension of an existing contract with Apple, which competed for and won both MLTI contracts to date.
Gendron said the MacBook is an excellent tool that supports MLTI’s focus on 21st century skills. “The educational solution supports the expectations of today’s work environment – creativity, imagination, innovation, problem-solving,” Gendron said. “The MacBook is durable, flexible, and goes with students to all points of learning.”
“This expansion is helping Maine close the digital divide,” said Jeff Mao, director of learning technology for the Maine Department of Education, in the press release. "About 2,000 public high school students in Maine attended high schools with laptops for all students this year. Next fall, the number will be 22,000 to 28,000."
“MLTI continues to focus on using technology to improve student achievement in all content areas,” Mao said. “Teachers are helping students achieve Maine’s Learning Results standards and we are helping teachers leverage the technology and the Internet to improve instruction.”
Gendron is president-elect of the Council of Chief State School Officers, comprised of the education commissioners from all 50 states. She has served as education commissioner in Maine since March 2004.
For more information on the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, visit
www.maine.gov/mlti.
Really? You've done the cost-benefit analysis and would care to share your results with the rest of us?
The article clearly states that the program has improved achievement amongst students. Isn't that what we want schools to do? Use their budget to get better results?
MY point is that for all you know they paid less for the Apple package than they would have paid for netbooks and the necessary software. Unless you saw the RFP and the submitted bids you are just whistling Dixie.
FWIW, I mentioned Linux and unless you are aware of another OS other than Windows and Linux on netbooks, then your point is meaningless.
One of the purposes of these elementary through high school notebooks is to replace textbooks with virtual textbooks. Textbooks can cost as much as $150 each and each student needs around six per semester. The MacBooks are expected to last three to four years. That would save 18 to 24 books per pupil.
A Macbook costs $999, full retail. Figure a three-year lifespan, subtract whatever discount Maine was able to negotiate, and add support costs (which are much lower for Macs, but still non-zero), and let's say $300 per year per student as a round number. If the schools stick with applications that aren't too demanding, they can probably keep those laptops in use for five years.
Start by subtracting cost of textbooks. Then look down the hall to the library -- with digital sources, you don't have five kids waiting their turn for the same volume of the World Book. No line for the microfilm or microfiche reader. No need for the next set of encyclopedias or the updates to the microfiche newspaper archive. No need for ten copies of the book that a lot of kids need the same week, but that sit idle the rest of the year. No wasted time marching the kids from the classroom to the library every day to work on their term papers.
That's just cost savings for the materials that schools already have. Add to that that the Internet gives students at every small, remote school access to a university-quality library. That it goes beyond text and photos to video and audio, without maintaining a collection of tapes or discs that have the same access and scarcity problems as books. That the information online is constantly up to date, not three or four or five years old because that's the last time the school got a fresh set of encyclopedias.
Technology acts as what the military calls a force multiplier. It makes each teacher, each librarian, and ultimately each student more efficient and effective. That's why just about every business in just about every category has gone to computers over the last three decades -- and why that technological revolution has made American workers consistently the most productive in the world year after year.
There is a difference between planning and doing. If they have in fact replaced textbooks for laptops then I stand corrected but if they are using them with textbooks then it is nothing but a waste of money. Defend it however you want but defending the expense is nothing but pure fanboyism at it’s worse. You are sacrificing conservative principles at the altar of the Mac, which is sad.
I agree... those dollars should have been spent on promoting safe sex. ;-|
No need for kids to physically go to school anymore.
So which comes first? The chicken or the egg... do they FIRST get rid of all the textbooks before they have a device in place on which to use the digital versions... or, do you think, they need to get the devices deployed before they cut the cord on the books? I, personally, would make sure the devices are present first. That has nothing to do with the insulting appellation of "fanboy."
Maybe you can inform us why you feel it necessary to enter Mac threads and start insulting Mac users? Your serial offenses have all the earmarks of trollism.
ping
Whaddya expect? It's a cult...
This is the first article I’ve seen where they didn’t just throw laptops at education hoping it would somehow help things. Often it’s made things worse.
Looks like they actually planned this one out to use the laptops effectively.
I practiced that same philosophy in 1972. It worked for me.
First, to the hardware. The laptops are handy to administer because you don't have to worry about malware issues. ARD, which is provided to administrator machines, is a phenomenal management tool in a educational environment. If one is comfortable with unix scripting almost all tasks can be automatized. Apple is great for customer service, without question.
I say that as a predominately windows user, who also uses mac and *nix, just for the record.
The first batch of iBooks were issued to 7 & 8 grade students only in 2002 and were in service for 4 years. The second crop of 7 & 8 grade (PowerPC) iBooks have been in use for 3 and are being replaced this year with intel macbooks.
High school faculty members received macbooks a year ago, and starting this fall, high schools may opt to enter the program for their students. The last I looked, the number of High schools opting to enter the program represented about 9,000 students, while the number of high schools opting not to enter represented about 20,000 students. That info is from an unofficial tally the tech guys up there put up online.
I've noticed that the recent crop of netbooks have opened eyes as to the price point, but I know that looking down the road in a year or two that some schools are looking at tough budget issues. I believe the price for the high schools is around $350 per year per machine, including all service. The service is excellent. Realistically, though, a lot of work is necessary to keep the program going logistically and functionally, and that has to be paid for locally as well.
IMHO, the weakest link in the program is the ability of faculty to properly utilize the laptops educationally. Maine does a good job providing resources, but the learning curve is intimidating and the time to learn it quite short.
Many teachers get frustrated trying to keep kids off chat and facebook, etc., and give up. Other teachers use them as replacement typewriters. There are moodle like environments available, and the tech guys there are extremely resourceful, but the logistical challenges are almost overwhelming for many teachers.
Sorry for the long post. If any have questions I will be happy to answer them.
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