Macbooks, lots of Macbooks Ping!
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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.
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Making porn more readily available to ME students is critical in their development...when they graduate, will we buy them a car?
I would think a practical use would be switching to electronic textbooks which would have to be cheaper I would think.
“I would think a practical use would be switching to electronic textbooks which would have to be cheaper I would think.”
Exactly...
Learning how to surf the internet is not quite the same as learning critical thinking...
Wow what an immense waste of money. This should not be done by a state and furthermore if they were to do something like this they should at least take an economical route of purchasing netbooks.
The article said — 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.
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Cool! Nice to see some smart moves being made there...
You said — Learning how to surf the internet is not quite the same as learning critical thinking...
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Well, being “on the Internet” can be a “case study” in “critical thinking”. If there is ever a place that one needs it, it’s *certainly* on the Internet — and also (believe it or not) right here on Free Republic, too... (yes, we are on the Internet here... LOL...).
You said — I would think a practical use would be switching to electronic textbooks which would have to be cheaper I would think.
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I do that quite a bit, myself, right now, on my Apple laptop. I enjoy reading the PDFs that I get. It’s a lot better than getting those books...
I think this is a step along that way for the students to get them, too, for their textbooks...
FTA: “The high school expansion is an extension of an existing contract with Apple, which competed for and won both MLTI contracts to date.”
Sounds like this was the most economical route for them.
Countless studies have shown that, over the three year estimated life of the Macbooks, the total cost of ownership including support is far lower than any Windows computer. Schools cannot use free anti-malware and MS per seat licensing is far more expensive than for OSX.
Linux based netbooks are not viable in such an environment. The support tools and educational software is not available in Linux.
This seems like a distraction to keep parent's minds away from the fact that their kids really aren't learning much.
Netbooks do not have to be Windows, fwiw. ANd furthermore if a school system wants to have Apple on campus that is fine however laptops are an unneeded luxury in a recession.
In this case, Apple won a competitive bid based on the district's needs and the cost of a total system package, not just hardware and OS. Apple has long made significant investments in education. Whether it's been good for their bottom line or not may be debatable, but I don't see anyone here presenting an alternate systems approach -- they're just trumpeting their favorite hardware/OS combination. You know, like "fanboys".
In a similar vein, I was the first responder (at #13) on another thread who actually answered the OP's question rather than argued with the premise presented.
Don't they already have that in sex ed and NAMBLA field trips? If not, you are behind the curve.
How do you know how much they paid or whether other alternatives would have been cheaper? You don't!
You have wondered into deep water and I would suggest you head back to shore before you are completely over your head.
But they paid. Ladies and gentlemen buying things at a discount is still spending money, the “but it was on sale” defense only works in the minds of women. Maine has a huge budget deficit right now and any chance they could save money they should take it.
Get over yourself. This is not about Apple of MS. I do not care in this instance. It’s about fiscal conservatism and this is not being fiscally conservative. The fact any freeper would somehow celebrate this is beyond me. I could careless if you dream of Steve Jobs, but the attitude expressed in this thread is exactly why we are in this financial hell hole are nation is in.
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