Posted on 02/12/2005 8:22:21 AM PST by groanup
Cobb County wants to spend nearly $70 million for 63,000 students and teachers to get state-of-the-art Apple laptop computers, complete with Microsoft Word and iTunes.
After months of negotiations, Superintendent Joseph Redden announced the cost and scope of a potential deal with Apple Computer. If the school board approves the first phase of the four-year, $69.9 million proposal, the first iBook G4 laptops would be distributed this spring.
By fall, four high schools would be outfitted as demonstration sites. Within a year, high schoolers could be working with a computer that, at 5 pounds, weighs less than most textbooks. Within three years, each of Cobb's teachers and middle and high school students could have a laptop.
The iBooks would come with Apple's latest operating system, plus Microsoft Office and wireless capability. Software would include Apple's iLife, which could be used to make digital movies, photos and music for school projects through programs like iTunes and GarageBand. The iBooks would be compatible with the school system's existing PCs.
"The kinds of things the students will be using out in the work force today, they'll be using in our schools," said Deputy Superintendent Donald Beers. Part of the cost goes to build a wireless network for schools countywide.
If fully implemented, it would be one of the largest school laptop programs in the country.
Apple would provide seven employees dedicated solely to training and operations, and operate a repair facility in Cobb. The laptops would have a four-year warranty, and the deal includes extra batteries.
Parents would be responsible for insurance, expected to be $50 a year. Redden said the school system's education foundation would work on fund-raising to help low-income families pay for the insurance.
The Cobb school district, which spent months negotiating with companies including IBM and Dell, claims the best price per laptop of any school system in the country: $271.26. Michigan paid $275 per machine in its recent laptop contract with Hewlett- Packard.
Add in the extras Cobb negotiated for — including support, training and maintenance — and the total cost is about $350 per person. For comparison, the cheapest retail price of the same computer loaded with the same features was $1,248 on apple.com.
John Seral, who has children in Cobb County middle and high schools, said he was "personally convinced this thing will be successful." He learned the details while working on an advisory panel for the school system.
Seral said he believed students would gain skills that have become invaluable in business. "Voice mail is virtually dead in our company," he said. "You have to have a laptop to function."
The Cobb deal would boost Apple's efforts to capture the k-12 education market. Vice President Barry Wright would not say what Apple's market share is, but the company has landed other major initiatives, including the nation's first in Maine and one in Henrico County, Va.
Mark Weston, who worked for Apple three years ago, when it provided laptops to 37,000 students and teachers in Maine, said the Cobb County deal would have people talking.
However, "the technology is just one piece of the equation for enhancing learning and teaching," he said. "The ultimate test will be how everyone uses these incredible tools."
Cobb County will pay for the program's start-up through a 1 percent sales tax voters approved in 2003 and which will expire in three years.
Most school board members seem comfortable with providing teachers with the laptops, but need assurance about the students.
Questions from the public include concerns about online security and at-home use. School officials have set up a Web site and e-mail to address questions and will conduct four information sessions before the board's March 9 vote.
The school system still needs a provider for wireless connectivity, as well as an Internet partner in the community, Redden said.
Proponents of "one computer to one student" point to reports of increased school attendance and fewer discipline problems. They say laptop programs bridge the "digital divide," putting cutting-edge technology in the hands of young people who otherwise could not afford it.
Some researchers, however, say more time is needed to understand the long-term impact of such programs. Critics say the money could be better spent on smaller classes and teacher development.
Really? I gave seminars for about three years back in the late 1990's. I used Power Point. I learned how to use it by opening it up and firing away. It is simple. I could teach the average high school student how to use it in ten minutes. What's the big deal with Power Point?
Well, duh,, you're not supposed to ask that kind of question.
These people can't make the distinction between *computer* literacy and *book learning* literacy.
The irony of this situation is that 50% of these computer toting students will probably be unable to read beyond a 5th grade level when they receive these laptops; or do basic math with a pencil and paper.
It was so funny. When we homeschooled our (now 21) daughter, people were appalled that we were not using a computer early on. Our response? Ya need ta learn readin, writin and rithmatic before you start playing with a computer. By the time we got a PC she was 4 years ahead of her grade level in reading. Ha ha. Even funnier, except for researching purposes, all she ever did with it was play games & surf the net. A house that looks like a public library and a kid that went to the #1 liberal arts college in the South, essentially for free.
It was books and parents, NOT computers that were the real teaching tools.
I would support this concept, if they did away with a few of the revisionist textbooks in trade.
In fact, if you have a computer, why do you need any textbooks? All the information you need could be supplied via software or CD.
In the long run, it would be infinitely cheaper to provide every HS student with a laptop and books on CD than provide them with umpteen 10 pound textbooks. Textbooks are outrageously expensive.
I actually think that textbooks are going the way of the dinosaur. Even in college, why do you need a textbook if you have a computer?
I don't know.
I guess I should take that as a compliment :>)
Also, If this discussion were taking place with morse code, flags, beacons, or smoke signals, etc., rather than on an electronic forum linking an immeasurable number of people, with an immeasurable resource of information, world wide and in real-time....I guess I could relate to the other side of the argument a little better.
longjack
have you heard of the new initiative for a sub $100 computer available next year for school use?
No. But I would be interested.
longjack
On one hand, standardizing the student computer program on Apples makes about as much sense as a drivers ed program with right hand drive cars. Apples are basically nonexistant outside of education and graphics design places, so very few people are (or have any reason to want to be) familiar with them. My personal opinion is that they seem to be designed by and marketed to the modern urban metrosexual.
On the other, Windows PCs with clueless users will invariably be made unusable by malware.
But at the heart of the matter, the issue isn't Mac vs PC, it is that this school district should not be wasting 70 million dollars of other people's money on laptops of any flavor.
a special chip. At first, they were destined to be given to Chinese students, but now they have apparently decided to include all schools.
Read it in the Bild last week.
Textbooks are outrageously expensive because publishers have a captive audience and can essentially charge whatever they want. If the physical books are replaced with electronic text, count on the software license costing as much as the original book.
Lots of Macs for college students PING!
Thanks to Anonymous_user for the heads up on this article.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping list, Freepmail me.
I don't remember making that comparison.
Honors' students will be honors' students, laptops or not, getting the same honor's courses taught in the manner the teacher feels is the best. No one's lowering any standards because of laptops, they're raising the standards.
Laptops aren't a tool that are on the entire day, for each teacher. Nor are they implemented in courses that they don't relate to, just for the laptop's sake.
Teachers have different teaching styles, and different goals. Some are competent with laptops, some aren't. The bottom line is getting the most information to the widest variety of students.
There is no way a laptop should affect a teacher's goals, and from what I see, they don't.
As a research tool, or as a report making tool they are unbeatable. For non-Honors students they often make the difference of whether a student can successfully complete work, or not.
Kids who aren't honor's students are quite capable of performing well in the working world. Any opportunity they have to pursue their studies successfully on a daily basis in the classroom, without constant teacher supervision, and which equates to conditions they will find in the working world is worth it's weight in gold. Laptops can provide that opportunity.
Unfortunately, teachers deal with kids on a variety of ability levels in the same classroom. They go to war with the army they have. Up-armoring their classrooms with laptops is a godsend for our students.
longjack
I stood next to a woman at a Mardi Gras parade who teaches at a New Orleans high tech school funded by Bill and Melinda Gates. Everyone has a laptop.
She says it's a complete waste of money. The kids can barely speak English. What do they need lap tops for?
Yea, the kids will learn algebra better if it is in a power point pitch. Yea, right.
Waste of money if it was a Mac or a PC. Until the kids are ready, these things should be in labs supervised by the appropriate people.
You sound like a teacher so I will assume you are and not second guess you, after all it would only be a guess since I am not a teacher.
I feel like a computer is a tool, nothing more. Certainly it has the ability to reach into an incredible amount of information.
On the other hand, would it not make sense to rip all of the technology labs out of all of the elementary schools so the teachers can concentrate on the basics?
The only class my kids ever took that helped them use computers was typing.
No, it isn't. Nor does Apple sell that much software. The iLife comes with the laptops and they also include Microsoft Office... which is sold by Microsoft. The vast majority of MAc software is price competitive with PC software.
Psycho, are you aware that Apple OSX IS UNIX????
I agree with you about tech labs. For small children they may be overkill, and if teachers just want kids to do busy work on them I don't think they are pedagogically sound.
For younger kids we use tools such as internet safety programs to introduce them to the web world (www.netsmartz.org). We try to do that in media/library classes, again, where they are appropriate.
As I said before, Maine will be testing their kids on line within the next couple of years, if not sooner. We do it voluntarily, because our JH kids are more comfortable with the online version.
The web isn't going away. Look how we are using it at this moment. We'd be negligent if we didn't introduce kids to the tools now.
As for laptops, for JH kids and older, there's no way a kid will achieve less with a laptop. The chances that he will be more successful are greater. But, that's my opinion.
For younger kids, the teacher has to know what he/she is doing, which isn't always the case.
From my point of view, the problem with school tech labs is that they tend to be under-maintained. Schools spend lots on the hardware and the standard software packages, but neglect to pay people who maintain the machines and who research and install software that is educationally purposeful for the school.
Laptops are a good choice, actually, because the manufacturer can put a good software package for the school on the machine, and the machines themselves are easy to setup to utilize all the network resources.
Apple is really good in this regard, in my experience. They are always working to improve the package our kids get. I'm not trying to toot Apple's horn, I just know from experience that they work very hard to keep our machines going at peak efficiency. I'm sure other manufacturer's would do the same thing.
For us techs, a crashed laptop is pretty easily brought back on line with a 15 minute image re-do. If the kid has saved work on the server, he's up and running again after recess.
Yes, I am a teacher, but more of a coach/tech type. My kids have been homeschooled, for example, so I'm not a dyed-in-the-wool NEA trooper, if you know what I mean.
For your own kids in school, if the school district has internet filters up, and the teachers have good supervision practices and are versed in web research tactics, they will almost be guaranteed to improve in achievement, especially in the research based subjects, like geography, for example.
The problem isn't the computer, AFAIC, it's the ability of the teacher who has the kids with the computers. That, of course, is a different ballgame. I tend to think, though, that most teachers actually do pretty well.
longjack
You did notice these were Macintoshes... no spyware... no adware... no popups... no etc. No need to teach them about Popperstopper, Ad-Aware, Spybot, or etc.
IIRC, Gates owns 12% of Apple.
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