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Posted on 07/18/2003 8:58:38 AM PDT by FourPeas
Laptops will transform schools, educator assures Friday, July 18, 2003 By Dave Murray
Principal Chris Toy says education in his Freeport, Maine, middle school has "transformed" in the year since each seventh-grader received a laptop computer. "It's been quite amazing," he said. "Teachers in Michigan will see their classrooms transformed. No way will they ever again spend the day standing at the front of the room talking in front of a chalkboard." But Toy also offers a warning: "Always remember that education is not about the computer, it's about teaching and learning. The computer is a tool, but it is there to help the teacher teach." Michigan lawmakers this week signed off on a $36 million deal to distribute computers to every sixth-grade public school student in the state -- a project modeled after one started last year in the New England state. While supporters say the move will motivate students and boost computer skills to be used throughout a lifetime, some experts say the money could be better spent elsewhere. "What works for children in this age group isn't 'high-tech' but 'high touch,'" said Colleen Cordes of the American Alliance for Childhood. "Personal, face-to-face relationship building with real people has proven to be better for the children than a computer that will eventually have to be replaced with the newest technological toy." Maine was the first state to give a laptop computer to every student in a particular grade level when it handed out 21,000 Apple iBooks to seventh-graders at the start of the 2002-03 school year. The program was based on a countywide project in Henrico County Public Schools in Virginia launched the year before. Michigan House Speaker Rick Johnson, R-LeRoy, watched both of those programs before making the push to give computers to Michigan students, spokeswoman Emily Gerkin said. Gerkin said lawmakers still are working out details, but plans call for distributing laptops to more than 132,000 sixth-graders, and the computers would stay with the students from year to year. Each year's crop of sixth-graders would get new laptops. The state will soon put the project out to bid, requiring vendors to provide the computer for about $250 each, plus include training and service. Districts will have the option of choosing another vendor, but they have to meet the price and the bid specifications of the company chosen by the state. Gerkin said districts in last year's pilot program where able to chose between laptops and handheld personal digital assistants. Zeeland's Cityside Middle School was among the schools in the pilot, and asked for the handheld computers, also called PDAs. Palm Pilot is a popular brand. If the pilot program is an indication, Gerkin said schools could have the equipment by November or December, train teachers and then distribute the laptops to students by the new semester. Gov. Jennifer Granholm supports the plan, calling it "bold and revolutionary." Maine's Toy said he understands that some in Michigan are skeptical. "The biggest question they'll hear is whether this is a big waste of money," Toy said. "But they'll never get as much change for the money as they will through the laptops. And they'll have to ask the adults to do what we ask kids to do: Take reasonable risks. Try new things." Tony Sprague, program manager for the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, said about 1 percent of the computers were damaged at some point, and less than 35 were lost or stolen. "It's bound to happen, but we spent a lot of time with the kids talking about responsibility and they appeared to take it very seriously," he said. But some experts say schools are spending money on technology that could be better used to keep class sizes small. Cordes' Alliance for Childhood is a non-profit group of educators, heath care professionals and researchers that advocates for children's' needs. She coordinated the group's task force on technology and childhood. Michigan would be better off using the money earmarked for computers to hire recently laid-off teachers. She also said there isn't much evidence to support the theory that computers will help students improve academically. "Try as they may, there just isn't anything out there that shows these are the magical ingredient for an improved education," she said.
The Grand Rapids Press
Oh, I don't know ... Use of laptops will undoubtedly increase proficiency in language skills, just like dependence on calculators in elementary and middle schools has increased proficiency in mathematical skills. < /sarcasm >
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Now they'll spend the day sitting at their desks talking from behind a laptop. Not only is this not "transformational," it's also a huge waste of education dollars.
Sure they will - the kids will be able to find their favorie porn sites so much quicker now.
While I could imagine a comprehensive curriculum that could be developed around universal availability of laptops with certain software, that does not seem to be the focus here - rather, it is the hardware giveaway that is getting everyone salivating. Evidence of that is the choice that is offered between laptops and PDAs. A laptop could be capable of quite a lot of educational use, while a PDA would be much more restricted in its usage, and the two would seem to be largely incompatible with each other. So, it's not likely that any real educational benefit will accrue from this move.
Joe's Computer Company
FMCDH
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