bumping for some discussion I saw on this subject in another thread. I am guessing that 'anonymous', being newer to these airwaves, might not have seen or known about this thread, where his or her comments fit in better.
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Your 5th grader needs his own Laptop
(57 posts)-
Posted Sunday Nov 1, 2009 21:55 #
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There were so many about education, I forgot about this one. Good call.
Posted Sunday Nov 1, 2009 22:32 # -
"Short lifespan for new laptops:
A study of 30,000 notebooks finds that as many as a third will die within three years."http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/154921
D96 expectation is that the kids will have the same laptop for four years.
The article shows Apple at 17.4% failure rate. Not the worst, or the best.If my math is working (Mr. O did his best. Perhaps with a laptop in Junior High my math abilities would have been greatly improved!)
If the numbers from this study are correct, of the approx. 160 computers purchased for D96 5th graders, 27.84 (lets round up to 28) computers will need replacement by the end of 7th grade.
The laptops cost btw $800 and $1,000 ea, so using the low end number, the additional (minimum) cost is $22,400 just in order to finish the program thru 8th grade. This of course does not count any failures during the fourth year (8th grade.)
The scarey thing is that these replacement numbers exist in addition to the lost, dropped, dog eaten, and spilled on.
ugh.
Posted Monday Nov 23, 2009 07:50 # -
Dogs do not eat computers. They use them, at night, when we are sleeping. At least Aussies do that, when they aren't teaching kids how to play soccer, etc.
Posted Monday Nov 23, 2009 08:23 # -
This is crazy. How long have you had your laptop without any problems? what kind of kickback has the district gotten to order these planned for obsolete notebooks? I know the teachers got iphones or itouch or isomething-or-others. Can we cancel the program as they die off? It sounds like it is nightmare waiting to happen.
Posted Monday Nov 23, 2009 16:19 # -
The most selective universities in the country think that laptops (in the classroom) are a distraction, something less than productive, showing again that you should not do something just 'cause you CAN do something. The article also shows that you (education administrators) have to be, at a minimum, judicious in using this tool.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030804915.html?wpisrc=nl_tech
Wide Web of diversions gets laptops evicted from lecture halls
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 9, 2010...
Cole has banned laptops from his classes, compelling students to take notes the way their parents did: on paper.A generation ago, academia embraced the laptop as the most welcome classroom innovation since the ballpoint pen. But during the past decade, it has evolved into a powerful distraction. Wireless Internet connections tempt students away from note-typing to e-mail, blogs, YouTube videos, sports scores, even online gaming -- all the diversions of a home computer beamed into the classroom to compete with the professor for the student's attention.
"This is like putting on every student's desk, when you walk into class, five different magazines, several television shows, some shopping opportunities and a phone, and saying, 'Look, if your mind wanders, feel free to pick any of these up and go with it,' " Cole said.
Professors have banned laptops from their classrooms at George Washington University, American University, the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia, among many others. Last month, a physics professor at the University of Oklahoma poured liquid nitrogen onto a laptop and then shattered it on the floor, a warning to the digitally distracted. A student -- of course -- managed to capture the staged theatrics on video and drew a million hits on YouTube.
...
Posted Tuesday Mar 9, 2010 09:07 # -
You've got to see this.
Posted Tuesday Mar 9, 2010 20:12 # -
Thanks Tom - I love the clip and agree 100% that computers are a huge distraction especially in a classroom. The kids that are learning without the laptops actually have the advantage.
Posted Tuesday Mar 9, 2010 21:06 # -
I love this. Now, if only the teachers in district 96 will see this and understand that it should apply to all students, including our children.
Posted Wednesday Mar 10, 2010 10:20 # -
I am a teacher in another district whose students walk in to class with school-owned netbooks, which they are permitted to take home--an advantage greatly misunderstood in this forum. I'm not sure if the argument is about the cost of the technology (decreasing quickly) or its effects on instruction, but most of what I read here suggests suspicion and even ridicule. Perhaps I can offer some examples of why the netbooks are a tremendous asset in the classroom.
First, an amazing number of resources connect students to materials that make their learning personal and portable, such as virtual bookshelves for browsing titles and quizzes that match a student's skill level with practice (see Shelfari and Vocab Sushi). To those who see these as mere electronic substitutes for going to the library or using a pencil, I ask you to think instead about the ways in which they extend the reach of the school day or the hours of the library. They make learning an ongoing exploration and exchange because it is no longer contained between the covers of a book or the knowledge of the teacher.
Second, continuous research into teaching and learning reaveals the limits of a "one size fits all" approach. Responsible educators struggle to reinvent their work and respond to the demands of a new landscape for learning. The technology makes it possible for me to engage students in meaningful work tailored to their specific needs. For example, a student disabled from a stroke can use pdf markup tools to annotate a text, participating fully in the work of the class. And I have noticed that doing this for one student to accommodate his needs has had a signficant and positive effect on other students who take advantage of the text, which they can find uploaded to our class Ning, a free, secure social networking site where I post course materials available 24/7 to parents and students.
Third, we cannot be cowardly about preparing our students to live and work in the world as it is. To insist that teachers and students cocoon themselves in a parallel universe that denies us access to and use of technology is disingenuous (see Wall-E). Our students are searching to understand how their skills of reading, writing, and problem-solving can be put to use in tackling environmental messes, navigating global economies, and transforming social institutions. They seek authentic instruction to satisfy intellectual curiosity.
While I understand that our current economy has resulted in a need for more careful accounting of public funds, I assure you that these expenses are worth it. I have been doing (and loving) this work for over 30 years, and it has never been more challenging or exciting. We can't turn back.
Posted Saturday Mar 13, 2010 21:05 #
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