Maine Laptop Program a Success 483
Myoglobinologist writes "The New York Times has an article about how the State of Maine purchased $37 million worth of iBooks from Apple. The article states that the kids have adapted quickly to the laptops, attendance is up, and there is even heart-warming testimony from some politicians that were opposed to the project." We've done several previous stories about this initiative (they were originally considering custom-designed thin client machines - probably a good idea to go with off-the-shelf systems), and it's interesting to see how it has panned out.
"attendance is up" (Score:3, Interesting)
Bullying at an altime high. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:"attendance is up" (Score:3, Insightful)
back to basics people! teach them to read and write and count back change first!
Re:"attendance is up" (Score:3, Insightful)
Better a body in the seat than a body on the street.
Re:"attendance is up" (Score:3, Funny)
Re:"attendance is up" (Score:4, Insightful)
Meaning, the laptop itself is not necessarily the reason more kids are coming to school.
Re:"attendance is up" (Score:2)
Counter-Strike (Score:3, Funny)
SHOOTER: no man like im at school
BILLY: school??? wuz??
SHOOTER: ummmm.............. im here for the connection iz sweet =D
BILLY: whut????????
SHOOTER: oh um that girls coming u no the one i said had implamtsn earlier!!11
BILLY: rofflez!!
SHOOTER: i think shes pi
*** NO CARRIER
Re:Counter-Strike (Score:2, Funny)
Think different (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Think different (Score:5, Informative)
Where were you three years ago when everyone else was arguing about this?
Heathy eating (Score:5, Funny)
Where's MY iBook? (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Where's MY iBook? (Score:3, Funny)
I don't know if you've heard of it, but there's this tiny little state called ALASKA...
Sheesh, the place is so sparsely populated that they don't even bother dividing most of the land into boroughs (counties). And you're so short-sighted that you can't think of any place in the entire nation (the third-largest, no less!) more sparsely populated than Maine?
Give back your laptop, it's obviously not helping your education.
Re:Where's MY iBook? (Score:3, Interesting)
In any case, ND is reasonably wired. In Minot, which is kind of the archetype of Small Town USA, we got a commercial ISP in 1994, which was about the same time they were springing up all over the place. A couple of years later, there were several local ISP's there, with reasonable competition and good prices. These days, broadband is available for about the same price as everywhere else.
A lot of rural people are really happy to have the Internet. The isolation of a place like that -- especially during the Godawful winter -- can be difficult to imagine if you haven't experienced it. Being able to get online can make it a lot more tolerable. In general, largely for this reason, I think rural America got wired a lot faster than many people imagine.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
20 pounds!!! (Score:5, Informative)
No seriouslt, NYT recently had something about how certain grade schools are now evaluating textbook candidates for weight. It seems that as books have gotten fatter to cram in pointless pictures and factoids many are clearing the 1,000-page mark and students are literally suffering back injuries toting them from class to class, and home and back.
Now, like you I thought this is silly, why aren't these dumb kids planning a head a litte, just carrying the books they need and knocking off the "heavy" subjects in study hall. Well, a separate development is that these schools have eliminated student lockers, to reduce problems of drugs, weapons, and forgotten lunch meat. These were relatively affluent school districts, too (heck, they can afford new textbooks).
So
You know, when I was a kid they didn't even give us pencils.
In other news ... (Score:3, Funny)
upgrades (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:upgrades (Score:5, Informative)
Macs hold their value to ridiculous levels, some because the hardware is quite decent to start with, and part because there are less 2nd hand macs to go around than say, 2nd hand Dells.
In any case, schools should either be able to get a decent amount back from selling the things to upgrade when it's necessary, or if the machines are leased from apple it's likely there are planned upgrades in there.
Re:upgrades (Score:5, Interesting)
Try to sell the equivalent P3 for that amount. It won't happen.
Re:upgrades (Score:2)
Please reply to this post with the amount that you would pay for my PowerBook 5300 (100MHz PowerPC 603e). It has the grayscale screen and 50MB of ram. I'll throw in an external SCSI CD-ROM and PCMCIA ethernet card. I payed $2300 for the machine in 1995, and the RAM upgrade cost roughly $200 in 1998.
Re:upgrades (Score:2)
Has yours been refitted so the hinges don't crack/pcmcia cards work/catch on fire/display these [fortunecity.com] problems?
Seriously, I have been offered 5300s many times, and won't touch them with a 10ft pole..
Re:upgrades (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:upgrades (Score:5, Informative)
Re:upgrades (Score:3, Informative)
Re:upgrades (Score:3, Informative)
It's unlikely the state will fund the laptop program again once the current lease is up. Maine has an enormous state budget deficit. The economy is getting worse and our legislature is making cuts everywhere. School systems in Maine are cutting all non-core programs including foreign language, sports and music. If they could have backed out of the laptop program they would have.
Re:upgrades (Score:4, Interesting)
The only reason I have a fast PC is that some of the software projects I work on take a while to compile. I wouldn't expect school kids to be working on projects of that size.
Some of the most educational software is *much* less bloated than most of the stuff on Average Joe's PC.
450MHz, with a 10mb NIC is perfectly useable today. Just as useable as it was 4 years ago. And I'm talking about x86 systems here, not G3/G4s.
Re:upgrades (Score:2)
I'm sure that some of the childern with newer machines at home will be yelling about how slow the ones at school are 3 years from now. That and the wear and tear those machines will recieve from the students using them day after day.
Three years from now they will want to upgrade. Someone posted that they are leased machines - very good idea in this situation.
duke
didn't business learn this back in early 1900's (Score:5, Interesting)
btw. i can't read the article, the link only went to NYT front page, and the link from there didn't give me an article. anyone willing to help a guy actually read the article ??? hint hint.
Re:didn't business learn this back in early 1900's (Score:2)
Re:didn't business learn this back in early 1900's (Score:3, Insightful)
you obviousally dont work in today's corperate environment..
Review time, nothing but praise, how the company couldn't do what it did without me, bla bla bla,,, yadda yadda... Yet after all the Outstanding marks and recieving 2 outstanding achievement awards this year.. I still come out to "average" because of the weighting and the requirement to "NOT GIVE ANY MORE THAN 3% RAISE" unless the manager is willing to stand up for you.
Duties tripled, in areas that are NOT part of my job (same as others here too, I know tighten the belts)
and the looming layoffs that are a part of the merger life. Many of us pack up everything we own and carry it to our cars thursday nights as friday mornings are when the axe is falling.
Yeah, morale is high. and they treat us quite fair.. "don't have the regular peope do that, make IT do it as they are salary and we dont have to pay them overtime.... Hey, are you doing anything saturday? can you come in to move furniture?"
sorry, it's not as rosy as you think.
Re:didn't business learn this back in early 1900's (Score:5, Informative)
These were the Hawthorne Studies... they specifically tried to determine the effect of lighting levels on worker productivity. Increasing the amount of light appeared to improve output. But decreasing the amount of light did the same thing. I don't think anyone knows for sure why the workers responded to the change in light instead of the absolute value of the lighting level. Prehaps they felt management was taking care of them. Prehaps they were more auspicious about being observed by the guys conducting the study.
And yeah... a similar thing is happening in Maine. Are they really being effective with those laptops? Will it really pay off for Maine in the long run? Do we have any confidence that these laptops are being used effectively?
I don't think I'll hold my breath.
Re:didn't business learn this back in early 1900's (Score:5, Funny)
Really? They tried to make ME use Windows and my production went way the hell down. Kudos to Main for going Mac instead!
Re:didn't business learn this back in early 1900's (Score:4, Insightful)
scripsit mark_lybarger:
Around 1900 things were a bit different. That was back when there was a labor movement which was powerful, socialist, and struck fear into the hearts of the capital-owning classes. What concessions there were to workers were made when they couldn't get the National Guard to break a strike; violence was often the preferred response. (Of course, troops were used to break strikes even during the Reagan years in Arizona...)
Don't paint too rosy a picture of capital at that time; there was nothing enlightened about it. "Liked their job more" just wasn't a concern of capital.
Free Gifts with US Tax Dollars (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't care how "successful" it is, it's nothing more than stealing when they take one person's money to buy gifts for others.
If my kids were ever eligible for such a program (they wouldn't be... they are homeschooled), I would refuse to take it. Beware governments bearing gifts.
dochood
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy collapses over loose fiscal policy
de Tocqueville
Re:Free Gifts with US Tax Dollars (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Free Gifts with US Tax Dollars (Score:2)
The root of the issue here is that government is involved in education in the first place. But we'll save that one for another day.
Re:Free Gifts with US Tax Dollars (Score:5, Insightful)
Almost feels like a Monday.
These aren't 'gifts.' The kids turn in the iBooks when the leave eighth grade. This is no different than buy computers for them to use in labs, aside from giving them a more personal stake and a sense of ownership. Any initiative which is actually *successful* in increasing children's enthusiasm for learning, increasing attendence, getting them to work...hell, that's worth at least a second glance. I question your character if you honestly begrudge children an opportunity to learn more effectively and with greater joy. You sound like you need a hug.
Two other points. The states' rights to taxation is documented rather thoroughly. Should you not like the way your tax dollars are spent, vote for a different official, make your opinions heard in a public forum, or (worst case) leave your region.
And secondly, before you sling his comments out of context, have you even *read* de Tocqueville? (Notice, for that reason, I don't quote him.) Just because he's trendy doesn't mean he's right.
Re:Free Gifts with US Tax Dollars (Score:2)
Yeah. It's like those damn schoolbooks. How dare they buy them for the students instead of having the kids buy their own! Who cares if they can't afford them!
Of course, you blatantly ignore the niggling little detail that these aren't a gift. The students don't own them. They have to turn them back in at the end of 8th grade. Kinda like how you have to turn books back in at the end of the year.
As for your misappropriated quote - first off, the US isn't a democracy. It's a Republic. The founding fathers were rightfully afraid of a democracy and avoided it explicitly. Second, since the governor didn't run with "give free laptops to the kids!" as a platform, you can hardly claim that he was voted in based on this program. Third, and finally, Mr. King is now the former governor of Maine. Obviously he didn't give enough largess based on your statement.
I do hope you're teaching your children better.
Non-registration link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Non-registration link (Score:5, Informative)
username: secret
password: secret
and for some strange reason this tends to work a lot of places that stupidly enough require registration to read otherwise free[tm] information...
Re:Non-registration link (Score:2, Informative)
username: slashdot_coward
password: slashdot_coward
Re:Non-registration link (Score:3, Interesting)
But also, the registration is free, but that helps them get demographics to help get advertising which is how newspapers have operated since the beginning of time or at least modern times.
Just remember that advertising has paid for the newspaper and magazine industry, not subscribers or daily buyers. Their payments probably don't even cover the cost of paper.
Re:Non-registration link (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Non-registration link (Score:2)
If you don't want to reveal personal information, then lie. At least then the Times can sell more expensive advertising because your privacy-obsessed self falsely claims to earn six figures.
By the way, if you have filled out the NY Times registration with accurate information, then I hope you have realized by now that they are the ones who are causing the voices.
Well at least they're not pc notebooks (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Well at least they're not pc notebooks (Score:2)
That would be from AMD processor laptops you insensitive clod...
"Class, does anyone know why Johnny just burst into flames?"
"Yes Teacher, He overclocked it."
Oops. and dont stone me, I love AMD.
$37m! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:$37m! (Score:2)
Where I'm from so do teachers!
Re:$37m! (Score:2)
Ciryon
Re:$37m! (Score:2)
Re:hand over fist (Score:2)
Extension conflicts cause mysterious problems and cause Macs to slow to a crawl or crash unexpectedly.
When the machine crashes, the hard drive won't necessarily repair itself. Soon the machine may be unbootable (I've seen this many many times).
No Jornaling File System, so data loss is prevalent.
Flimsy keyboard construction. I have seen a lot of ibooks with broken keys.
On the bright side, the kids in Maine will likely be forced to develop some tech-support skills.
Re:$37m! (Score:4, Informative)
Software was being donated, and IIRC, when you lease computers from Apple, if something goes seriously wrong, Apple replaces free of charge.
so (Score:2)
33,000 machines ruined by leaky roof. (Score:5, Insightful)
OK attendance is up - at least until they have to give the machines back at the end of the year.
But really shouldn't the money have been spent on basic infrastructure like paper books, new ceilings and full time staff ?
Re:33,000 machines ruined by leaky roof. (Score:5, Informative)
The issue was a State initiative to increase higher salary high tech jobs in Maine. Diggin potatoes, pickin blueberries, and selling tourists McDogchow and T-shirts are basically minimum wage jobs. Data entry, programming, WP, and the like are usually more than Min wage. In a review of WHY Maine wasn't attracting more high tech the result was: little infrastructure and unskilled workforce.
Result, a 'bold' plan to increase workforce skill level over the long haul by integrating computer skills in the standard school curiculum and hopefully haul some fiber into the state, at least the southern part to start.
Running one off worker retraining was seen as too short sighted, the school plan ensured a 'steady stream' of skilled workers. The fiber issue was thought to eventually resolve itself but a one time kick in the pants to start it rolling was considered.
Unfortunately, I was 'out of the loop' by the time this thing actually started forward so I have no clue on the actual implementation, or where the initial discussions actually wound up.
Re:33,000 machines ruined by leaky roof. (Score:2)
So you're worried about attendance dropping after school is over? Isn't that the idea?
Just because attendance is up... (Score:5, Insightful)
In a lot of ways this is good to hear. (Score:2)
... and the other success (Score:2)
kids are quick to adopt to the ibooks? (Score:5, Funny)
Heck, I swear if you taught a kid some assembly on an X86, and they found it remotely fun, they will be hacking out FFT algorithms under three monthes.
This afinity of kids with technology is amazing. It is a wonder why most of them don't apply it to piano lessons, though.
Re:kids are quick to adopt to the ibooks? (Score:4, Funny)
Coincidentally, the first child mentioned in the article is named Doug Hoover...
OMG, don't support this (Score:5, Interesting)
beginRant() {
Maine's education system is in terrible shape. Many schools are too small, many teachers are underpaid, and there's little funding for books and repairs for any of the counties here.
Gov. King was not a bad Governer, but his insistance that the state pay money so that middle schoolers could have laptops even stupified my liberal mind.
Those students do not need laptops! They need good teachers! They need nutritious food programs! They need cultural programs! I've spoken with many students who could care less about their laptops. They're in frickin' middle school. Their homework is algebra, not write a ten page research paper.
This was simply a program put in place to show that the state cared about it's education and pretend that their children weren't tools because they could use a laptop, basically a 'I don't know what to do so let's buy something exciting' move.
}
Thank you for your time.
Re:OMG, don't support this (Score:5, Insightful)
You know, the tools that you provide do not really matter until you reach a certain maturity when you view them as just that - tools. And middle or highschool is hardly the time when you'd view them so.
The idea that giving a bunch of laptops or palm PDAs or whatever sounds more like a political move than anything that would truly help an educational system.
Kids during middle and high school should be taught to work with pen, paper, their heads and their hands. Solving and analyzing puzzles and problems on paper. Thinking up innovative methods. Building stuff. Get them a million Rubik's cubes, Chess sets, puzzle books and yes, even Lego Mindstorm kits.
I have said this before and I'll still say this - by giving a computer at a very early age, you are curtailing their abilities to think all by themselves. Take something like graphics programming - the best ones that I know still do everything in their head and solve it on paper, before they sit and start coding. And in the process, they learn and discover new stuff. By giving them access to computers at this early age, you're not letting them do that! Its far too easy to sit down and use ready made tools.
Like the parent said, get good teachers! Get them good books, teach them to build things, to take part in science fairs and apply what they learn. On a board or on paper dammit.
Re:OMG, don't support this (Score:3, Interesting)
I continued going to my original school, but many other students transfered to this new one. They were taught how to make multimedia CDs with Hypercard along with other "new" things to do with computers. I thought it would have been the greatest school to attend.
Well, 12 years have passed and with a little foresight I have been able to form an opinion on this kind of news. While they had more fun in school, and I'm sure for those first few years attendance was up, they still received the same education I did. Those students that transfered attended the same high-school as I did and had no apparent advantage over the other students. Now that "new era of education" school is severely out of date. Attendance and enthusiasm is basically the same as any other school in the area.
So what I'm saying is that for the first few years this program will seem cool to a lot of people, but in the long run it is pointless.
In other words, I couldn't agree with you more.
Re:OMG, don't support this (Score:2)
I agree that there are problems in the schools. Better food and exposure to arts is important. higher pay for the teachers in this case does not appear to be a need.
rebuttal from another mainer... (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sorry, there are just some very *wrong* things being said about this program both by people who claim to be from the state and via those from "away." So to clarify a number of things that have been said elsewhere:
1: The money for this program was privately generated and tagged specically for this program.
2: No general fund tax dollars are involved in this project...that is, no money that would otherwise go to other educational goals was diverted fund this.
3: Apple absolutely loss-lead this project...there is no doubt where the future is heading and a successful project here in Maine will pay off when NY or CA rolls out the same thing.
4: There is money being spent on teacher training and on technology integration into daily education.
5: This is an issue of equity of access and equity of opportunity. As Gov. King so eloquently explained, [paraphrasing] "My family was wealthy, when I was in school my father bought an Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house. Every other student in my class had to share the dog-eared one in the school library. Did this give me an advantage, absolutely. As of this moment, every single 7th grader in the State of Maine has their own World Book Encyclopedia because there is one on every single laptop." This program is about putting the single greatest educational TOOL since the printed book in the hands of those who need it most. It is about creating a structure within which those tools can be utilized to their highest and best use. It is about, frankly, the future of education.
6: The argument that kids can not be responsible is bunk...they are the exact same arguments that were being made when the debates about whether kids should be allowed to bring their textbooks home in the '30-40's...they were wrong then and wrong now.
I, for one, am very proud of this program. A decade from now, kids having laptops as part of their education will be a non-issue...like not allowing kids to bring books home, we will wonder what all the fuss was about. Will it go smoothly at every turn, no...is it the right path to go...absolutely. Maine's motto is Dirigo..."I Lead." Welcome to the future of education.
--
I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them.
- Isaac Asimov
As a Maine Resident... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:As a Maine Resident... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:As a Maine Resident... (Score:4, Funny)
At least your state isn't building the world's most expensive underground freeway for over $20 billion. I think that EVERY state should build an underground freeway in their largest city, just to keep things "fair".
computers for students (Score:3, Troll)
Re:computers for students (Score:5, Interesting)
so you want to raise very stupid children? this idea of yours is the stupidest I have ever heard.
I started my daughter (now 11) on computers at 18 months of age. I wrote a simple mouse program so she could click on familiar objects and the computer would say with recorded speech what it was. she loved this, and eventually found my invisible spot that quit the program. so I started her on a kids paint program to understand selecting tools, and it continues to this day where she is better at using the computer than the CS teacher in the local high school. She was tought programming with logo (by me) then I started her on basic for advanced ideas. This year I am starting her on perl and perl::GTK to introduce using GUI's before dropping her into C later if she wants to continue it.
My 11 year old has a better understanding about computers, operating systems and computing than 90% of the population. she has an advantage that will be with her forever, even when she becomes a Vetranarian (that's what she said she wants to be)
So if you want to breed residents for the trailer parks and slums feel free to. I take my spare time to teach my child Computer Science, Physics, Astronomy, and even play her games with her (Go ahead and laugh, but I'll bet $20.00 that none of you laughing can keep up with her or me on Dance Dance Revolution Max!)
My child is ahead of every other child in her district and is happy, she play's like a kid and has a kids life.... it's that daddy, instead of lying around like a lump on saturdays and sundays watching worthless things like football, basketball or car racing. He spends 3 hours with his child teaching, and 8-12 hours playing (you gotta keep up on the house and spouse/GF also)
Re:computers for students (Score:2)
But I find you last couple of statements rather humorous.
>instead of lying around like a lump on saturdays and sundays watching worthless things like football, basketball or car racing.
> I watch DVD's on linux
Re:computers for students (Score:4, Insightful)
I find your post very short-sighted and it is obvious that you have little understanding for how children learn and develop intelligence. There is no need to train kids on computers, just like there is no need to train them to use TVs or eat candy. They will learn it anyway, trust me,
With child-obesity at record levels, what we need to learn our children is to play outside, exercise, socialize and eat healthy. Maybe she should go horse riding if she's interested in animals - it's a great learning experience caring for a horse plus it practices empathy.
> My 11 year old has a better understanding about computers,
> operating systems and computing than 90% of the population.
That's great if you want your daughter to become a computer blue collar worker in 2010, you're doing fine. She'll make a good code-monkey or sysadmin perhaps. A computer is a tool, not a purpose.
What children need to learn is learning, not specific proficiencies. Maybe that's the good part of what you are doing, you're learning her to learn. But don't focus on the tools, they're irrelevant toys just like the ones she had when she was a baby. They are for learning, not for skills.
> He spends 3 hours with his child teaching, and 8-12 hours playing
> (you gotta keep up on the house and spouse/GF also)
There is no point in putting a child through 3 hours of school after school. And spending 15 hours a day with your daughter... I think you should put her into a real school and yourself into a job, just to give her a break!
Thin clients (Score:2, Informative)
But you can get thin client machines with COTS systems! Check out the linux terminal server project [ltsp.org]
You can use it with laptops. [sourceforge.net]
It can be a HUGE cost-saver. Schools have shown time and again that students can be very quick to adapt to new environments/OSes. I hope some advocacy group takes up the cause to get schools to consider this option.
Leaky Roofs, New Books, Etc.... (Score:5, Insightful)
In my day... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:In my day... (Score:2)
What Happened to the Pornography? (Score:2, Interesting)
What happened since then, or is this a fluff promotional piece? Where's the Pr0n? And if these computers were funded by public money, that pr0n should be freely shared online.
BTW, my school gave us Windows laptops, and you can see what happened if you watch the movie Bowling For Columbine. Damn blue screens.
From a Mainer (Score:5, Interesting)
The laptop program might be working in pockets in Maine, but it's akin to putting a new paint job on a delapitated vehicle that doesn't run. Maine's educational system is broken, and has been for quite some time; test scores are low, there isn't a standardized method of assesing performance of students throughout the state (don't tell me about the Maine Educational Assesment exams - they're fundamentally broken), and teacher pay and morale is low in almost all schools. Angus King, the previous governer, left the state holding the bag for the $37 mil proce tag, not to mention training for teachers, and a new curriculum to support the laptops. The state's education program is in dire need of funds for basics, such as books, buildings that aren't falling down around the students, competent teachers, etc. The news here in Maine for a while now has been how to get out of this laptop contract as cheap as possible. I'll give credit to Seymor Papert, and folks who would like to implement similar ideas, but until the most basic needs of students are met, laptops shouldn't be integrated into the curriculum.
I've spoken with a few teachers who deal with the laptops on a daily basis, and it's clear to them that the support network for the hardware itself is severly lacking. The issue of what to actually *use* the systems for seems to have been overlooked.
Bottom line: the money could have been better spent elsewhere. It's a valiant and forward-thinking idea, but not very pragmatic at the moment.
do like the private sector.... (Score:2, Insightful)
If the laptops could displace the purchase of expensive textbooks, it might put a dent in the $37m price tag
The private sector spends on technology to increase productivity and decrease costs.
A whole generation (Score:5, Funny)
As all Mac buyers know... (Score:3, Funny)
State of Maine purchased $37 million worth of iBooks from Apple
Just 4 days later, Apple offered the same laptop with double the memory, 100MHz faster CPU, AND a SuperDrive for $100 less
Re:As all Mac buyers know... (Score:2)
A great big DUH. (Score:4, Interesting)
Test scores are up 20% right? the students are learning at a faster rate? more? better? ratio of students failing to succeeding is getting better?
what other gains on the children are there? Reading higher? Math higher?
funny how the "sucess" is very thin on any real details or statistics that make it a sucess and not just a PR job.
New computers, Same old Teachers.... (Score:3, Insightful)
As a Mainer who actually understands the project.. (Score:5, Insightful)
1: The money for this program was privately generated and tagged specically for this program.
2: No general fund tax dollars are involved in this project...that is, no money that would otherwise go to other educational goals was diverted fund this.
3: Apple absolutely loss-lead this project...there is no doubt where the future is heading and a successful project here in Maine will pay off when NY or CA rolls out the same thing.
4: There is money being spent on teacher training and on technology integration into daily education.
5: This is an issue of equity of access and equity of opportunity. As Gov. King so eloquently explained, [paraphrasing] "My family was wealthy, when I was in school my father bought an Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house. Every other student in my class had to share the dog-eared one in the school library. Did this give me an advantage, absolutely. As of this moment, every single 7th grader in the State of Maine has their own World Book Encyclopedia because there is one on every single laptop." This program is about putting the single greatest educational TOOL since the printed book in the hands of those who need it most. It is about creating a structure within which those tools can be utilized to their highest and best use. It is about, frankly, the future of education.
6: The argument that kids can not be responsible is bunk...they are the exact same arguments that were being made when the debates about whether kids should be allowed to bring their textbooks home in the '30-40's...they were wrong then and wrong now.
I, for one, am very proud of this program. A decade from now, kids having laptops as part of their education will be a non-issue...like not allowing kids to bring books home, we will wonder what all the fuss was about. Will it go smoothly at every turn, no...is it the right path to go...absolutely. Maine's motto is Dirigo..."I Lead." Welcome to the future of education.
--
I do not fear computers. I fear lack of them.
- Isaac Asimov
This has been done before... (Score:3, Insightful)
River Oaks is a K-8 elementary school with a student population of about 800. A little over a decade ago, the new school was built, fully wired, and loaded with technology through partnerships with Apple (among others). There was one computer for every three students and a computer for every teacher.
I was a student in Oakville during River Oaks' heyday. I attended a less well-funded school in the same district, but was bused to River Oaks once a week to use their shop and kitchen facilities for classes. The school had some neat toys, there's no doubt about it--instead of paper sketches in shop class, we were using proper CAD software. We also did some work with computer controlled Lego Technics sets.
Did we actually learn any more? Nope. Was the technology overkill? Probably. I typed my papers on a Commodore 64 until my parents bought their first 386 when I was in Grade 8--but there I was, surrounded by all these shiny new Macs. (I thought that flying toasters were just the coolest thing...)
Now, River Oaks can't afford to upgrade or even maintain the technology they have in place [cbc.ca]. I imagine that other school districts face similar problems. After the 'gee whiz' wears off, what do you really need computers for in a school environment? Typing assignments. Doing research on the net. Preparing presentations.
How do you do these things? Have a few well-maintained computer labs in the school. As for those students who don't have a computer at home--they'll get by. I've been without a home computer for a month because I haven't gotten around to ordering some parts to repair my old clunker. I do my computer work on campus, and life goes on.
Immersion (Score:5, Insightful)
The idea isn't to teach them about computers, but to immerse them in progress. To the average Mainer technology is a complete mystery. A favorite passtime is laughing at New Yorkers and thier cell phones -- when they're not getting drunk and lamenting about the employment problem.
Many people are living below the poverty level trying to eke a living out of industries that were essentially destroyed by unsophisticated people coping with a progressive world.
The laptop initiative has many detractors - most ask the question "How will we pay for it." The bigger issue is: If Maine doesn't get progressive pretty damned fast, how long will it be before we're the first state to declare bankruptcy? How much will this 3o-something million save in welfare money over the lifetimes of these kids?
This laptop "boondoggle" by the great Governor King a shotgun approach intended to provide a long-term "modernity" shot in the arm at the expense of short-term comfort and stability.
People will probably starve in Maine before this recession is over. Hopefully the next generation will take that hardship they grew up with, combined with a love of technology, and go further than this "lobster and tourist economy" could ever take them. Immersion is the key, and this crazy plan was the only step that a lame duck governor could mak ehappen. So he did it, and stuck the next bunch with the check.
I wonder what they did differently (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the answer is probably no. We had an almost identical program at my high school when I was there, except this was during the peak of the bubble when everything Internet was A Good Thing. Thus, the district had no problems or detractors when it decided to drop a couple of million on a program to give laptops to freshmen. Fancy IR-based networks were installed in the classrooms, teachers went off to some training program to learn how to harness the Internet in education, and 550 shiny new laptops got distributed to the incoming freshmen.
I should add that part of that cash-laden spending spree created a bunch of new opportunities that I and some nerd friends were able to take advantage of. We got jobs which paid the cushy-for-high-school rate of like $12/hr fixing the laptops as the idiot freshmen (why on Earth they gave them to the freshmen as opposed to the seniors, e.g. us at the time, I don't know) broke them. And boy did they ever. There's no way to quite describe the pained look my face acquire as I walked down the halls and saw the short freshmen who were unlucky enough to have score a high locker, turning the damn computer on its side and using it as a stepping stool. One time we got one that had been microwaved; the kid swore up and down that it was an accident. I swapped out screens that had been shot with BBs, I replaced keyboards where the keycaps had been rearranged to say "FUCKWHORE69". If my nose was not deceiving me, one time a kid shorted out his motherboard by spilling bong water on the laptop. This is to say nothing of the hours spent reimaging porn-, mp3- and virus-laden harddrives. Laptops that had been bad or karmically deficient in a previous life, they got sent to my high school the next time around.
Anyways, so I became pretty familiar with what these kids were doing with them. And I'll be damned if they were studying or learning anything. If attendence improved, it was only because kids were coming in to download more Kid Rock and nude J-Lo cutouts off our 3 T1s. The teachers didn't really use them, thought it was a waste of money that should have gone into their anemic salaries, and said so. In fact the only times I ever heard the word success used in conjunction with the program were at the same School Board meetings where the whole affair was conceived in the first place.
As a final thought, I ask you, when was the last time you really learned something on the Internet anyways? I'm not talking about delving into source code that you wgetted or reading math PDFs, but just plain old high school grammar, geography, history, etc.? Quality sources of that are few and far between, and many of them are of the "The Holocaust is a Jewish conspiracy" variety. In other words, worthless crap. If you're like me, all my friends, my family, all their friends, and, I think, about 99% of the surfers out there, you spend your time on the internet in a sort of subdued mental haze, not really thinking, not really learning, just being, possibly being entertained. Really, it's just like marijuana, or television. Now imagine what would happen if Maine gave 7th graders $37 million worth of Trinitrons and pot
From someone who has been there ... (Score:3, Informative)
Last year I was a teacher at a school in the Richmond VA area, and we were the first school to have the "Apple iBook initiative". At the end of the summer, every HS teacher was given his/her iBook (The clam shaped ones), then at the beginning of the school year every HS student was given an iBook (the white square ones) [NOTE: The teacher books were bought by the SD, the student books were leased]
The first half of the year was a MESS. The students were originally given stock iBooks. We had students file sharing, piracy, missing and deleted apps, you name it. Since the school had purchased an anti-virus program from a company that went belly-up shortly afterwards, we had viruses running though-out the schools wireless network. A lot of the kids were using their iBooks in school to listen to music, share porn that they got while at home and play games. Then when they were caught, the iBooks would be confiscated. This made things very unreliable from the teacher perspective. I can not count the number of times I made a lesson that was going to use all this wonderful technology we had, only to find that over half the class did not have their iBooks cause- 1) they were being fixed, 2) been confiscated, 3) low battery, 4) missing apps, etc. This became the norm, so at the time when the teachers were the most "gung-ho" to use the iBooks, they were unreliable. I should note here that, as with everything else in life, there were many students (and teachers) used the iBooks as planned, and acted very respectable towards the entire project. But we had enough "bad apples" (excuse the pun) to ruin the experience.
The second semester saw a lot of improvement as the SD learned from the mistakes. They bought new anti-virus software and "locked down" the student's iBooks so that a lot of the non-educational things were not available. But by now, most teachers had returned to using standard methods of teaching. The use of the iBooks became equivalent to use of a computer lab. Yes, we used the iBooks more then a lab since we did not have to sign-up 3 wks in advance or waste time moving class, etc. but I do not think that was what the SD really wanted.
I have mixed feeling toward laptops in school. I think student should be able to use as much technology as possible, BUT only when it is better then, and supplements the standard methods. I think that laptops should be limited to the HS, were students are more mature (for the most part). I think that teachers should be heavily trained on how to use the computer as a supplement to their teaching. Schools should have "test groups" before issuing out laptops to the entire school. And these test groups MUST be a mix of the school population, not just the "good students".
If it is done right, I think it can be a great tool for education, but I have seen/read too many times it is quickly implemented so that the politicians (both government and school board) can get a new feather in their caps.
Just my 2/100 of $1.00Re:text anyone? (Score:3, Funny)
The article in full: (Score:5, Informative)
FREEPORT, Me., March 4 -- Attendance is up. Detentions are down. Just six months after Maine began a controversial program to provide laptop computers to every seventh grader in the state, educators are impressed by how quickly students and teachers have adapted to laptop technology.
In a language arts class at Freeport Middle School, for example, muted howls could be heard recently as students researched projects related to Arctic stories, including "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London. Following Internet tracks created by their teacher, Janice Murphy, some students, inspired by the story, were researching wolves.
"Look," said Doug Hoover, 13, double-clicking on a wolf site. "Here's a picture of the sound waves the wolf makes when it howls."
Here and at the 239 middle schools around the state, students, teachers and parents say they are finding unexpected benefits.
No one seems more surprised by the early success of the program than Angus King, the state's former governor. When he announced the plan in the summer of 2000, motivated by a $50 million budget surplus and a pressing need to attract new business to Maine, Mr. King was stunned by the vehemence of objections.
The statewide effort, the first of its kind in the nation, "was more controversial than abortion, gay rights or even clear cutting," Mr. King said. "People hated it. They thought it was extravagant; they thought the kids wouldn't take care of the computers."
An early opponent was Chellie Pingree, then the State Senate majority leader and soon to be the president of Common Cause, a government watchdog group based in Washington. "It was about the allocation of resources," Ms. Pingree said. "We were struggling with construction issues: schools needed to be built; there were leaky roofs and not enough books."
Though she now sees the program as a success, others still say it is misguided.
"The state was flush at the time the laptop program was inaugurated, when it should have been providing for the rainy day that we're living with today," said Sumner Lipton, a lawyer in Augusta and a former state legislator. "There's a certain degree of irony in giving all the seventh graders laptops in a day when we're talking about cutting state employees back to four-day work weeks."
Before the program began, legislators trimmed its cost and scope. Envisioned as a $50 million effort that would let seventh graders take the computers with them through graduation, the plan was limited to seventh and eighth graders.
Laptops will follow their users to eighth grade next year, while seventh graders will get new iBooks, for a total of 33,000. When students leave the eighth grade, they will turn them in.
The cost of the four-year program is $37.5 million, which includes leasing the laptops, installing wireless ports throughout schools so students are always connected to the Internet and training teachers. It translates to about $300 per user a year, said Tony Sprague, project manager of the laptop program, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative.
To bolster the program, Mr. King sought support from beyond the state government. The author Stephen King (who is not related to Angus King) toured the Freeport school and offered to teach an online writing course. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $1 million for more teacher training. The technology giant EDS pledged $400 million in software for Maine schools, the biggest gift the state has ever received.
Educators say that problems have been minimal, with little breakage, theft or loss. The rewards, teachers say, have been impressive.
"These laptops are changing the way learning happens and the way teaching happens," said Chris Toy, principal of Freeport Middle School. Such a transformation, Mr. Toy said, can happen only when each student has a computer. "We don't have a pencil lab or put eight pencils in the middle of the room and have kids take turns using them, Computers are tools, and when every child in every school has one, it levels the playing field."
Though an estimated 90 percent of the homes in Freeport, near Portland, have computers, the laptops go home with the students at night. "We needed to make sure that level playing field is extended to the home," Mr. Toy said. "Now, no one's computer is better or faster."
That sense of equality is felt keenly in the state's poor and remote schools. At the tiny elementary school in Pembroke, about 240 miles northeast of Portland in Washington County in the Down East region, children and teachers seem to be using the laptops as effectively as those in more affluent areas, the principal, Paula Smith, said. Washington County is the state's poorest, and Ms. Smith estimated that perhaps 35 percent of her students had a computer at home.
As at other schools, she said, seventh graders seem more focused and less mischievous. Last year, Ms. Smith said she handed out about 30 detentions to Pembroke's seventh and eighth graders. This year, there have been two.
Parents also welcome the program.
"When the plan was announced, a lot of people thought the money should have been put into buildings," said Alison Bennie, the mother of a seventh grader in Topsham, next to Brunswick near Portland. "My husband and I both work at Bowdoin College, and we see the rate of students bringing their own computers to campus. It's virtually 100 percent. So the sooner kids learn the language, the more adept they will be at computers in high school and beyond."
Ms. Bennie's point is critical. By some measures, Maine's public schools are considered quite good: the National Center for Education Statistics ranks Maine as having one of the highest high school graduation rates in the country. But when it comes to students going on to college, Maine ranks low in the region. And in term of Ph.D.s earned in the state, Maine ranks dead last among states and Puerto Rico, according to a recent report from the National Science Foundation.
Improved college attendance five years from now would be a measure of the program's success, but for now, educators are collecting all the information they can and are awaiting year-end test scores. In other parts of the country, smaller programs have had a significant effect: In Henrico County, Va., where 24,000 students in grades 6 through 12, have laptops, test scores have risen and dropout rates have fallen.
But many Maine educators worry less about how success will be measured than about what will happen when they tell ninth graders in 2004 to surrender their iBooks.
"Because I see their skills building, the biggest concern is what will happen when they enter high school and lose their laptops," said Diane Parent, the principal of the middle school in Caribou, more than 300 miles northeast of Portland in remote Aroostock County.
Teachers are crossing their fingers that schools will be able to secure funds to ensure that laptops stay with students through high school, as they do in Henrico County, Va.
Re:What are we teaching? (Score:2, Insightful)
What's the problem there?
Teach them the abilities to adapt to conditions that aren't always identical and you have them all the stronger for the real world.
While you're at it flooding a school with kids who only know MS software, best make sure they only eat at McDonalds, only watch the most popular television shows, read the most popular books and only wear the most common clothes. After all, what's the chance they'll grow up choosing what they wish to do.
Re:What are we teaching? (Score:2)
Learning to use computers in school is a great idea. As long as computers have been in general circulation, schools have had a number of them to teach students general proficiency.
Students need good teachers and books for a good general education. All students should take a few computer classes. Nowadays, everyone needs to know word processing, spreadsheets, maybe even a little coding. Additional exposure is up to the student.
This "one computer per student" idea came about in the 90's when people realized that IT professionals were doing pretty well. It's not for everyone. Students shouldn't be taught that the solution to everything is their iBook. The pen and a sharp mind are more powerful tools.
Every school should have a well equipped computer lab, a well stocked library, science labs, etc.
Re:What are we teaching? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What are we teaching? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe it's stupid for someone who only has enough room in their brain to use one OS (that's not what you're saying, right?), but guess what? Most kids I know can figure out how to get around any OS in no time. A window is a window, a menu is a menu, a X is an X (where X is radio button, check box, push button, etc.).
Do you really think that using software like Word/IE/Photoshop/etc. on a Mac is that different from using it on a PC? C'mon!
Re:Socialism! (Score:2)
Most of my Christian friends seem to forget that the early Christians where basically socialists(look in the book of Acts)
Certain things in government need to be run in this way, but my preference is for as little as possible.