OT: SD Unified Purchases 26,000 iPads For District Students

[blake]

SD Unified Purchases 26,000 iPads For District Students

These things will probably not last more than a couple of years.

Somebody is going to get a nice kickback, umm, bonus.

[Hobie]

The last sentence of the story, ” The software and technology programs the district will use is not yet clear.” Seriously!!!

[UCGal]

I have a friend I’ve known since grade school who works in this area – specifically, how new technology can be used to teach kids. She’s a form Q-com veep and, more importantly, a mom.

She’s been writing/researching how games and technology can be used in education. Here’s a recent article she wrote.

http://gettingsmart.com/blog/2012/04/finally-math-apps-show-r-e-s-p-e-c-t/

[Coronita]

I think getting kids to use a tablet, smartphone computer early is a good thing. I have software for my kids and I’m working on a few to help her schoolwork out.

But seriously, it’s funny the school district would be spending money on this while at the same time suggesting to do layoffs because of underfunding from the state.. I’m sure there’s some reason, though.. .Like capital equipment purchases comes from one funding source, while as salaries come from another. But it just seems backassward to me.

[ucodegen]

I am wondering if the plan is to eventually do away with books. The cost of books for schools is surprisingly high. One iPad can contain several times the ‘content’ of one book + adds interactivity. That said, I don’t think the iPads will last long. The kids using them are not responsible for their upkeep/maintenance. A better approach would be to require iPads or equiv after 2nd grade – parent purchased. Financial hardship cases could get gov money.. but they are limited to the less ‘fancy’ versions. Might even make the purchase of one per kid per 3 years; tax deductible..

Properly used, such tech has the chance of significantly improving education.

NOTE: $15mil would pay for more than 150 teachers…

[Coronita]

I do have some concerns about kids staring at an LCD screen for so long during the nights.

I have serious insomnia issues if I true on the computer or tablet in the middle of night. Must be the brightness of the backlighting tricking my mind thinking it’s daylight or something.

The other the the district is not accounting for. Repairs. Lol… If it’s personal property, I take very good care of it. If it’s someone else provided, no so much.

I’m sure parents are going to be thrilled with a repair bill if their kid smashes one in school

[blahblahblah]

Technology is going to have a big role to play in the education of commoners. Among the elites, it will be used very little, if at all. Elite children will be too busy learning to read and write in multiple languages, world history, advanced mathematics, etc… to spend time playing with iGizmos.

The introduction of technology to young commoners at earlier and earlier ages is very important, as it reduces their attention span, makes them easier to manipulate, etc… An added bonus is that well-connected businesses can benefit by selling technology into the captive education market.

[Diego Mamani]

Really bad idea. And I don’t think they’ll last a couple of years: they’ll either break down after a few months, OR, kids will lose interest once the next high-tech thingy comes along and their mid 2012 obsolete iPads start looking like an old dinosaur.

I’ll tell you an anecdote from my years in grad school here in California. We had undergraduate students who had been exposed to computers and high technology literally since Kindergarten or earlier. However, the students struggled and had a really hard time learning to use Excel and the like.

On the other hand, we had foreign grad students that had only very limited exposure to computers in their college years (this was almost 20 years ago).

Funny thing is, the foreign grad students learned everything about computers very quickly, and had to patiently teach and tutor the American undergraduate students who struggled with software.

How come the group with NO computer experience in childhood and only very limited experience in college could learn so quickly (even after the language barrier), while the domestic kids who always had computers had a hard time?

The reason is that if you learn elementary and intermediate math very well, then you are well-equipped to learn about hardware and software. But if they teach you dumbed down math, then you’ll always struggle with computers, even if you had them since pre-school.

Flu knows about this… he told us before about how his foreign-born wife can do math in her head effortlessly, etc.

iPads for K-12 students? BIG, HUGE, waste of money.

[sdrealtor]

I think the kids will take better care of them then many of you think. My daughter is going into 4th grade and they are piloting iPads at that grade level in our school (possibly district but I dont know). I cant imagine her treating it with anything but great respect and care.

[ucodegen]

[quote=Diego Mamani]I’ll tell you an anecdote from my years in grad school here in California. We had undergraduate students who had been exposed to computers and high technology literally since Kindergarten or earlier. However, the students struggled and had a really hard time learning to use Excel and the like.

On the other hand, we had foreign grad students that had only very limited exposure to computers in their college years (this was almost 20 years ago). [/quote]Umm. time-line problem for college undergrads 20yrs ago. 2012 – 20years = 1992. Back about another 20 for year of birth brings it to 1972. Forward to Kindergarten 5 to 6 years.. brings 1978 or so. I don’t think there was even wide spread availability of computers in 1978. IBM came out with the first Luggable in 1975 (IBM 5100).. for $8,000 to $19,000 – a very big sum in those days. Most high schools didn’t even have computers available to them, much less individual homes. The High School I attended was one of the rare one’s who did.. in 1975 (oops, dating myself here). This was the first system I learned to program (Not Basic, the other language that was available on that machine)

There is a ‘current’ problem being noticed where many college undergrads who were ‘exposed’ to computers in the home while growing up, don’t have the ‘expected’ knowledge of them when they enter College. That is because ‘exposure’, ie watching videos, playing games.. is not the same as using a computer as a tool. This problem is exacerbated by the ‘MTV’ generation’s 15 second concentration duration.

[Anonymous]

1. iPads will make everyone’s API go up.
2. We won’t have to pay for books (instead we will pay to download ebooks).
3. Circuses for the peasants.
4. Movies for the ritalin brigade.

New York Times article

[Diego Mamani]

[quote=ucodegen]There is a ‘current’ problem being noticed where many college undergrads who were ‘exposed’ to computers in the home while growing up, don’t have the ‘expected’ knowledge of them when they enter College. That is because ‘exposure’, ie watching videos, playing games.. is not the same as using a computer as a tool. This problem is exacerbated by the ‘MTV’ generation’s 15 second concentration duration.[/quote] My point exactly. What we really need are the basics: reading, writing, arithmetic, algebra, spelling. We are failing there… see how many allegedly educated adults spell “alot”, confuse “principal” with “principle,” can’t calculate a 15% tip, etc. Throwing money at fancy gadgets is not going to solve the more basic problem.

[Essbee]

I’m kinda in this generation, so here’s a reference point. Born in 1975, started college in 1993. First classroom computer that I remember was in 3rd grade (83/84). It had a tapedeck and I played a game which was sort of like steering a car between two lines. Around this time, my mother was studying computer science and was programming on giant computers with keypunch cards.

A few years later (86 or so) we learned a bit of LOGO or BASIC in 5th grade. Most of my peers had personal computers such as Apple IIe by 1986-87 or so. They were basically big word processors. I first used the internet in 1991/92 or so as I discovered newsgroups thru my mother’s work sdsu.edu account.

When I entered college, ours was the first class with ethernet wired freshman dorms. Email in 1993 started with “pine.”

Believe it or not, even though I have a bachelor’s degree in a science field and MANY more years of postgraduate/professional education, I have never taken a BIT of computer programming since 1986. I can semi-successfully navigate Windows (mostly thanks to how programs download and autoinstall themselves), and that’s about it. I can definitely say that I semi-grew up in the information age but feel semi-illiterate with regard to anything outside of the internet and basic Microsoft Office products.

All of this being said, I don’t know that giving kids Ipads tackles this problem at all.

[Essbee]

[quote=ucodegen](in 1978…)Most high schools didn’t even have computers available to them, much less individual homes. The High School I attended was one of the rare one’s who did.. in 1975 (oops, dating myself here). This was the first system I learned to program (Not Basic, the other language that was available on that machine)
[/quote]

Fortan maybe?

[Essbee]

duplicate

[Author]

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