Soroco High School considers laptops
Plan would provide a MacBook for all incoming freshmen
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Steamboat Springs — Tim Corrigan wants every incoming Soroco High School freshman to have an Apple MacBook laptop computer.
And he’d like the program to start next year.
The South Routt School Board president’s idea may sound radical. After all, the current economic recession coupled with a projected reduction in state funding next school year doesn’t make the prospect of any expenditure appealing.
But after hearing Corrigan’s rationale, it seems more realistic.
“We’re preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet,” Corrigan said last week. “So we better be sure we’re flexible about how we provide education.”
Despite not knowing what those jobs may be, Corrigan said he’d bet they would require significant technological know-how. It’s not just about reading, writing and arithmetic anymore, he said.
Corrigan made the proposal that the South Routt School District should provide a MacBook for incoming freshmen at the most recent School Board meeting, after a presentation about an Apple program at the Colorado Association of School Boards meeting last month in Colorado Springs.
Cost is the biggest sticking point in any capital expenditure the district undertakes in the next few years, with Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposal to cut statewide K-12 funding by more than $200 million in 2010-11. South Routt’s share of the cut is projected to be $221,576.
“We have to hold on to what we have,” South Routt Superintendent Scott Mader said last week. “There are going to be a couple of years ahead of us that will be as bad or worse than they are now. We’ll really have to watch our dollars.”
But Corrigan said the computers are an expense the district can afford.
The Apple program allows districts to lease the computers by paying one-quarter of the cost each year. Soroco High School has about 30 freshmen each year. So in the first year, the program would cost $7,500. The program would cost $7,500 more each additional year the district participates. At the end of the fourth year, the program would cost about $30,000 a year as each grade’s students would have their own laptops.
“It’s a tough sell in the current budget environment to talk about adding anything, but we’re looking at reduced revenue for several years,” Corrigan said. “What that means is we need to be really innovative in the way we educate kids.”
But he added, “We can afford to do this. We really can afford it. It just takes some will.”
Mader said the program would be more likely if the district could find grant funding, which he said it would pursue.
During his presentation at the School Board meeting, Corrigan said Valley High School in the Weld County School District RE-1 rolled out a similar program that began in February 2009. He said Weld bought 350 laptops. Students returned them to the district for the summer for service and received the same computer at the beginning of the next school year. Only one was lost, and it was lost by a teacher.
Corrigan added that after the first year of the program in a Virginia school district that bought 17,500 laptops, 25 were lost — 15 by teachers.
Aiming to ease concerns about accessible content, Corrigan said the laptops in Weld were installed with a filter that restricted any Web site the district chose. They also were programmed to turn off at midnight every day and to turn back on at 5 a.m.
Corrigan added that the program wouldn’t require additional software purchasing because the Apple MacBooks come equipped with almost everything students and teachers would need. He envisioned saving money on textbooks after moving to a more Web-based curriculum. Corrigan also said the laptops wouldn’t require significant training for students or teachers.
When School Board members asked what he thought about the program at the Dec. 17 meeting, Soroco High School Principal Dennis Alt said, “Let’s do it.”
Corrigan said the idea to give students computers has been brewing in his mind since he joined the School Board in 2003. He’s admittedly biased toward Macs. He bought his first — a second-generation Apple Macintosh — in 1984.
By providing each freshman and, ultimately, student with an Apple MacBook, Corrigan said, the district might be able to provide education in a new way to better prepare students for the future.
“Everyone talks about how much more advanced kids are with technology,” he said. “I agree they probably are with Facebook, Twitter and text messaging. I’m not sure they’re learning the real skills they’ll need in the work force.”
Comments
Scott Wedel 3 years, 4 months ago
Leasing a closed source laptop is not exactly how to teach kids about computers.
Buy used laptops with some version of linux, open office, Google Docs and so on. That is far closer to the future than Apple (or Microsoft).
max huppert 3 years, 4 months ago
Scott, tech upgrades everyday. I think its a great idea and the comp can be set up to change as new things come out, the best thing is that the kids will learn to type better and faster and that is a must.
Scott Wedel 3 years, 4 months ago
But they should not sign up for a 4 year lease program at $250 a year per Apple laptop.
If you want to teach the kids something then get them generic laptops running linux. Then let them constantly evaluate software options such as OpenOffice to decide what works best. That would actually teach them something.
Getting them a prepackaged Apple (or MS) system might be useful if the goal is to teach them computer history. The cost of computer hardware is always coming down. The cost of MS or Apple software systems is not. It is ridiculous to be paying so much for proprietary software. The future is not MS Office, but stuff like Google Docs and Open Office. The future is more like Chrome (based upon linux) than Safari or Windows 7.
Help them figure out how to set up and use collaboration tools.
Teach them the skills of the future, not the past.
max huppert 3 years, 4 months ago
i agree 100% Scott!!! Cloud computing is what the future is going towards. Maybe you should get in on this and help south route save money and make aliitle yourself. We need to come up with a cool application for cell phones nobody has yet, maybe a language one, teach kids how to speak that new language in Avatar.
housepoor 3 years, 4 months ago
yeah, i can imagine soroco staff supporting 300 14-17 year old users and their open source laptops
Jeff Kibler 3 years, 4 months ago
I demand free music. Free software! What about about free rent?
Ken Reed 3 years, 4 months ago
What is purchased (hardware and software) should depend on what the district wants to accomplish. While most people (including myself) have a distaste for Microsoft's monopoly on the Office suite, that's what is used in most businesses for day-to-day work. Certainly there's a movement to open source solutions, just look at how open source (LAMP protocols) have dominated the web server market.
If one of the reasons for issuing laptops is to prepare students for computer literate jobs (as stated in the article), then an open source solution alone may not be the best way to go. I would also question the purchase of the more expensive Macs since most businesses rely on PCs for the hardware component.
Scott Wedel 3 years, 4 months ago
The kids should not be expected to work on open source software.
It is reasonable to hope that they can install and use open source software. It is not unreasonable to hope that the top students could create a master image (dvd and flash) to install the current config on a new or to rebuild a damaged laptop.
OpenOffice, google docs and MS Office are similar enough that a person capable in one is certainly able to adapt to the other. An employer would probably prefer a potential worker that has flexibility as compared to knowing only one way of doing something.
The laptops should not have an open source only requirement. But neither should they be totally dependent upon proprietary software.
Though, to truly prepare the kids for the future, there probably should be a general philosophy to use the browser and other platform agnostic solutions as compared to Apple or MS specific solutions. Some of these kids have the sort of cell phones in which it is not unreasonable to think that the cellphone would be the device they use at school and then they transfer their work from school to their home system. Having students carrying around identical laptops would have been new back before these kids were born.
Unfortunately, a major objective of these programs offered by Apple or MS is to train students on their company's platform and software so that the students will buy and continue to use those systems.
trump_suit 3 years, 4 months ago
Scott, While I agree with your assertions about actually teaching some skills to these students, have you considered that the primary goal of this project would be to expand on their learning opportunities. A laptop that is down due to the students messing around with open source would not fill that need and would have the secondary effect of costing the district even more in support costs.
One of the benefits of a proprietary system is that a district employee can be quickly trained to rebuild these units when the students damage, misplace, or corrupt the existing installation. Yes this will happen... As soon as you turn students loose with these computers, they will immediately load applications and games never considered that will impact their stability and usefulnes.
I tend to agree more with kenreed that most business operations use MS Windows and Office, so training childen in these specific applications gives them a head start on that environment.
Ken Reed 3 years, 4 months ago
Here's the issue I've seen in many schools that take on this "1-1 initiative" meaning a laptop for each student. There's a lot of work in buying the hardware, determining what software to use, figuring out how to "re-image" systems that have been corrupted, instituting policies for correct care, etc. Once these decisions are made then you have to determine what the students are actually going to do with the laptops to assist with academic achievement and technology literacy. Most schools subscribe to an online site for the academic part so the students are using computers to assist in learning subjects such as reading, writing and math. Most online programs have a "tech component" that teaches the students how to learn their site and program but that's it. And to get this far is a major achievement for such a large initiative by a school system. However, students never become technology literate, they just get good at learning specific programs to assist with their academics. Technology literacy means that you really understand the hardware and software you are most likely going to use throughout your business career to be as productive as possible. Knowing the basics of MS Word is helpful, but what happens when someone sends you an open source document, an archived file, a link to an ftp site for downloading a document or a document created in WordPerfect?
Scott Wedel 3 years, 4 months ago
This all brings up the essential question of what the laptop is supposed to do for the students.
Is it supposed to provide a word processor and a browser to do basic information searches? That certainly does not meet the objective of "preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet,”
Knowing how to extract an archived file, how to open an ftp site or open a WordPerfect document also does not prepare students for jobs that don’t even exist yet, That stuff is rote knowledge of how to deal with specific weaknesses of specific applications.
If the goal is preparing students for the future then you have to do stuff like asking the students to figure out something cool they want and then finding, installing and using that. You have to let the students mess with the machines and have an easy way to rebuild systems.
trump_suit 3 years, 4 months ago
Well spoken Scott. The computer is only a window and a tool to access the education and resources that exist. When you enter a corporate environment as a new employee, you are generally given an orientation that talks about how and when to use your new email and communication services. What are the corporate policies towards installing your own software etc.....
When we talk about giving the students in an educational system access to laptops and computer resources, it is simply not enough to just give them the access, They will invariably find new games and uses for these tools that were not intended. What is needed first are clear goals and how the new laptop is going to be used to accomplish that goal. For instance:
All English papers must be published to the Teachers Website.
All math assignments must be completed online, Will be graded online, and parental access to monitor their childrens performance are mandatory. New classes need to be created for things like:
Managing Ranch Finances with Spreadsheets.
Calculating Hay Profitability.
Using Accounting products to manage a small Resaurant. What product is best for the purpose, and have the class run said business for a period of time using the various products.
Evaluating Purchasing needs for a small construction business. Things like what vehicles and tools will need to be purchased and which products/brands offer the best value.
Concepts like these will teach the students to use the tool (laptop) to collect the information and make an informed decision. It is not enough to teach them how to type and use excel, we must find ways to teach them why. At this level, it really does not matter what brand or operatiing system is chosen, it is the curriculum that should be the 1st priority.
Scott Wedel 3 years, 4 months ago
Trump, So then the decision to provide laptops substantially alters the curriculum.
From your list it would appear that preparing students for the future is teaching them the basics of spreadsheet finances. That sounds dreadful.
Preparing students for the future is the sort of thing that my high school chemistry teacher offered us 30 years ago. We were given the option of writing a program to be used by the teacher that did all of the calculations for a particular lab including the percentage error in the labwork once the teacher filled in the chemistry of the mystery reagent. If the program calculations were correct then you got an A even if your lab technique was poor. It was one student program per lab and only a few of us accepted that offer, but it was a real learning experience writing a program for someone else to use. It was a challenge then because entering the data and allowing corrections was not simple like it is now. So most the program was actually to create what we now call a UI. I wouldn't say that was a critical moment for us that took the option to write a program, but it did increase our confidence.
More modern challenges would be stuff like figuring out how fellow students can do their homework with their smart phone while sitting in a car. But that sort of option by a science teacher is still valid except that now it is reasonable to require the students write a program or create a spreadsheet to do the lab calculations.
Also, it should be noted that there are South Routt ranchers and hay growers that are pretty sophisticated users of technology to get the best prices for their cattle and hay. So at least some of these kids are being exposed to this sort of stuff already.
trump_suit 3 years, 4 months ago
I do not mean to diminish the skills or programs of anyone here and my examples might not be the best. In no way do I mean to say the spreadsheet skills are the primary objective. However, having a basic understanding of financial issues would seem to be extremely important.
What I intended to portrey is that we should be teaching the students how the computer and its available software can be used in the daily aspects of what they want they life to be. Just teaching them how to navigate thru the software is not sufficient. Having a curriculum that requires them to use the computer and it's various functionality to solve real problems. In a perfect world, each student would find a project that excites them.
Our children need to be taught how to think for themselves and to solve the problems that they will encounter in the real world. To many times we focus on passing this test or that and have only managed to teach them how to memorize facts. That can be done without spending money on computers. Technology is an opportunity to change the rules of the debate and to encourage independant thinking.
housepoor 3 years, 4 months ago
Without adding significant staff both for IS support and teaching it would be a nightmare not to go with the industry standard(windows,mac os) If that was under control you could certainly add curriculum to those interested in more advanced and broader subjects. The computer literacy of incoming freshman will vary greatly.
JLM 3 years, 4 months ago
This is a great idea for a number of reasons but one of them is not --- “We’re preparing students for jobs that don’t even exist yet...”.
Highly computer literate high school grads are going to be attending college or getting further technical education which will prepare them for the job market. Most of the high school grads who do not go on for further education are going to be working at jobs which exist right now almost by the process of elimination.
Several important considerations are:
Getting computers is the first step, the other big steps will be the installation of a great network, maintenance and the computer literacy of the teaching staff. There will also be a training and maintenance staff issue for the school.
The entire administration of the school can be converted to a public and protected website with the ability for parents to become more intimately involved in the things which kids never, ever tell them about. Think just of the applications of parent - teacher communication, discipline documentation, mid-term grading, grades, attendance, scheduling --- all of the things which a parent would have liked to have known BEFORE something goes wrong.
Most laptops come with a built in camera. Parent - teacher conferences could become video conferences. A sick child could actually monitor a class using his laptop. Parents could monitor class --- OK, maybe not such a good idea.
The teaching staff will have the ability to organize their classes in an exquisite manner. Lectures given with Power Point presentations can be voiced over and converted to Flash presentation. More ambitious teachers can film their classes and interject the PPT and voice over making a complete class presentation. Websites can be built which will provide the entire syllabus, lesson plans, lecture notes, class presentations (in Flash), tests and reviews. This provides the possibilities for real distance learning --- via the Internet --- on even the snowiest days and the ability to have summer school remotely.
There is absolutely no requirement to reinvent the wheel here. Very good community colleges (e.g. Colorado Mountain College) and expensive private schools have been using such strategies for a decade. Monkey see, monkey do. Smart Monkey avoids the costs of learning how to do and lets the first monkey pay for the learning curve.
The business world (with the exception of advertising and graphics design) uses PCs. To learn the MS Office suite and to be able to use it for real world applications --- like area ranchers --- is quite a step forward. Macs are simply not the right answer if you want to be in touch with the real world.
Last point --- this is a classic grant application waiting to be made. Get some of that Obama free stimulus money. Write a grant application and do it now.
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