Shoulda gone with iPads...
http://www.news-record.com/news/article_698959fa-2cf2-11e3-ad07-001a4bcf6878.html
http://www.news-record.com/news/article_698959fa-2cf2-11e3-ad07-001a4bcf6878.html
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iPad Guilford County schools suspend tablet program
- Thread starter Aeolius
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Was that a Asus/Nexus10? I cannot tell.
$30million:
That would have been about 70,000 iPads with proper cases and the tools and instructions to succeed. Yet that would not have fixed an errant melting cable or charger.
If it was the Nexus10 tablets, they could update them to UbuntuTouch and have a pretty amazing little educational tool in their hands.
$30million:
That would have been about 70,000 iPads with proper cases and the tools and instructions to succeed. Yet that would not have fixed an errant melting cable or charger.
If it was the Nexus10 tablets, they could update them to UbuntuTouch and have a pretty amazing little educational tool in their hands.
There's iPad. And then there's everything else. You get what you pay for, and unfortunately for students these schools are paying now.
It seems it was an Asus. Read the comment section:
"This pisses me off.... I blame the school system. My daughter brought home her tablet 3 weeks after school started with a thin, silicone case, no screen protector and they expected to not have any problems? Plus the Asus tablets were heavy. Now the kids have to suffer because the school system didn't plan well and chose a vendor to supply a product that didn't meet their needs but rather a budget. So now what? The thing that really irks me is some dumb IT person had to make the recommendation and has a job still. I work in IT and have done several projects and this one on the tablets was doomed from the start conception to implementation.... And at the tax payers expense as well."
"This pisses me off.... I blame the school system. My daughter brought home her tablet 3 weeks after school started with a thin, silicone case, no screen protector and they expected to not have any problems? Plus the Asus tablets were heavy. Now the kids have to suffer because the school system didn't plan well and chose a vendor to supply a product that didn't meet their needs but rather a budget. So now what? The thing that really irks me is some dumb IT person had to make the recommendation and has a job still. I work in IT and have done several projects and this one on the tablets was doomed from the start conception to implementation.... And at the tax payers expense as well."
$199 tablets that they are actually paying $199/year to lease for 3 years, plus "licensing costs". Somebody is making a lot on this deal.
My district has nearly 500 iPads in a 1:1, with the Griffin survivor cases and in 2 years we've had 5 broken screens and 1 other "broken" iPad. The "broken" iPad fell out of a boat... And sank to about 15 feet before it was retrieved... 2 of the broken screens were falling off cars and being run over...
Gotta have a tough case, because even though the kids try to take care of them, ***** happens.
When we started rolling out the 1:1, the community was SURE at least 50% would be broken...
Griffin prices the Survivor Cases pretty well for school districts and volume.
This sounds like FUBAR from the beginning.
Coachingguy
Isn't it a little odd that in that whole article, not once did they name the model they're using? Probably some NDA in the lease or contract. "We'll give you a great deal on these tablets, but you can't talk about them in the press." Lol.
Over here we teach our kids not to break stuff and be careful with their things instead. If someone does break something they get from schools they will in many cases pay out of their own pocket for any repairs/replacements and will thus learn to be careful.
Internaut
macrumors 65816
Where schools (or any entity in the public sector) are involved, someone on the periphery always making a lot on some deal or other. In the UK, schools have been driven to the brink by very dodgy deals for laptop and desktop computers.
I think schools need to go back to the computer lab approach and ditch the tablets. I think a lot of money is being wasted and that it just interferes with education in general.
Welcome to The Public School system where spending other peoples money is the way of things. I dont see why the hell I as a taxpayer should be buying anyone an iPad except for me or my kids. Bunch of BS, IMO.
Cant little Johnny and Soosie learn to read and write without $600 dollar gadgets?
Whatever.
Internaut
macrumors 65816
Welcome to The Public School system where spending other peoples money is the way of things. I dont see why the hell I as a taxpayer should be buying anyone an iPad except for me or my kids. Bunch of BS, IMO.
Cant little Johnny and Soosie learn to read and write without $600 dollar gadgets?
Whatever.
Well, it's important little Johnny and Sooosie are deeply comfortable with the technology of the day. Then again, it is also IMHO they can use their brains to do arithmetic and that they (if I can say this without being labelled a hypocrite) can handwrite legibly. I'm fine with the idea of tablets, but not the cost model and the complicated contracts. A bunch of tablets plus Square Trade warranties would do the trick.
Cheap gets you nowhere, but 1:1 tablet initiatives are suspect in the first place. If a district actually has a good plan to implement them and good teachers to follow through that is one thing, but it seems that too many schools are throwing tablets into the classroom and expecting learning to automatically improve ... with no thought to durability, internet access (at school and at home), etc.
Welcome to The Public School system where spending other peoples money is the way of things. I dont see why the hell I as a taxpayer should be buying anyone an iPad except for me or my kids. Bunch of BS, IMO.
Cant little Johnny and Soosie learn to read and write without $600 dollar gadgets?
Whatever.
So does that extend to, oh, say desktop PC's in classrooms? How about School-owned text books? Education should be available to all regardless of the financial status of the individual child and their family, at least for a core set of subjects. Provided tablets (whether iPad's, Nexus's or any other brand is irrelevant) can offer a better learning experience and justify their cost then they should be considered as valid uses of public sector funding.
Sorry but I grew up in the 80's and 90's and can still see the effects today of schools not offering at least a basic level of IT literacy to all students. I was lucky and had access to PC's all through my secondary education, those that didn't were at a distinct disadvantage in almost all job roles when they entered the workforce. One of the best things about the smartphone (and now tablet) revolution kicked off by the iPhone was the vastly lower cost of entry to computing and the accompanying simplification of devices. For kids going through the education system now familiarity with IT is going to be as critical when they enter the workforce as reading and writing has been for the last century.
No, it doesnt extend to basic PCs and things like that. it seems that ipads for the kids is a tad overkill, especially when schools cry about money all the time even though we outspend every modern country in education by 10x and get mostly shady results. Thats a whole other issue though.
I do agree that modern tech has a place in schools but I still think schools need to teach you the basics and the rest is yours to seek out. Honestly, if they are worried about educating kids to help them live a purposeful life, some very LOW-tech courses should be taught - like how to balance a checkbook, how mortgages work, how to use credit WISELY, how to manage a household, etc, etc. It sounds funny but its not.
These kids can write operating systems in Assembly langauge but they cant find the hood latch to check the oil on their leased BMW. Oy Vey