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High School Students Getting Apple's Laptops

cubixcrayfish

cubixcrayfish

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 21, 2004
73
0
Looks like I will be getting a Apple Laptob in 2006, but I will almost be out of HS by then..


Though the contract calls for the Laptop to cost less than $270, what is Apple going to give us that will cost less than that
CCSD News and Announcements

Board To Hear Details of Power To Learn
Topics of Feb. 9 Meeting Include Apple’s Proposal, Phase I


Following a comprehensive evaluation of proposals from major computer vendors, the Cobb County School District plans to recommend to the Board of Education that it pursue a contract with Apple for a three-phase program to provide laptop computers to all Cobb County teachers, middle and high school students. Details of Apple’s proposal will be discussed Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2005 at the school board’s regular work session.

Phase I of the plan will include issuing laptop computers to all Cobb County teachers this spring. In addition, four demonstration sites will be picked to test the implementation of laptops to students. The demonstration sites will be established in fall 2005 and will accommodate teacher training, as well as research & development. Also included in Phase I is an upgrade to current middle school technology. The Board of Education will vote on Phase I at its March 9, 2005 work session.

Subsequent phases of Power To Learn include providing all high school students with laptops beginning early in 2006 (Phase II). Students would receive laptops when their individual schools meet readiness requirements. Phase III of the program would issue laptops to all middle school students. Each phase will move forward pending school board approval.

The District will host four Power To Learn Information Sessions at schools throughout the county to share information about the proposal and receive public input before the school board votes on the contract in March. The following are dates, times and locations for those public meetings:
Date Time Location
(School Theater) Address
Click to expand...

You can see the link on http://www.cobb.k12.ga.us/ We passed a 1% sales tax year, and they are using it to buy laptops for like 16,000 students. Can someone tell me what a laptop less than $300 will be like, i know they did this somewhere in Maine. I really doubt the intelligence of the board for doing this though, i am one of a few Mac Users, in my entire H.S., why switch everyone to a new OS, when many things won't be compatiable....

CCF
 
OMGWTFPR0N

i don't really see the point..... every school i've ever been too has not used computers and technology to the fullest extent in the classroom.

granted, they can be a very very powerful tool - if used correctly. most teachers i do tech support can barely grasp the idea of folders, or do anything on a computer other than click on the blue IE to browse the interweb and chat using AIM.

though i do find it interesting that it seems like more and more schools are getting students laptops. new trend?


personally, i think they just handed the key to 16,000 kids for unlimited porn. god knows they look at porn enough at my school during the day. (in plain sight too :eek: :mad: )
 
Not to rain on any parades but my old high school, and now employer, ahs been 100% mac for almost a decade. They introduced COW (computers on wheels) 6 years ago with the 500mhz iBook. Many still in service. The tech department has been growing ever since the intial 100 laptops. Now the two other guys i work with and I are responsible for over 150 laptop (teachers and COWs) and another 150+ desktop.
 
PS
We use SonicWall to filter and monitor out network. The only thing that sucks is that we had to install a Dell blade server to monitor it. It kind of takes away from the nice stack of Xserve's
 
yeah, that was a major issue, suppeosdley they are suppeosed to install intertnal filtering and etc. So you guys think I will get a stripped down iBook?
 
We used to have a cart full of about 30 Powerbooks for the students to use at all times. The school doesnt provide laptops, but they provide about 40 desktops which are located all around the high school (all are Windows :( ). The good thing is that I can bring my iBook to class with me or anywhere else on school campus and be connected to the schools wireless internet network. It is really nice to be sitting in our lounge browsing the web. Anyway, I wish we switched all of our desktops to Apple eMacs.
 
To Flyinace2000 - my school systems elementary is %100 Mac, has COWs, uses SonicWall filtering and has Dell Poweredge servers..... hmmm.... ;)

They should use filtering software, but that doesn't work %60 of the time at my high school. Which is enough of a chance for most people to try. :rolleyes: major websites like www.megaproxy.com are blocked, and so are sites with multiple instances of the words sex, porn, etc.

The filtering software only blocks website traffic. Many kids like to install a program like KaZaA, download and watch porn, then reboot the PC. All the laptops (and some desktops, but laptops are most of the problem) at our school have Deep Freeze installed, so there is no trace of what they have done. (not that the students can tell anyways ;) )

I've submitted a report to the town network administrator about blocking specific ports like 6666 (IRC), 6881-6889 (BitTorrent), 5190 (AIM), etc. None of those ports have any kind of educational use, and have no reason to be used in a school environment. It has unfortunately, gone unnoticed.

OT but what ever.. I need to vent.... the administrator of one of the word processing labs suggested to one of the head techs that the school needs an FTP server available to the students so they can store files at school, then, if need be, can access them from home. I asked why don't they just use floppies? I got laughed at right on the spot. :mad: I was told that the students files were bigger than 1.44MB.

So I said well... you still have several problems you need to overcome:
1) bandwidth - when ever I used the school's T1 connection it's dog slow, and I normally can't get higher than 20 kilobytes per second up and 45 down. That is a problem if you have several hundred students trying to d/l files bigger than 1.44MB
2) security - imagine how valuable it would be to have someone else's account? you could store unlimited amounts of MP3s and warez. FTP break-in attempts would be another problem. You'd have to have someone monitoring the logs all the time and keep track of how much bandwidth each student would use. You know there is a problem when a student is transferring 10+GB a month
3) accessibility - how many of the people at our school even know know to use FTP except for the very small number of gifted people that know how to 'worked teh computar'. Techs like me might use it, but that's what we have flash drives and external USB HDs for.

What ever.... sorry for sort of thread crapping but I'm still pissed that I got laughed at for using the word 'floppy'.
 
My school provides laptops to all teachers, but it's pretty much a waste unless they have smart boards. Smart boards allow the teachers to use their computers linked to a projector, and write on the board which will really go on the computer. You can save notes among other things with them. Without that, there is really no reason for a teacher to need one, a desktop would be adequate for most.
 
In my highschool we have room on the servr to put our stuff on it. It is really cool and most kids know how to use it. The only thing is we use windows computers. Then in another room we have about 50 emacs but they arent hooked up to the network and arent really used to their full potential. Every teacher in my school also has a computer but they are desktops. O and we also have the clamshell ibooks that a teacher can bring into class if they want.
 
man, it would have been wonderful to have had access to OS X at my highschool... but w/ 2000 students and being mainstream and dumb like we were... 2000 of us suffered from windoze syndrome. I didn't switch till i went to college... but i'll NEVER go back!
 
just as i graduated from HS the school got an iBook for all of the students and replaced the teacher's ibook with powerbooks. i think its a great idea but that is just me.
 
I can't wait to hear the complaints of 95% of my community over using Macs... It will be intresting
 
Actually, you are just renting it, or leasing should I say. If you don't pay up the next year, Apple takes them back to be used else where I believe. This is how some schools upgrade on these plans. They had G3 iBooks one year, then upgraded to G4 iBooks the next, and it doesn't cost more than it did the year before. And the G3 iBooks go to a school that doesn't want to pay the full price to get the G4 computers. I believe these are the basics of how this laptop in schools is working out.
 
I know I will have to pay $50 in insurance fees, I have to say this will be a logistical nightmare, we have servers that never stay up, and no wireless networking, and almost more trailers than classrooms
 
Awesome

I want two small iMac or eMacs in my classroom. I just cant find anyone that will give me any money to do it. Our school is Windows, and it is stressful to get anything in our lab to work right. Anyone know of any good educational grants?
 
AnewMac said:
I want two small iMac or eMacs in my classroom. I just cant find anyone that will give me any money to do it. Our school is Windows, and it is stressful to get anything in our lab to work right. Anyone know of any good educational grants?
Click to expand...
Um, your school budget maybe. Have you brought up the idea at a PTA meeting that you are stressed out with this crap, and just want the kids to get some work done.
 
PTA??? You can call your country or city and apply for funding, when they do the next round of computer purchases
 
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