"The second-largest school system in the U.S., the L.A. Unified School District, has awarded Apple with a $30 million contract to provide iPads to every student it serves.."
"... the iPad will be used by students at 47 campuses in the L.A. Unified School District..."
Something about this story does not! According to the district website, " LAUSD enrolls more than 640,000 students.... at over 900 schools, and 187 public charter schools"
That certainly doesn't sound like they are buying an iPad for EVERY student if they are only sending them out to 47 sites! -eb
"The second-largest school system in the U.S., the L.A. Unified School District, has awarded Apple with a $30 million contract to provide iPads to every student it serves.."
"... the iPad will be used by students at 47 campuses in the L.A. Unified School District..."
Something about this story does not! According to the district website, " LAUSD enrolls more than 640,000 students.... at over 900 schools, and 187 public charter schools"
That certainly doesn't sound like they are buying an iPad for EVERY student if they are only sending them out to 47 sites! -eb
Great for Apple, but Im skeptical that LAUSD(or vast majority of US school systems) has the 'teaching culture/systems/programs' (ala Finland school culture, Kahn Academy etc) to take advantage of the iPad or any computer to fundamentally improve education. I sincerely hope my skepticism is proved misplaced and that I'm just being an old fuddyduddy..
I'm sure the LASD is going to spend $30 million on iPads and not have a clue as to what they're going to do with them. /sarcasm
Usually if not always with major projects like this, there is some massive planning that goes on. Its not as simple as just hand out iPads and say here you go, now use them!
Apparently you haven't been in a classroom lately. Everything is going this way if it hasn't already. I work in IT and run the entire Mac Dept at my school and were all building STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) labs. Every single classroom has a Promethean Interactive board on the wall (even in the elementary school). We have distance learning labs to take virtual field trips to museums, zoo's, the Statue of Liberty, etc. We have iPad carts that are constantly signed out.
Yes, lets just stick to 1960's text books to teach our children for today's world.
Can you elaborate on the sustainable part? Because buying devices that obsolesce every five years or so seems unsustainable.
Here's a 3-year experience from Fraser Spiers (emphasis mine):
The Butcher's Bill
MONDAY, MAY 27, 2013 AT 10:40PM
So we are coming up on three years with the iPad 1. I thought it would be interesting to look back at our damage rate and see how things went.
I've kept a log of when devices were replaced and why. These numbers are based on a deployment of 115 iPads and all the repairs were handled through the Genius Bar at our local Apple Store.
1 Sep 2010: Dead Digitiser
...
Summary
3 LCD failures
2 sleep/wake button failures
2 connector failures
2 cracked screens
1 digitiser failure
1 case damage
1 home button failure
1 headphone jack
1 bad interaction with a motor vehicle
So, over the course of three years, a total of 14 devices have been replaced. That works out at as an overall replacement rate of 4% per year.
Of these devices, half were for what we might call failures - damage not resulting from user action - and the other half were damage. Interestingly, our battery failure rate remains at a steady 0%.
I'm no mechanical engineer, so I can only guess at reasons why we may be seeing such a low damage rate. For one thing, I'd say that the iPad 1 is very robustly built. It doesn't have such a sharp edge as the iPad 2-style case, which can be vulnerable when the device is dropped.
The second thing I think contributed to our low damage rate was the fact that we have carpet in almost every classroom of the school except the science lab.
Another factor is that there just isn't that much to go wrong. A laptop has a complex hinge, more than 100 switches on the keyboard, a moving hard drive, a fragile power socket. The iPad has four switches, a charging socket and solid state storage. The 30-pin connector has proven reasonably robust but I expect the Lightning connector will be even more reliable.
Finally, I also believe that being 1:1, and building a culture of responsibility around that, makes a massive difference to the way pupils treat computers. When your name is on it, when your data is on that device and when its damage or loss will directly impact you, you tend to take good care of it.
I have worked with the MLTI program at several schools and we are looking at a similar award.
AUGUSTA %u2013 For the first time since the Maine Learning Technology Initiative began in 2002, schools have made a choice in the solutions they will use for 21st century teaching and learning.
This fall, 39,457 students and educators will start using Apple%u2019s iPad tablet ($266 per year, per seat with network), followed by 24,128 using Apple%u2019s MacBook Air laptop ($319 per year, per seat with network) and 5,474 using the HP ProBook 4440 laptop which runs Microsoft Windows 7 ($286 per year, per seat with network).
It may be a win ($$$) for Apple, but a total lost for the teachers, staff and students of the LAUSD. With all the layoffs, the furloughed staff, how the hell are they going to make this work? That $30m could have been BETTER used.
I bet no one here knows how wasteful, corrupt and downright incompetent the LAUSD is. The iPads will end up stockpiled in warehouses, or worse, get stolen and vandalized. All the while the LAUSD enjoy getting the kickbacks.
I bet no one here knows how wasteful, corrupt and downright incompetent the LAUSD is.
I know how wasteful, corrupt, and incompetent my local school corporation is, as well as most in the area. I imagine it translates to California, the Bankruptcy State.
I know how wasteful, corrupt, and incompetent my local school corporation is, as well as most in the area. I imagine it translates to California, the Bankruptcy State.
A bit off topic, TS, but I for one am glad you've not been banned. But have you been and now you're, like, a Mod Zombie now? Just asking.
"The board opted to choose Apple as the sole vendor after students and teachers rated the iPad as the highest quality tablet available on the market."
I don't believe they had access to iOS 7. Do you?
I believe they have at least seen screenshots of iOS 7. Regardless, other than the overall look, iOS 7 isn't that different. A few months after 7 rolls out most people will look on 7 as normal anyway, so it's more like if they had iOS 6 they would be seen as antiquated.
"The board opted to choose Apple as the sole vendor after students and teachers rated the iPad as the highest quality tablet available on the market."
I don't believe they had access to iOS 7. Do you?
If the CTO/CIO of LAPS didn't demand a NDA covered discussion of iOS7 in the last week prior to greenlighting the decision, then it's their fault. Apple would have been happy to discuss that AFTER the keynote to a potential customer of this size.
And iOS6 will be supported for a year or 2, and the transition will be faster for the kids than the teachers. time marches on... most kids are able to teach their parents the iPad, because there is no prior knowledge to erase. Trust me, iOS7 isn't a show stopper for someone who has never picked up a mobile device before... and more importantly, anyone who has played with gameboys, xboxes, ps3s, etc.
A bit off topic, TS, but I for one am glad you've not been banned. But have you been and now you're, like, a Mod Zombie now? Just asking.
I couldn't say with certainty what's going on right now, but I'm actually sort of digging the fact that the "Banned" tag hasn't been removed from my sidebar there.
This's just show how risky iOS 7 is. This deal was made with iOS 6 in mind (the best tablet). Who knows how many teachers and students like Book Shelf or Page Turning in iBook. SJ wanted technology to be easily accessible by people but Tech heads didn't know better and want it to be something else. Now it looks like even Apple want to prove themselves to tech heads. I just hope it still is an easy and enjoyable to use like before.
I'll miss you Page-turning.
Having been running iOS 7 since it went beta I must say I have mixed feelings and you make a good point about this for schools. I have found myself staring at the screen many times thinking where the hell is the button to this or that only to realize the word is there such as 'send' rather than a graphic and or text. I'm very graphically minded and always have OS X Finder options in tool bars set to the graphic plus text and actually have problems when it is text only. My brain just doesn't see words alone the same way for some reason. My suggestion, not that Apple want to hear this I bet, is give users an option to retain more of the graphics if they wish or go as bare bones as iOS 7 seems to be. I always agreed that Contacts and Calendar looked terrible and were taken to extremes but now I find calendar too stark by far. As I say, I think this is such a personal thing I don't see why there can't be options as to how stark (clean, flat or what ever you want to call it) you want to go.
Oh and the start screen is just too ... something ... ... an arrow pointing up (no text) for the new control of media etc. menu and ... just text (no graphic arrow) for 'slide to unlock' (which is slide to the right) ... so we have text and a graphic, two different design approaches, together and requiring 90° different action ... now that is weird.
I couldn't say with certainty what's going on right now, but I'm actually sort of digging the fact that the "Banned" tag hasn't been removed from my sidebar there.
Behold the pale horse. The man who sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him.
Comments
"... the iPad will be used by students at 47 campuses in the L.A. Unified School District..."
Something about this story does not! According to the district website, " LAUSD enrolls more than 640,000 students.... at over 900 schools, and 187 public charter schools"
That certainly doesn't sound like they are buying an iPad for EVERY student if they are only sending them out to 47 sites!
-eb
"... the iPad will be used by students at 47 campuses in the L.A. Unified School District..."
Something about this story does not! According to the district website, " LAUSD enrolls more than 640,000 students.... at over 900 schools, and 187 public charter schools"
That certainly doesn't sound like they are buying an iPad for EVERY student if they are only sending them out to 47 sites!
-eb
Quote:
Originally Posted by boeyc15
Great for Apple, but Im skeptical that LAUSD(or vast majority of US school systems) has the 'teaching culture/systems/programs' (ala Finland school culture, Kahn Academy etc) to take advantage of the iPad or any computer to fundamentally improve education. I sincerely hope my skepticism is proved misplaced and that I'm just being an old fuddyduddy..
I'm sure the LASD is going to spend $30 million on iPads and not have a clue as to what they're going to do with them. /sarcasm
Usually if not always with major projects like this, there is some massive planning that goes on. Its not as simple as just hand out iPads and say here you go, now use them!
Apparently you haven't been in a classroom lately. Everything is going this way if it hasn't already. I work in IT and run the entire Mac Dept at my school and were all building STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) labs. Every single classroom has a Promethean Interactive board on the wall (even in the elementary school). We have distance learning labs to take virtual field trips to museums, zoo's, the Statue of Liberty, etc. We have iPad carts that are constantly signed out.
Yes, lets just stick to 1960's text books to teach our children for today's world.
Here's a 3-year experience from Fraser Spiers (emphasis mine):
http://speirs.org
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evilution
30 million is pocket change to Apple, it's like you finding a buck in the street.
I wish I could find a buck in the street.
AUGUSTA %u2013 For the first time since the Maine Learning Technology Initiative began in 2002, schools have made a choice in the solutions they will use for 21st century teaching and learning.
This fall, 39,457 students and educators will start using Apple%u2019s iPad tablet ($266 per year, per seat with network), followed by 24,128 using Apple%u2019s MacBook Air laptop ($319 per year, per seat with network) and 5,474 using the HP ProBook 4440 laptop which runs Microsoft Windows 7 ($286 per year, per seat with network).
I guess you still use Win 3.X. iOS 7 is still in beta. In addition, the gestures and use remain largely the same.
I also thought Apple was losing its shine to the young ones. I thought teens would love android and surface. /s
I bet no one here knows how wasteful, corrupt and downright incompetent the LAUSD is. The iPads will end up stockpiled in warehouses, or worse, get stolen and vandalized. All the while the LAUSD enjoy getting the kickbacks.
I know how wasteful, corrupt, and incompetent my local school corporation is, as well as most in the area. I imagine it translates to California, the Bankruptcy State.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
I know how wasteful, corrupt, and incompetent my local school corporation is, as well as most in the area. I imagine it translates to California, the Bankruptcy State.
A bit off topic, TS, but I for one am glad you've not been banned. But have you been and now you're, like, a Mod Zombie now? Just asking.
I believe they have at least seen screenshots of iOS 7. Regardless, other than the overall look, iOS 7 isn't that different. A few months after 7 rolls out most people will look on 7 as normal anyway, so it's more like if they had iOS 6 they would be seen as antiquated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Carthusia
A bit off topic, TS, but I for one am glad you've not been banned.
Agreed...
Quote:
Originally Posted by matrix07
"The board opted to choose Apple as the sole vendor after students and teachers rated the iPad as the highest quality tablet available on the market."
I don't believe they had access to iOS 7. Do you?
If the CTO/CIO of LAPS didn't demand a NDA covered discussion of iOS7 in the last week prior to greenlighting the decision, then it's their fault. Apple would have been happy to discuss that AFTER the keynote to a potential customer of this size.
And iOS6 will be supported for a year or 2, and the transition will be faster for the kids than the teachers. time marches on... most kids are able to teach their parents the iPad, because there is no prior knowledge to erase. Trust me, iOS7 isn't a show stopper for someone who has never picked up a mobile device before... and more importantly, anyone who has played with gameboys, xboxes, ps3s, etc.
I couldn't say with certainty what's going on right now, but I'm actually sort of digging the fact that the "Banned" tag hasn't been removed from my sidebar there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by digitallife
Simply BEAUTIFUL, that's the way of doing things. It is the best for our children:)
Bingo!
Having been running iOS 7 since it went beta I must say I have mixed feelings and you make a good point about this for schools. I have found myself staring at the screen many times thinking where the hell is the button to this or that only to realize the word is there such as 'send' rather than a graphic and or text. I'm very graphically minded and always have OS X Finder options in tool bars set to the graphic plus text and actually have problems when it is text only. My brain just doesn't see words alone the same way for some reason. My suggestion, not that Apple want to hear this I bet, is give users an option to retain more of the graphics if they wish or go as bare bones as iOS 7 seems to be. I always agreed that Contacts and Calendar looked terrible and were taken to extremes but now I find calendar too stark by far. As I say, I think this is such a personal thing I don't see why there can't be options as to how stark (clean, flat or what ever you want to call it) you want to go.
Oh and the start screen is just too ... something ... ... an arrow pointing up (no text) for the new control of media etc. menu and ... just text (no graphic arrow) for 'slide to unlock' (which is slide to the right) ... so we have text and a graphic, two different design approaches, together and requiring 90° different action ... now that is weird.
Behold the pale horse. The man who sat on him was death, and Hell followed with him.
- Welcome back, TS!
Lucky students!
Imagine if they had iPads back when most of us were kids and still in school!
It sure beats lugging around a huge stack of heavy, used books, with obscene scribbling on most pages.