Hmm.. yeah, well, I'm also not a fan of proprietary formatting that drives cashflow.

More fun on that story... apparently LAUSD rushed to appropriate and spend that $1B without addressing basic questions like, "Who is responsible?" Link

This bit cracked me up, because it shouldn't be hard to find a Spanish-language translator somewhere in LAUSD:

Oh dear. Edumacators strike again.

I like this bit:



Books are cheaper. And no one wants to steal a fourth grade math book. Not even another fourth grader.

Having to print from your iPad is a argument against having iPads. The teacher should just print stuff out and give it to the kids.

I just read something that our district has on its website and we seem to be moving in a direction where they want every student to be using a laptop, ipad or tablet at school. Supposedly they tested it with our 7th graders this past spring. So my guess would be they want the kid to bring whatever is available at home and use that so the school does not have to be paying big $ for ipads or other technology nor be responsible for replacements and it will be all the kids' responsibility. Which, honestly, I'm fine with. I'd rather the kids take something they prefer that is not as expensive than the school iPads.

Our middle school doesn't have lockers and you have to use a mesh or clear vinyl back pack (talk about no support in either of those two options). Um what if you need to lock up your devise? The PE locker rooms have lockers but 99% don't use locks because the combinations are too hard to manage and they can't get help from the coaches with the locks and what is the point if you tell a friend the combination to help you with it.

Atlantic Feature: "Students are Hacking their School-Issued iPads-- Good for Them"



Interesting indeed. So-- Apple exclusive licensing, paired with Pearson exclusive content on those devices. Wonder how much THAT is costing...



And in reading the comments to the article above (which makes some interesting observations, including the one I posted above), I also tumbled into this blog post:

http://alpharetta.patch.com/groups/elizabeth-hoopers-blog/p/common-core-a-gift-to-the-tech-industry

I understand all the reasons against it but I got to say, I am a walking catalogue of learning difficulties (ADHD, CAPD, hypoglycemia, DCD, dyslexia, ESL, etc) and I wouldn't want to be without my iPad.

IPads CAN be used well in the classroom. But most teachers don't have the skill to do this. Or the correct software. I remember when my son was in 2nd grade and "computers" was the kids learning to login to the computer and play some "edutainment" games that I as a parent volunteer supervised. It was a complete joke.

On the other hand is his 6th grade gifted class they used ipads (they had just come out) & netbooks to do some very creative projects. The teacher was able to get the school to put in wifi to his classroom, and the kids were using technology is very creative ways.

As a programmer I've thought about this issue extensively. How best to use technology in the classroom. My experience it is mostly used as a research tool or for writing assignments.

A good example of "failed" technology. Is my kids high school invested in these smart boards with cool "remotes" for the kids. Ideally this allowed for many free form instant quizzes, and could give teachers instant feedback to how well the whole class was grasping material. Unfortunately the remotes needed batteries, and a few in every class always needed new ones and they couldn't be used. It only took a few weeks for the teachers to give up..

IMO you need to settle on the SOFTWARE before you invest in the technology. There is a lot of good software for IPads but one should figure out how you want the kids to use the technology and to make sure the teachers are properly trained FIRST.

IMO, software isn't even the first consideration. First and foremost is, "What do you want your students to be able to DO?" This question precedes hardware and software choices, because those decisions flow from the previous one.

This iPad roll-out could have been a success if all they wanted to do was provide the children with access to Google using the least-expensive and most-accessible hardware, and they had bothered to answer all the legal and technical questions that flowed from that particular choice of hardware.

Note that there's been no discussion of software at this point. Once an investment has already been made in the hardware, THEN the further exploitation of it through additional software is a worthwhile conversation.