Maine plans to have a laptop for every student 7th thru 12th grade statewide (transfer, purchase)

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by reloop

I will say however, that I don't like the fact that my children are being essentially used as "guinea pigs" for new pedagogy (particularly when the "new" pedagogy is something that so clearly didn't work back "in my day.") I guess I just overstated my opinion (easy to do on message boards where one isn't face-to-face I guess). That's off topic, so I'll drop that one.

The students would benefit from computers in the classroom to a computer lab (or two) on campus just as much as they would if they were assigned their own laptop. But here is the catch; computers in the classroom are common place these days, so there is no big deal in that. However, the state handing out 100,000 laptops to students is a big deal...and a big news story. This is something that people in Oregon, and Montana, and Alabama, are going to see on the nightly news or read about in the newspaper. Essentially, publicity for the state. A laptop just might be the carrot that will lure families who are considering a move to New England to choose Maine over the rest.

[corgis]

The only two perspectives I can speak to are language arts and music. Beverly originally wanted the laptops to enhance writing skills, grammar, punctuation, etc. By seeing the words on a screen and learning how to descriptively write a sentence, she opened up a whole world for kids that couldn't see it on paper.

My son is a music teacher in public schools - laptops have enabled him to teach music composition, arranging, styles and a whole raft of music that isn't teachable on paper. He can make a young generation of children understand what it's like to write a piece of music that contains two completely different styles and make them work together. For instance, think of playing Jingle Bells and right in the middle of that song, insert the trio from the National Emblem March. Laptops have opened a whole new world to today's children.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by broadbill

We all say we want our district/state/country to have THE BEST educational system in the world...but when it comes down writing that check we are more worried about our car's tire rims and the alignment...

Well, the thing is that the state of Maine requires a vehicle inspection in order for you to legally drive your car on the roads. Something as insignificant as an old wiper blade can cause you to fail the inspection. I took my car in for its annual inspection earlier this week. It failed. It failed because of a worn tire and a busted ball joint. So yeah. If the state mandates yearly inspections the least that they could do is to help insure that our vehicles sustain as little damage as possible while driving on its roads. Yeah, the ball joint could have just been old and worn, but I have more than a suspicion that the monster potholes around town played a role in the damage.

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

Can you hear it now? Why do the college students get these computers? Why not every other adult? Why college students? College is optional, if you want to go, buy your own laptop. Someone is always going to complain. If we don't provide laptops to keep our students up to date and competitive someone's going to complain about that too.

Yea, I know. No matter what happens there will always be someone around to say that it is not fair.

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

Who's kid is getting a free computer at school? That's like saying they get free desks, free chalk and free text books.

Well, I have no idea how this works.

[/quote]

[Northern Maine Land Man]

"Do the students get to keep these computers, or do they have to return them when they leave school? I mean wouldn't they be state property? Are the parents responsible for repairs? Replacements? 100,000 laptops in the hands of teenagers...I'll bet that 30,000 of them are going to go 'missing'."

When the first batch became obsolete the students were offered the chance to buy them for $50 each. Many students already had much better computers and simply copied the useful files onto a thumb drive . They put the info on their personal computers and went on with their lives. Those $50 computers were offered to the public. Most were sold. Those computers had been owned by the school districts.

The biggest problems with the first batch of computers were faulty batteries. They were covered by Apple. The parents are only responsible for repairs when their toddlers dump soup onto the keyboards and such other incompatible acts.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

"Do the students get to keep these computers, or do they have to return them when they leave school? I mean wouldn't they be state property? Are the parents responsible for repairs? Replacements? 100,000 laptops in the hands of teenagers...I'll bet that 30,000 of them are going to go 'missing'."

When the first batch became obsolete the students were offered the chance to buy them for $50 each. Many students already had much better computers and simply copied the useful files onto a thumb drive . They put the info on their personal computers and went on with their lives. Those $50 computers were offered to the public. Most were sold. Those computers had been owned by the school districts.

The biggest problems with the first batch of computers were faulty batteries. They were covered by Apple. The parents are only responsible for repairs when their toddlers dump soup onto the keyboards and such other incompatible acts.

My son is saving his allowance and looks forward to being able to purchase one next year (for $60.00) from the school. He's on a computer set up "team" at school now, so he's quite interested in getting one. They will be upgrading, and that's how is is able to do that.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by corgis

The only two perspectives I can speak to are language arts and music. Beverly originally wanted the laptops to enhance writing skills, grammar, punctuation, etc. By seeing the words on a screen and learning how to descriptively write a sentence, she opened up a whole world for kids that couldn't see it on paper.

My son is a music teacher in public schools - laptops have enabled him to teach music composition, arranging, styles and a whole raft of music that isn't teachable on paper. He can make a young generation of children understand what it's like to write a piece of music that contains two completely different styles and make them work together. For instance, think of playing Jingle Bells and right in the middle of that song, insert the trio from the National Emblem March. Laptops have opened a whole new world to today's children.

Good points. I can support the purchase of laptops for that type of teaching.
I'm still chewing on the fact that spell-check is so heavily used now, but that's only because of what I see in daily life. I also was a little put out at the applications I screened at the retail store where I worked at last year. The reason for this is that most employment kiosk computers don't have spell-check, and I'm seeing that the lack of spelling skills are becoming problematic to that end.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

The students would benefit from computers in the classroom to a computer lab (or two) on campus just as much as they would if they were assigned their own laptop. But here is the catch; computers in the classroom are common place these days, so there is no big deal in that. However, the state handing out 100,000 laptops to students is a big deal...and a big news story. This is something that people in Oregon, and Montana, and Alabama, are going to see on the nightly news or read about in the newspaper. Essentially, publicity for the state. A laptop just might be the carrot that will lure families who are considering a move to New England to choose Maine over the rest.

Interesting....

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

When the first batch became obsolete the students were offered the chance to buy them for $50 each. Many students already had much better computers and simply copied the useful files onto a thumb drive . They put the info on their personal computers and went on with their lives. Those $50 computers were offered to the public. Most were sold. Those computers had been owned by the school districts.

This is a good point (whether intentional or not).

Originally Posted by reloop

Interesting....

Laptops in and of themselves are not critical to a child's, or anyones, scholastic success. The only things that a student really needs to know how to do is to use Word (and Office in general) and how to properly cite a webpage. Sure, you could include research into that as well, but all you do with that is type in your query into Google. There are probably a few other "small" things, but nothing of the upmost importance. Sure, they can be used to aid the teacher in the classroom, but a computer lab would accomplish the same thing.

Yes, computers are pretty much essential in todays employment environment, but knowing how to use a computer and knowing how to use computer programs are two separate things. You can be computer savvy until the cows come home and it won't mean a darn thing. A lot of people know a thing or two about cars, but that in no way means that they know how to operate on one. You can know your way around a computer and back again and then be completely clueless when someone introduces you to a program like Maya.

So what is the point? That these students learn how to turn a computer on and off, and to essentially do everything that they already know how to do? Or will these students actually learn computer science, some basic programming, and gain rudimentary knowledge of some of the more popular programs being used in the work place (CAD, business/banking, etc.)?

[tcrackly]

Originally Posted by reloop

Good points. I can support the purchase of laptops for that type of teaching.
I'm still chewing on the fact that spell-check is so heavily used now, but that's only because of what I see in daily life. I also was a little put out at the applications I screened at the retail store where I worked at last year. The reason for this is that most employment kiosk computers don't have spell-check, and I'm seeing that the lack of spelling skills are becoming problematic to that end.

I can't help but notice how much misspelling and faulty grammar there is on the internet at large. I thought one of my banking sites was a scam because I caught some misspelling in the statement text. It was for real! Pity that language arts are suffering so( i suffer from bad typing frequently).

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

This is a good point (whether intentional or not).

So what is the point? That these students learn how to turn a computer on and off, and to essentially do everything that they already know how to do? Or will these students actually learn computer science, some basic programming, and gain rudimentary knowledge of some of the more popular programs being used in the work place (CAD, business/banking, etc.)?

And those are good questions - they've run through my mind more than once. I don't have enough experience yet with that to answer it. Are they using them in the fashion you described, or are they just replacing paper, books and more traditional pedagogy?