How to ruin your school district in 6 easy steps

[Exterous]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechcon...ays-to-hack-school-issued-ipads-within-a-week

Looks like 2/3s of them were taken back and no word on if they will be returned:

They're asking for students to return the 2,100 devices that had been distributed. For the time being, however, only about two-thirds of those iPads have actually been returned to the school, and no one knows if or when the district's iPad program will resume.

Great use of money so far

He'd used it a little in class but said he'd mostly played a soccer game on it at home.

Teachers reported not being able to connect to the Internet in some classrooms.

"It's an astonishing success," Deasy said in an interview Tuesday. "I couldn't be more pleased to get [the iPads] in the hands of students and teachers. The feedback has been extremely positive.

Such a success you're taking them all back?

"This is a civil rights issue," he said. "My goal is to provide youth in poverty with tools that heretofore only rich kids have had. And I'd like to do that as quickly as possible."

Whoa - wait....what?

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/ipads-in-los-angeles-schools-program-come-to-a-screeching-halt/

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-1002-lausd-ipads-20131002,0,6398146.story

 

[Murloc]

Looks like 2/3s of them were taken back and no word on if they will be returned:



Great use of money so far







Such a success you're taking them all back?



Whoa - wait....what?

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/ipads-in-los-angeles-schools-program-come-to-a-screeching-halt/

http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-1002-lausd-ipads-20131002,0,6398146.story

that is so stupid, who would think thsi was useful?
There is no use for an iPad in class. It's not even good to take extended notes while the teacher is going through board after board.
In class, students have to listen, understand, interact and take notes.

Want to promote computer use for the poor?
Don't give them an ipad, they can't learn anything except using stupid apps on it.
Get bigger computer rooms and let unlimited use on those until the school closes, and promote doing activities with those for classes.

Want to give teachers more tools? There are high-tech boards with useful features for that.

 

[lxskllr]

that is so stupid, who would think thsi was useful?
There is no use for an iPad in class. It's not even good to take extended notes while the teacher is going through board after board.
In class, students have to listen, understand, interact and take notes.

Want to promote computer use for the poor?
Don't give them an ipad, they can't learn anything except using stupid apps on it.
Get bigger computer rooms and let unlimited use on those until the school closes, and promote doing activities with those for classes.

Want to give teachers more tools? There are high-tech boards with useful features for that.

There are general reasons why all computer users should insist on free software: it gives users the freedom to control their own computers—with proprietary software, the computer does what the software owner wants it to do, not what the user wants it to do. Free software also gives users the freedom to cooperate with each other, to lead an upright life. These reasons apply to schools as they do to everyone. The purpose of this article is to state additional reasons that apply specifically to education.

Educational activities (including schools) have a duty to teach only free software. Here are the reasons.

First, free software can save schools money. Free software gives schools, like other users, the freedom to copy and redistribute the software, so the school system can make copies for all the computers they have. In poor countries, this can help close the digital divide.

This obvious reason, while important in practical terms, is rather shallow. And proprietary software developers can eliminate this reason by donating copies to the schools. (Warning: a school that accepts such an offer may have to pay for upgrades later.) So let's look at the deeper reasons.

Schools have a social mission: to teach students to be citizens of a strong, capable, independent, cooperating and free society. They should promote the use of free software just as they promote recycling. If schools teach students free software, then the students will tend to use free software after they graduate. This will help society as a whole escape from being dominated (and gouged) by megacorporations.

What schools should refuse to do is teach dependence. Those corporations offer free samples to schools for the same reason tobacco companies distribute free cigarettes to minors: to get children addicted (1). They will not give discounts to these students once they've grown up and graduated.

Free software permits students to learn how software works. Some students, on reaching their teens, want to learn everything there is to know about their computer and its software. They are intensely curious to read the source code of the programs that they use every day. To learn to write good code, students need to read lots of code and write lots of code. They need to read and understand real programs that people really use. Only free software permits this.

Proprietary software rejects their thirst for knowledge: it says, “The knowledge you want is a secret—learning is forbidden!” Free software encourages everyone to learn. The free software community rejects the “priesthood of technology”, which keeps the general public in ignorance of how technology works; we encourage students of any age and situation to read the source code and learn as much as they want to know. Schools that use free software will enable gifted programming students to advance.

The deepest reason for using free software in schools is for moral education. We expect schools to teach students basic facts and useful skills, but that is not their whole job. The most fundamental job of schools is to teach good citizenship, which includes the habit of helping others. In the area of computing, this means teaching people to share software. Schools, starting from nursery school, should tell their pupils, “If you bring software to school, you must share it with the other students. And you must show the source code to the class, in case someone wants to learn.”

Of course, the school must practice what it preaches: all the software installed by the school should be available for students to copy, take home, and redistribute further.

Teaching the students to use free software, and to participate in the free software community, is a hands-on civics lesson. It also teaches students the role model of public service rather than that of tycoons. All levels of school should use free software.

https://www.gnu.org/education/edu-schools.html

 

[alkemyst]

that is so stupid, who would think thsi was useful?
There is no use for an iPad in class. It's not even good to take extended notes while the teacher is going through board after board.
In class, students have to listen, understand, interact and take notes.

Want to promote computer use for the poor?
Don't give them an ipad, they can't learn anything except using stupid apps on it.
Get bigger computer rooms and let unlimited use on those until the school closes, and promote doing activities with those for classes.

Want to give teachers more tools? There are high-tech boards with useful features for that.

At least here there is a lot of things online. Kids rotate on the computers they have in class, but an iPad or more computers would allow all the kids to spend more time on the lessons.

Even if it was just for all their books it would be helpful.

 

[waggy]

At least here there is a lot of things online. Kids rotate on the computers they have in class, but an iPad or more computers would allow all the kids to spend more time on the lessons.

Even if it was just for all their books it would be helpful.

exactly. IT COULD be useful and save the districts tons of money. ..but that won't happen.

why buy physical books every few years? download copies onto the tablet. they can have homework on it too (my daughter has computer homework she has to sign into and do weekly). She also has access to her math book online.

Tablets COULD be a great and helpful tool. i just don't see it happening for another 10-15 years to be honest.

 

[alkemyst]

exactly. IT COULD be useful and save the districts tons of money. ..but that won't happen.

why buy physical books every few years? download copies onto the tablet. they can have homework on it too (my daughter has computer homework she has to sign into and do weekly). She also has access to her math book online.

Tablets COULD be a great and helpful tool. i just don't see it happening for another 10-15 years to be honest.

It will definitely happen way faster than 10-15 years.

 

[Exterous]

why buy physical books every few years? download copies onto the tablet. they can have homework on it too (my daughter has computer homework she has to sign into and do weekly). She also has access to her math book online.

I can't speak for all text books but my wife's school looked into iPads for all (She was part of the trial group and was given an iPad and software to evaluate) and found the digital copies to be the same or almost the same cost as physical. There were also lots of fun licensing schemes where you had to re-buy the license every year (as opposed to re-using a book). There was also the option to pay high yearly subscription fees

 

[Fritzo]

1. Spend a lot of money to hire consultants to report on how to save the school district money
2. Completely ignore every recommendation over the next couple of years

LOL- I think my company must be advising that school district. Our company owners are a bit arrogant and do the same thing.

"You hired me to look at these areas, and these are my recommendations."
"Nah...we're not going to do that. Thanks anyway."

 

[lxskllr]

I can't speak for all text books but my wife's school looked into iPads for all (She was part of the trial group and was given an iPad and software to evaluate) and found the digital copies to be the same or almost the same cost as physical. There were also lots of fun licensing schemes where you had to re-buy the license every year (as opposed to re-using a book). There was also the option to pay high yearly subscription fees

They're doing it wrong. They should be getting books with free licenses, and if they don't exist, they should be created. Start a co-op with other districts, and create books that don't exist. It's a little money up front, but once created, they can updated forever, and don't require the purchase of a new book to get a changed paragraph, or new pictures.

 

[waggy]

It will definitely happen way faster than 10-15 years.

I hope i'm wrong. but i doubt it.

educational book publishers would have to get on board. They would have to be willing to put the books in ebook format. which they would love IF they still charge a ton per version,download. Then they would want more since they can't force you to buy another full copy on minor errors. This i think is going to be the biggest issue.

We also need GOOD educational software that works with the material.

a way to keep students from selling the tablets for drugs/sex/Pokemon cards.

The benifits would be the kids not hauling home 5-6 books. My daughter is 11 and 52lbs. sure she is in good shape from gymnastics. but having a 30lb backpack sucks.

I think in the long run tablets can be a huge help and i hope i'm wrong on the time..but i don't think so.

I can't speak for all text books but my wife's school looked into iPads for all (She was part of the trial group and was given an iPad and software to evaluate) and found the digital copies to be the same or almost the same cost as physical. There were also lots of fun licensing schemes where you had to re-buy the license every year (as opposed to re-using a book). There was also the option to pay high yearly subscription fees

Exactly why i think it's going to take about 10 years. I think people are going to get tired of BS like this (its starting to happen at the college level. people tired of the bullshit the publishers do with college books). I think eventually something like LXSKLLR said is going to happen then the government step in as it did with common core.

 

[lxskllr]

I think eventually something like LXSKLLR said is going to happen then the government step in as it did with common core.

The problem with big government doing it, is they'll piss off their big corporate partners. Open sourced books will decimate an entire industry. That's not a bad thing. People will have to get different jobs, or adapt their skills to something else; perhaps making open sourced texts. Knowledge shouldn't be held behind a pay wall. Stronger people, and a stronger country are built with knowledge.

Anyway, the point is I think it'll have to be done on a local level, and with local partnerships. The federal government owes too many debts to take a stand, and do the right thing.

 

[Exterous]

They're doing it wrong. They should be getting books with free licenses, and if they don't exist, they should be created. Start a co-op with other districts, and create books that don't exist. It's a little money up front, but once created, they can updated forever, and don't require the purchase of a new book to get a changed paragraph, or new pictures.

You have to get the government involved as they usually need to be approved by the State Board of Education or some other government body.

Not saying its a bad idea given the racket that is the textbook market but its makes me pessimistic.

I think people are going to get tired of BS like this (its starting to happen at the college level. people tired of the bullshit the publishers do with college books). I think eventually something like LXSKLLR said is going to happen then the government step in as it did with common core.

Maybe but a key difference between college and K-12 is that for K-12 the public is shielded from the costs of the textbooks. They have no idea how much they cost as their education is "free" whereas a college student (and maybe parents) sees a very obvious bill