Haha yeah welcome to the real world. Maybe Apple will solve world hunger at the fall iPhone event.
Maybe once upon a time back in the pre-internet days. I really don’t see how it would be possible to teach a course in (to pick one obvious example) social studies without ensuring that every student had access to the internet. With the internet, students have access to thousands of times as many books as their school library could ever hope to hold. There are scads of good and excellent reasons why it’s a good idea to give every single student access to the internet, not just at home (if their parents can afford a computer), not just in the school computer room or library, but during every class.
A tablet is more than just an internet gateway, though. It’s an ebook reader - give a student a tablet and they don’t have to carry 20 pounds of books to and from school every day (and unlike a Kindle, it can display full colour texts and pan/zoom at 60fps). It’s a note taking device (whether you’re typing or using a stylus). A student with a tablet doesn’t need a paper notebook for every single class. With an external keyboard, a tablet is a writing machine - a student with a tablet doesn’t need a laptop or desktop to type up their essays.
You are aware that those coding enabled computers with real keyboards are internet connected distraction machines as well?
On a checklist basis, there’s not much difference between a laptop and a tablet in terms of the extremely valuable capabilities they provide to students. Both can be accused of being internet-connected distraction machines, or they can both be described as incredibly powerful tools for enhancing learning.
But in terms of form factor, there’s a world of difference. A laptop on the desk of every child in every classroom takes up a ton of room. Imagine a round table group session. If every child is taking notes on a laptop, then the laptop screens get in the way of talking face to face. Laptops obstruct collaboration because of their form factor. In contrast, a tablet’s form factor lets it get out the the way, flat on the table top, while still being there for reference or note taking. Tablets enjoy superior portability, superior utility for note taking (a stylus is far more versatile than any keyboard in that department), and superior versatility to a laptop, mainly because of their form factor.
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Bonus points for Blazing Saddles reference.!! one of my fav s.
Use Linux instead
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Yep, they need the tablet in class. Comparing propaganda images from, say, 1916, 1942 and… contemporary. Every kid in my sib’s school, as a freshman, takes an information and research science class (which is basically intro to library science plus critical thinking). Not just how to use library systems, but how to evaluate sources. Those are absolutely class time, and requires online access.
Most of the kids have a keyboard for their tablets (which are optional, but usually taken). Since the elementary schools in her state stopped teaching cursive back in the early 00s, none of these kids have flow-state handwriting skills* but they do all have typing skills. They take notes with their tablets. My nephews especially have and use their keyboards; they both inherited the family ADD/ASD and started elementary school in different states. Teaching them print, then cursive was a disaster and derailed their handwriting ability. They will always type as their primary form of written communication and that seems to be a generational reality.
The only classrooms that have WiFi to the outside world are the research science room and the school library, which are in a separate building. The kids have access to the school’s intranet via the main building’s limited WiFi during the day. (Sibling has Ethernet to her podium laptop, which has a Bluetooth link to her tablet.) Yes, that’s hackable, and phone hotspots are a thing, but enough of a barrier that it works most of the time. So the distraction factor is much smaller.
*Huge mistake, but it’s not my state anymore. We shouldn’t teach printing at all; only cursive, because cursive is how words exist in our brain - single entities without pauses in the middle. Printing is easy to pick up as a side skill; cursive is what needs to be taught from day one. And people who think print is easier to read and easier to write are likely to have fallen into the same cognitive trap that broke my nephews. Print as a primary handwriting style has only existed for 60 years.
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Neither do Ipads if you put them in a rugged case. A single Ipad can replace dozens of kilograms of textbooks that the student would otherwise have to lug back and forth.
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Literally since the dawn of the computer era, computer vendors have offered massive discounts to educational institutions.
The first computer sold by DEC was to BBN, but the first PDP-1 built was given to MIT gratis. In 1960.
Computer companies give hardware discounts and free software to educational institutions so that graduates will get jobs and buy the computers they know how to use. It’s that simple, and not at all secret or controversial. They all do it.
And no, they don’t give a shit about your kids. Except Woz, of course.
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One thing is that it lowers the social barrier for kids to respond to the teacher. Do you remember your teachers trying to engage students to think and answer about something in class? How it was always 2-3 kids who were willing to do that, and the teacher had to really push to get anyone else to participate?
With a mobile device, the teacher can pose a question (multiple choice or free-form), and have everyone answer, and display the produced answers to talk about them. It can really work to get more students actively participating.
Electronic textbooks are also a big deal. Not only is that less weight for kids to carry from class to class), if the teacher wants to direct the kids to a particular page, they can just click. Remember when a teacher would ask the class to turn to page X, and everyone would start paging around looking for the right page, and maybe someone has a different edition of the book with slightly different numbering. That is wasted time.
There are lots of ways that electronics in the classroom can be misused, and it isn’t a replacement for a good teacher or a magic bullet. But in the hands of a good teacher who knows how to use them, they can be effective tools.
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Anyone who was around in the 80s knows this by the number of Apple IIs gathering dust with maybe 3-4 programs in schools all over the country they’d remember. Why were Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego so popular? Because those were bundled with all the seriously discounted (free?) computers handed out by Apple then, with the markup on the rest of the software and any hardware changes being insane.
I was in a fairly well to do area, and even my school didn’t start seeing anything (PC or Mac) that wasn’t an Apple II until like 1992ish. I mean, I played the hell out of both of those games and learned BASIC on those things, but even as a kid I knew what was up.
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So much tax money has gone to tech companies since the '80s (as far back as I remember), for shitty programs and a waste of technology. So often, it amounted to some crappy drill-and-kill program. While there is a place for computers in schools, we have been bilked on the degree of necessity. For decades, administrators, politicians, “tech gurus,” and others have been talking about getting the kids ready for the next age. It is BS, a thought-stopping cliche to plunder taxes for the big tech companies.
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Purposefully obtuse it is.
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Corporations are not people, and are not capable of caring. Some of the people who work there care about society, but as a corporation, they are legally required to take the steps they believe will maximize profit for their investors.
I think the educational discounts, which include the pencil aren’t just important to get into schools for the profit it makes today, but for the profit it generates from training students to use their products. Microsoft gives software away for free to students, and educators because schools are where we train the decision makers of tomorrow. If they learned in school how to use a Microsoft product, they’re going to want to use what is most comfortable when they get into the workforce.
We can complain that Apple wants to make a profit, but at least they aren’t actively harming our children on the scale of the fossil fuel industry. They really don’t give a shit about your kids.
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Seamus has really brought boingboing down a few notches with his ridiculous over-the-top proclamations, and this is a site with a lot of posts by Cory Doctorow, so this is really saying something. Can someone fire him, please?
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This may come as a shock to you, but not all schools have tech budgets of zero dollars.
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I’m confused — it seems like you’re saying nobody who works for a corporation is capable of being altruistic while on the job. But I work for a corporation, and I care about my customers. I make decisions all day long that do t “maximize profits.” I’m guessing a lot of bb readers work for companies and would agree with me. Or am I mistaken, and all bb readers other than me either work for companies and are horrible people, or are wonderful people but exclusively do volunteer work?
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Seamus, you realize that sometimes multiple factors can coexist simultaneously, and in fact this is actually typical, versus the kind of black and white stark realities that you seem wired to see the whole world in, right? Oh wait, no, you don’t. Sadly, this site has gone downhill since your pieces began running regularly.
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I have a son who is autistic with hand-eye coordination issues (dyspraxia). If this system makes it easier for kids like him who have a hard time holding a pencil, but have been navigating the internet since he was three, then it is a good deal.
If there is an objective review of how well the software works as a teaching tool in conjunction with the school curriculum and that review (auditable and open) shows that the tablet in the school is a powerful equalizer and gateway towards exploration, then it is a worthwhile expense. Provide verified lists of open source textbooks and accessible learning materials and the educational experience is enhanced.
Do NOT CHICKEN LITTLE at this, as long as a verified value is obtained. Apple is NOT A CHARITY. They are A BUSINESS. With that said, they do not have to make their money in a villainous way. If it is better than old textbooks and consistently allows kids to research broader stuff or find material that is better at explaining what the teacher said, then more power for it being there.
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I’ll admit that computers can add some educational value on occasion, but what I really see is putting the primary entertainment tool used by students at their very fingertips and then telling them not to use it.
If I want to lose weight, I’m not in the habit of surrounding myself with luscious food and then telling myself only to eat the low-calorie gruel beside it.
As far as I can tell, computers in the classroom are somebody’s cruel idea to filter out any students below the 80th percentile of conscientiousness. I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t have survived it.
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Edit: Apparently this is offensive, but if I edit it it will be shown again. Sorry that I went against the group speak. Or maybe not. Feel free to look at the edit if you’d like. And PLEASE add me to the disappointed list, I’ve been trying to get on it for YEARS.
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My goodness, Seamus seems to have hit a nerve!
This reminds me of the time I disrespected Ayn Rand on slashdot 
All bb readers other than you are kitten riding crystal warriors who subsist on unicorn tears.
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