[LINK] NSW Nettops for Students to Keep

[Michael Skeggs mike@bystander.net]

I'm going to disagree a bit here.
>From a technologists view, four year old laptops are valueless and the
curriculum needs to be developed to take advantage of these wonderful
devices.
In the mainstream world, a pile of kids don't have computers at home
and many more don't have parents that have a clue about IT.
There is a common refrain on this list that real world corporate users
don't know how to copy and paste etc.
Giving kids in the last 4 years of school, when they have half a dozen
different teachers for different subjects each week a laptop is a
pretty good use of resources. Those teachers who want to exploit the
technology can incorporate the gear into classes (I remember the
advantage of a palm top spreadsheet when doing repeat titrations),
even those who are technophobic will be happier to get reports that
are wordprocessed etc.
A four year old laptop is fine for day to day tasks, my corporate PC
is about that old, an ultra-portable laptop I use often is older. They
word process, spreadsheet, web browse (and handle web based apps) and
edit photos fine. Probably no good for Call of Duty 7 though.
Schools already manage infrastructure that ages (text books, sport
gear, lab gear) and some classes get the old stuff, some the new, big
deal, better everyone gets something than only a few get the primo
gear.
If these laptops are being distributed as ancillary tools, as I
understand it, rather than the lynch pin of a CS course, it will be
fine for them to slip behind the cutting edge.
I actually really like the approach that they will just be distributed
to be used as the end users and their teachers see fit. Much better
than some over-arching e-education strategy white elephant.
To draw an analogy, building swimming pools and tennis courts for
community-wide access in the 1950s produced a disproportionate number
of top athletes, and a country where most folk can swim. I suspect
community-wide access to a 'personal' computer will produce a much
more IT literate society, plus a few extra computer scientists that
would have missed early exposure to computers due to lack of
opportunity.
And as far as bang for buck goes, $2000 is what a Word and Excel 2-day
course costs, and I suspect we will see a lot less remedial IT
training for adults if they have owned a laptop since they were 14yro.
Regards,
Michael Skeggs
Disclosure: I did a Masters in Education about computers a decade ago.

2008/12/2 Richard Chirgwin <rchirgwin at ozemail.com.au>:
> Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>> Tom Worthington wrote:
>>
>>> However, my main concern is that no one seems to be worrying about
>>> what the computers are going to actually be used for. Even if the
>>> cost of running the computers is paid for, is anyone investing in
>>> content and training for the computers to be educationally useful?
>>>
>>>
>> I agree. Learning to use a computer and having access to computers seems
>> to be a useful component of school education, but so are a lot of other
>> things. Why buy each student (and I assume all students who start school
>> from now on) a computer? What happens when new models issued? Will they
>> replace all those out there? If not, then it is likely that new and
>> younger students will have more powerful machines than older ones who
>> need computers for more advanced uses.
>>
>> Do schools or the government provide anything else of a similar nature?
>> Do they provide books, writing materials, sports equipment, uniforms?
>>
>> It all sounds like policy on the run to me. Not much thinking it through.
>>
> Wow, an outbreak of everybody-agrees!
>
> Including me. It was an inevitable outcome of long-term advocacy /
> lobbying which put the machines at the centre of thinking. "Get
> computers" instead of "create the right curriculum" was always
> short-sighted and polluted by sales pitches.
>
> Because of the way computing-in-schools has been pitched, the mere
> existence of the computers themselves has become a "see, we care"
> emblem; an easy and visible expression of a commitment which doesn't
> really exist.
>
> RC
>
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