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Apple Tests Well in Education
wongaboo writes "Business Week has some interesting insights into Apples in schools. I remember when I was in K-6 an Apple was about the only computer you could find. Then in high school there were some PC's around but it was still mostly Apple. In college is was just the reverse: all PC's and no Apples. Now they are giving kids in high school a laptop when they show up; will it be an Apple? Either way, it makes me want to be a kid again."
This must be a good thing. At least they're getting started on a UNIX OS, and not contributing to the Windows hegemony.
((lambda x ((x))) (lambda x ((x))))
The public school board offers a curriculum which involves all students to have a laptop, specifically an iBook. Apparently the kids take rather well to them too. When I was speaking to one of their techs, he told me they recieve less calls for help since they've made the mac 'switch'.
I would have assumed it'd be the other way around, since the kids were already used to windows.
My old high school dropped all their PCs for OSX Macs the year after I graduated. On one hand I was pleased, but on the other hand I was kind of pissed. It's as if they were waiting for me to leave!
Sarcasm and conspiracy aside, I'm glad that so many schools are realizing the benefits of upgrading their pre osx Macs and/or replacing their PCs. The world needs more *nix and less wintel.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
In district 26 in Queens, the school board refused to let schools buy Apples, even when the entire school was in favor of it.
Don't get me wrong: I'm a Mac lover through and through, but looking back on it, I've always felt that the money could have been better spent elsewhere -- like fixing the dilapidated building we called a school. I went to a Catholic school where the textbooks were in terrible condition, the desks literally fell apart from time to time, and the "heater" keep the rooms at a balmy 55-60 degrees. But we had a bright, modern computer lab with lots o' Macs that we used for, well, nothing much, really.
By the time I made it to eighth grade -- yes, grades K-8 were all in one building... sigh -- the computers were so woefully out of date that they couldn't use them for anything more than teaching typing.
I've read a couple of studies recently that demonstrate that tech education for grade/middle-schoolers really doesn't benefit them much in the long run, given what they try to teach the kids, particularly when one considers the expense such education naturally engenders. Just about any educational software marketed to schools can be easily replicated by much cheaper (gasp) low-tech tools.
I think the highschoolers on up can benefit a lot more from technology, and computers are so ubiquitous in the home these days that it's not like they'll get to high school and have never seen one of these glowing boxes before. I have friends with kids who are in fourth grade or higher and who read well below grade-level, but they have plenty of access to technology at school. All this technology won't do them any good if they don't have the education to use it. Computers are just a tool -- bicycles for the brain, as Steve Jobs once said -- but you've got to know how to ride first, and where you want to go.
Although, none of us will deny that Number Munchers was hella fun :-)
If it's not one thing it's your mother.
They run hardly any software, and once you get into the real world, your Mac skills are worthless because Macs are few and far between out there.
The world is not just first person computer games.
Schools could make better use of their investment in computers by using open-source textbooks or a wiki-like curriculum content system. Seems like a bunch of teachers could put together a great set of tools (like these college calculus texts) and eliminate the cost of paper textbooks.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
I graduated from high school in 2001. My senior year, my private K-12 prep school in St. Paul MN, Mounds park academy, started an apple iBook program (only grades 9-12) that continues today. Despite my fervent support of Macs, i was dead set against the program because i thought it was an expensive distraction. (we also started horrible block scheduling the year before, which drove me nuts). We got the Clamshell models, but these have now been replaced by the white iBooks. (software licensing was WAY expensive)
Overall it was useless much of the time, but it also taught everyone in our class the fundamentals of TCP/IP, an important skill in the Modern Age. As we were seniors, the administration didn't pick on us too much, but they tried very hard to crack down on the younger kids, particularly boys. They didn't want people installing games, of course, but they also decided to ban the use of the CD-ROM drives, a bizarrely unenforceable rule given that we took the computers home every day (these rules are No More). Since the Techs would often erase a computer as a first resort when fixing it (spotting warez along the way), I had to step in and deal with things all the time.
There was a real problem with understanding how the "private space" of an object owned by the school actually worked. I recall being commanded not to tell people that the MacOS had a handy "Encrypt..." command in the File menu.
The unfortunate irony of the program was that the kids who were formerly the most obedient in school--ie the geek types--were placed in a position of violating rules left and right if they wanted to set up their computers in a comfortable sort of way with the usual warez etc. So the good kids got in trouble, and some otherwise harmless guys basically got caught in enforcement feedback loops that disheartened or chased them right out of the school.
Also it was interesting to run AirPort packet sniffing and watch AIM conversations and unencrypted email passwords. Since then, instant messengers have been blocked. There were a lot of technical snags that year--infuriating and time wasting. As I tend to be easily distracted sometimes, the magic boxes were all too tempting.
One of the best moments was when I made a comment on Slashdot about AirPort packet sniffing at the very beginning of Statistics class, and by the end of class it reached the vaunted 5, joy of joys.
The older iBooks had kind of crummy CD trays, where the outer plastic shell would break off too easily, not to mention all the cracked screens. Generally students have to pay for all replacements and repairs, which are very expensive. Power cords get lost frequently, and laptops have been stolen from time to time.
We had a rather moody senior class, and it was disheartening to come into our senior lounge to see everyone silent inside the screens, oftentimes communicating by AIM across the room to make furtive conspiracies. Did we trade off natural interaction for this cold mode of operation?
Fortunately, the subsequent classes of kids adjusted to the laptops more socially, and they have not "run amok" in that sense. However, where the old geek population that was there when i was a freshman was more rebellious and linux oriented, these new geeks are very obedient, obnoxious condescending bitches, according to my younger brother and sister who are now sophomores at the school.
The whole program was driven by an urge to keep MPA at the cutting edge of innovation bla bla bla. I was really impressed by teachers who came up with innovative ideas but i really wished we didn't have to be the damn guinea pigs. I started my website in those days, and it was fun to have everyone reading it all the time, but then when i got uncontrollably angry i said hasty things and got in big trouble. Hazards of the new territory.
--hongpong.com
People like you piss me off. Macs run the core software needed in the education and office environments.
I work in a school, our Macs run almost all the same software that the PCs do, they last 40% longer 'in the field' than the PCs, and we haven't had a SINGLE virus-infected Mac since 1999. Macs run the GNU tools, which are unarguably the BEST tools for those of us who can be productive on the command line.
I do hardware repairs too, but in the last four months I've only had to do one hardware repair out of 230 Macs in operation. The PC guy is SWIMMING in broken PCs, he does three or four each day, on 600 PCs in operation.
As for skills, your Windows skills aren't going to be worth jack-shit either, Microsoft wants to totally alter the face and philosophy of computing from what we know today. Most training in the office is with custom apps and databases anyway, and no amount of time using a Windows box will help you with "Bob From Accounting's Really Cool Purchasing Database".
Computer skills are totally transferable. I watch kids everyday walk in between Windows and Mac labs, doing what they do. Maybe someone in their 30s or 40s would have trouble switching after 20 years of use, but kids these days, this upcoming generation, they can use anything with buttons.
As for Mac skills being worthless, no skill is worthless. I set up a computer for a friend last year with Linux and KDE on it, she never had a computer before, she's 25. She just got a job with Windows/Office this week and the only thing she called me about was to verify that cutting and pasting were 'different on windows'. She can lay out a table or make a chart just as easily as the next guy who's been using Office for three years.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
--Studies have been done that show using Word with spell/grammar check is a detriment.
--What methodology was used? can you cite sources
He's extrapolating upon the 'Calculators are a detriment to slide rule skills' research conducted back in the 70's.
Which, if you'll recall, dates all the way back to the 'Pointy sticks are a detriment to bludgeoning-with-rocks skills' study of 20,000 BCE.
R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
I really do wonder how Michigan schools tech support are going to keep their heads on their bodies after this.
Personal experience tells me; How many students will install Mozilla? Will these computers be running XP? Will they be up to date? Patched? How many of them will click "yes" whenever something comes up as they're surfing the Internet? How much of that software will break the computer? When viruses invade (you know... ones that come in through Outlook that the virus companies haven't quite caught yet) how many computers will break? Spam other computers? How many 6th graders know not to open the attachment? How many would do it anyway?
To each company I will give their own (read: Macs have problems too), but... for as long as I've had a Mac, I haven't had to deal with the above. And for as long as I've given over Windows systems to my parents, I sure as hell have.
-Rob
Marriage doesn't have to suck!
The unfortunate irony of the program was that the kids who were formerly the most obedient in school--ie the geek types--were placed in a position of violating rules left and right if they wanted to set up their computers in a comfortable sort of way with the usual warez etc.
Am I reading this wrong, or are you saying that people who pirate are "good" people?
Here in Australia, Apple appear to be doing next to nothing to sell computers to schools, colleges and universities.
The other day I went to a poorly advertised "iMall" at our local university. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't this: a few rickety tables, with one iBook and one iMac, both running GarageBand. A lot of leaflets, iPod badges and a free draw to win an iPod. All the signs were scrawled in marker pen on bits of photocopy paper and sellotaped to the desk. A couple of geeky students were there to "sell" the systems, but instead hogged the two machines making music loops. Anyone wandering past would a) think it was a jumble sale and b) would be put off because there wasn't an actual machine to try out. I couldn't see the point of it, and doubt very much if it led to even one sale. I left very disappointed and pretty miffed at Apple for their lack of effort.
This same uni has about a 40% Mac usage among its staff overall. There is a strong Mac following here, but it's totally thanks to staff who are able to specify their own PCs.
The other day I met a lecturer at our local TAFE (further ed college). He teaches film and cinematography. Thanks to his own efforts, he has got two labs installed with Macs, an iMac lab for general still and basic work, and a G5 lab for Final Cut Pro. Where was Apple? Nowhere, he did all of this off his own bat. The rest of the college has PCs for all the courses they run, including desktop publishing and graphics arts courses, where they use Photoshop, Illustrator, et al - all traditional programs that are strong on the Mac. Apple Australia should be convincing TAFEs to use Macs for these courses - it's what many of these students will find in industry after all (well maybe, eventually those students will say, Oh, I used a PC for this at college, let's buy a PC). Get Macs into schools and TAFEs now, and industrial sales will pick up later. I just don't see Apple doing it here.
Another lecturer I know at a university in Sydney recently told me that after a recent policy change, there are now no Macs at all left for general student use in the uni. The only ones remaining are those that particular staff have clung on to because they refuse to have a PC. Even he, a long-time Mac fan, has had to buy a Dell laptop so he can use the same software that his students are using, and he says it's a backward step because he now has far more issues with stuff failing to work, and many projects such as creating QuickTime panoramas and so on has become a lot more long-winded and difficult. Has Apple lifted a finger to slow or reverse this trend? Not according to him, and the evidence speaks for itself.
It seems to me that Apple succeeds in its small way despite itself. It's enthusiastic users who make Apple sales in education, not Apple. At least not in Australia. I'm starting to think that the Apple Australia sales office doesn't exist - or maybe it's like a spidery old dusty corner in a building that no-one has bothered to enter in years. For fuck's sake, it's about time you made an effort guys!
This study does show that people are willing to trust the software over their own abilities, but that's a different issue.
And I'm not taking a position for or against spellcheckers helping or harming students. I have seen it cited as a 'well known fact' too often, and I wonder if there is any real legitimacy. I also ask about the methodology because you can find a limited or just plain bad study to prove just about anything.
--
Evan "Grad students! They produce every fact you'll ever need to cite!"
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I agree with the above post. Apple in Australia is not doing much, despite many opportunities to act.
I am currently working on some bioinformatic projects at a university in Sydney. With the need to use commercial software (e.g. Word and EndNote) and open source bioinformatic tools, I can't imagine doing this without OS X. Sometimes, I come into contact with other people doing similar things, with similar opinions about OS X.
Open Source is making quite an impression here on campus, with many students installing dual boot systems to learn about UNIX. However, these students often have problems getting onto the network and getting cross-compatibility between the two platforms installed on their computers. It really frustrates me to see other people getting frustrated when there are much easier solutions out there.
The Apple store here on campus seems to enjoy itself too much. Recently they coated their store front with frosted glass. With all the Mac boxes inside, it now looks more like a warehouse than a shop. The two times that I visited the store weren't very good experiences, as the people behind the counter acted as if you have to beg them for responses. Apple really needs to do more.
Using a word processor just for spelling and grammar checking is the least of its advantages. The other advantage is using it to edit and rewrite. If you know how to use a word processor, you can go from "note cards" to finished paper in one document. You can also improve sentence structure, clarify your ideas and remove redundant words, clauses and phrases. Admittedly, you can do the same thing without a word processor. However, the software lets you avoid a lot of recopying or retyping.
Unfortunately, many teachers don't know how to write that way with a word processor. Not to single out teachers, most business people don't know how to write period - word processor or not. Too often, people only use the word processor for the spell checker and for adding egregious quantities of bullets, fonts and tables.
Do you think that the only thing that students are using their laptops for is to type up reports in Word? There is a LOT more that goes on in schools with Student Laptop Programs than just composition, though increasing writing is an important part of improving student achievement.
A number of recent studies have shown that 1:1 laptop ratios can have a very positive effect on student achievement rates (as well as increasing student engagement, reducing drop-out rates and school truancy...)
If you implement right (plan it fully, have professional development ready for teachers, fully communicate to students AND parents what appropriate use is for the machine - e.g. no games, no IM, etc. - and enforce it), laptops can positively impact schools.
Sources:
Detroit Free Press
New York Times
Montana Associated Technology Roundtables
Public Policy Institute: Laptop for Every Student?
You'd really have to be dumb to say 'Mac Skills' if you interviewed for ANY job. 'Computer Kills' are cross-platform, and using a Mac will get you quite far in Windows or Linux these days. The 'desktop' paradigm is cross-platform, file management and applications are the same on all platforms.
You wouldn't say that you only know the British dialect of English if you applied, would you? Would that make your language skills useless in America?
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
It's funny how the article mentions Dell as the arch-nemesis of Apple in the education market, because at my district Dell took over for Apple. In my elementary days, you couldn't go around school without seeing an Apple in every classroom. But around the 5th grade, they switched to Dells. [tear]
It made sense at the time, seeing as how the Apple computers were around a decade old; archaic next to a computer with Windows 95. (GUI -- wow!) But looking at the school situation now, it's terrible. The schools have been overloaded with Dells -- there must be three thousand machines in my high school alone (a school of about 1,600 students) with several thousand more in the remainder of the district.
What's worse is that these machines are outdated for the most part. The district goes out every year and buys a new set of fifty to one hundred machines per school - the last was for a significant speed bump in the high school. Unfortunately, until this school year (my senior year) they had used Windows NT, meaning they had to go out and buy thousands of licenses for XP - a complete and utter waste of funds.
I work as an editor for the school newspaper, and it's the opinion of the editorial staff that the time to move back to Apple is now. It's been proven that the longevity of Macs outweighs any PC, and they are more reliable than a PC in terms of security. I won't even delve into the amount of time/money spent on Internet blocking, virus problems, networking issues, etc. But you know how tech people in school districts can be -- ignorant fools who don't know enough about what they're in charge of.
AFAIK Panther doesn't have single file encryption like OS9 did. You can however make an encrypted disk image with Disk Utility and stick sensitive files inside of that. File Vault is nice and all but it encrypts your entire home directory. I much prefer the encrypted directories on Windows 2000/XP. Simulating that feature on Panther isn't too difficult.
Make an encrypted disk image of whatever size you'd like and keep it in your home directory. Set the permissions to 700. Mount the image and make an alias to it. From here you've two two options with different levels of security. The first is to make the disk image a login item. If you do this whenever you log in the image will be mounted and you can put files on it until you're blue in the face or it runs out of space. When you mount it you'll be prompted for your password, you can store the password in the keychain so it doesn't prompt you but that isn't very secure. The second option is to not make the disk image a start up item. Whenever you go to save something you the alias you created in your home directory and the image isn't mounted it will mount and prompt you for your password. Voila encrypted directory. For further coolness replace your Documents folder with alias to the image. encrypted Documents folder.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
I'm pointing out that the ones with the real computer skills were generally the least problematic in school before the program started, but they also used whatever software they could find at home. With the program in place, these kids would still bring the software into the school, to the alarm of an adminstration fearing the BSA. So the program put them in that position... The same kids who were copying things were the ones who tended to help out when the computers got messed up, so yes I would still call them "good" people.
It was an ethical quandary I really didn't want my senior year. let me put it that way.
--hongpong.com
Personally, Adobe has completely dropped the ball with the OS X versions of their software. Photoshop and Illustrator CS are a hell of a lot snappier on our 2ghz duron under win2k than they are on our dual 2ghz G5s.
:|
I can, in fact, launch Classic and Photoshop 5.0.2 in roughly the same time it takes to launch Photoshop CS. And 5.0.2 is a hell of a lot more responsive.