Slashdot Mirror
Notebooks Replace Textbooks in Texas
DrEnter writes "Yahoo! is running this article about an experiment at Johnson Elementary school in Dallas, Texas, which will provide an IBM ThinkPad to every 5th and 6th grader, each one loaded with electronic versions of textbooks and 2,000 other books. Apparently, due to rapidly increasing enrollment and long delays to get new books the school is trying to head off future problems. They also mention a similar program in Henrico County, Virginia, using iBooks and how some of these programs are affecting laptop design (like Apple replacing pop-out CD trays with CD slides)."
While I don't think it is bad idea to supply all students with laptops, I think this is a perfect opportunity for a next generation ebook reader. I have an Ebookman that is ok for reading text, but doesn't handle PDF's or graphics, has a small screen and eats batteries when backlit.
There are several products from asia that are interesting, I just wish they would make it here sooner:
EB660
Panasonic Sigmabook
Sony
This could be the type of application that would launch ebooks into the mainstream.
Amount of time It takes for every thinkpad to be running counterstrike.
Billy, what is 8 divided by 2?
What? Man that was BS Stupid Shield Lamers, Damn Lag. #@$#%
I'm L337 Screw you Teacher!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Think about your average 5th and 6th grader, not exactly a bastion of common sense. Now, think about handing them a 1350 laptop.
I can only imagine that with in the first day they had 10 kids in the principles office with smashed screens, click-o-death harddrives, etc.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
Instead, I am replying to a slashdot article on my laptop.
You see, my school is very tech-savvy. The reading carousels have ethernet ports.
I am easily distracted by the computer, and I'm a grad student! I hope these 5th and 6th graders have a lot of discipline... ha!
Another thought:
Are the teachers able to use and understand these machines?
The article said a set of books costs $350/student, and they thought they could get a laptop for $500/student.
We all know laptops become antiquated within a few years. I find it highly unlikely that a laptop would last for 5 years, it's probable that at the 3-4 mark the school district would have to sink big $ into new software licenses, or just buy new machines.
I'm pretty sure I remember some of my school textbooks being pretty darn old... the signatures & dates of students being assigned to them were 10+ years on some books.
So how is buying laptops w/ ebooks saving any money?
You know, it seems that every school board wants a set a of textbooks that match their own criteria. Some school systems want creationism taught alongside evolution; other systems want phonics emphasized over rote spelling. With paper textbooks, no publisher can produce a textbook that pleases every set of criteria. At best, the publishers can come up with variants on the original textbook, and update the next edition to suit a plurality of customers.
Enter electronic textbooks. Publishers can now produce a unique version of any textbook for any given school system. What's more, the content is no longer static for years and years. Found a typo in that edition? We'll have that corrected and downloaded to you in a week. A major change in biology studies because of human genome research? No problem. Examples, homework assignments, and content need only be limited by how much the publisher can organize and layout. School systems' per-student textbook costs drop down to the cost of a computer per student (which follows them through high school or 'till they break it) and the publisher subscription costs.
Sure, there are problems with textbooks on a tablet computer. However, the cost and content benefits are so strong, school systems will be forced to switch. The bag full of books we lugged to and from school (through the snow) (uphill) (both ways) will become the old-fogey gag of our children.
Sometimes I worry that I'll develop Alzheimer's disease, but no one will notice.
A large portion of the 'graduates' in the Dallas school system can not read or write at the 3rd grade level.
I'm a graduate of the Dallas school system and I can read and write just fine. I'd like you to define "large portion" and provide statistics to back up your claim.
Couldn't your time be better spent on, I don't know, precise and accurate statements?
Havong worked for a company that both resold, and serviced notebook computers sold to 5th and 6th graders in Michigan, I can say that while there did seem to be a higher percentage of notebooks deployed to students coming back, (as opposed to ones issued to teachers,) but I can't be sure, I have no hard numbers on total deployment.
Out of somewhere on the order of 2000-3000 notebooks sold, we would usually have only a couple come in every day, and maybe once a week one that was a non warranty repair.
The package we sold, included a 3-year extended warranty with once-per-year for so called "End-User Abuse" repairs.
I think a lot has to do with the design of the notebooks.
I think the mode we handed out in '01 was much better than the one in '02, which had screws that secured the screen's plastic back to the hinges, that should have been installed with Loc-tite [SP? I've never had to use the stuff, really.] because they were working their way loose, causing loose displays, that would wiggle before the hinge started moving, occasionally causing damage to the plastic housing of the display.
I think from a durability standpoint, the notebooks design and weight matters more than anything else. Apple style slot load drives would have been a big improvement.
As I recall, the children were regularly told to back their work up to the network, (though not all of them did it) because if they ever had a problem, the first thing that they always did was re-image it to rule out any software problems, (and because the Mfr. would only pay us for working them if a part had actually failed.)
In the case of the program I worked for, the parents purchased and owned the laptops, (financial aid was availible,) and there were two "Special" notebooks, for visually impaired students, (one purchased by the district, one by the parents)
In summary I think the success or failure of such an inititive depends on the specific implimentation.
Great! So instead of printing a copy of the classics downloaded from the internet at a few pennies per copy, my child can now use a $1350 laptop:
I don't see any sense in this at all. Basically, this makes every child a target of criminal activity. But worse, it seems to me that this is a part of the greater "worship computers because they are the future..." mantra I see in schools. Just because little Johnny can use a computer doesn't mean he's not an idiot, and I believe that most businesses are aware of this fact. What's going to happen is that these parents are going to find out the hard way that the money they spent on computer hardware is actually going to be a disadvantage when it comes to their children going to college - you can't use a computer on standardized tests, and without it, little Johnny's going to be lost. No worry, though - he can still qualify for that fast food job and go to a "computer school," or community college where he'll learn how to be a Windows Admin for $6/hour (or whatever it pays by then). If he looks good, they might feature him in the commercials...
Rest assured, these students won't learn any computer science during this program. In fact, they'll be lucky to read even 10% of the books installed...
Computers don't teach logic or reason - if they did, a substantial portion of the population would not be making a living teaching inherently stupid machines to perform monotonous tasks.
The society for a thought-free internet welcomes you.
Yes. Only instead of cheap external hard drives, give the kids CD-R's with the textbooks on them, refurbished PC's for home if they need one, and let them do their homework on paper. A lost CD-R is 10 cents.
The text book publishers may not like that idea, but maybe they can change their copyright policy from a $60 per textbook model to a $60 per student license, and let the schools replace the CD-Rs as needed.
Use the money for the laptops to build a decent computer lab for the students instead.
More music, fewer hits
answer - toshiba toughbooks.
they can withstand even a 8 year old boy.
I have an old one that has been sitting open and running on my deck all winter long. still works good, the keyboard was funky until I got the pine needles out of it.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
You might want to go back and look at how thick the books are, and how many books.
Keep the computers in the schools, I say. Give the kids books to take home. .
I could not possibly disagree more. Given the ridicules volumes of text books being pushed on children, this is a good alternative.
Every year, some text book salesman shows some board of teachers how his book has more information, more details, more color glossy pictures, and converts the school to a new book. But the salesman and the teacher don't carry them home on their back, the kids do. Now, some on dollys with wheels because the weight is so high.
I say don't give them books, or laptops. Give them a little book of DVDs and a couple USB drives to hand in reports. Get rid of ALL that junk they carry.
He spent a lot of time in class AIMing to other people, and generally not paying attention.
Also a couple kids at the school managed to download massive amounts of Porn onto their laptops.
As a designer of textbooks, I am really interested in the ePaper technologies, such as the Sony Librie. In the near term these programs are experiements, but on the five to ten year term I see these products taking over the market. The teachers editions, which will likely see such products first, are at this point multi-volume 12" square, 600 page books, coming in around ten pounds apiece for 30 some pounds of book for a year. And, they don't cover the material. Imagine being able to tie low frame rate video for professional development, as well as the pupil editions, and typical content in a product of this size!
, 1200034,00.html).
The displays, as well as the various power draining components are what drive the cost of a $1000 notebook. eliminate much of this, mass produce it, and you have a great $250 solution for the same cost as the books.
Here is a review of current tech: (http://www.dottocomu.com/b/archives/002571.html) as well as a link to the Guardian article linked within (http://books.guardian.co.uk/ebooks/story/0,11305