One Desktop per Child - miniPCs for Schools?

gwjenkins asks: "I'm a teacher in charge of IT in a small school. We would like to bust out of the computer lab model but don't want a trolley of laptops wheeled from class to class. I've drooled over wi-fi PDAs but just can't afford a set for class (and the batteries drain too fast). In a classroom, space is at a premium and teachers won't use a technology that takes too long to set up. Most of the time the kids are just researching (Google), or typing (Google Docs), the rest of the time they can go to a lab. I would love to have a desk-based solution. Can you run a wi-fi mini-pc (sitting under the desk) from a 12-volt rechargeable battery (also sitting under the desk) with a 7" LCD (sitting on the desk), that boots from flash card into FireFox? No wires! No setup time! Has anyone done this? How? Alternatively can anyone say why this is silly?"

Comments

Why it's silly

[Baricom]

We would like to bust out of the computer lab model?

What's wrong with the computer lab model? It's cheaper because desktops are almost always cheaper than comparably-equipped notebooks. Besides, childhood obesity in the U.S. is at staggering levels - a short walk to a lab won't hurt.

but don't want a trolley of laptops wheeled from class to class.

What's wrong with a trolley of laptops? It's portable, easy to set up, and inexpensive when you factor in educational discounts.

I've drooled over wi-fi PDAs but just can't afford a set for class (and the batteries drain too fast).

Wi-Fi PDAs don't run Firefox and they don't run Office/OpenOffice.org/Google Docs.

In a classroom, space is at a premium and teachers won't use a technology that takes too long to set up.

MacBook setup: 1. Hand out notebook. 2. Open screen.

Most of the time the kids are just researching (Google), or typing (Google Docs), the rest of the time they can go to a lab.

So you have a lab, but you don't want to use it? I'm confused.

I would love to have a desk-based solution. Can you run a wi-fi mini-pc (sitting under the desk) from a 12-volt rechargeable battery (also sitting under the desk) with a 7" LCD (sitting on the desk), that boots from flash card into FireFox?

How do you propose to get the signal from the computer to the monitor and A/C to the battery? More importantly, why not a laptop? It's a computer with a built-in battery and screen. It sits on the desk, but doesn't take up much space at all.

No setup time!

I can't see how setting up two pieces of equipment is faster than setting up one piece of equipment.

Alternatively can anyone say why this is silly?

Okay, here's why it's silly. Unless there's something you're not telling us, you've just proposed to throw away the two best solutions to your problem (a lab and a laptop cart) for no reason other than the geek factor. I'm sorry, but I just can't see what your aim is.

Re:Good lord...

[basic0]

I want to agree with this, I really do, but things have changed since you and I used computers in school. You're talking about an Apple II, so you've got a few years on me, but I remember having maybe two 286 systems available to a class of 30 students when I was in grade school, and you know what? Some of us grew up to be pretty handy with computers despite that.

The major difference is that back in the days of Apple IIs and 286-en, we were using computers in school to learn about computers. I remember learning DOS commands and doing lines of "asdf jkl; dad sad fad lad" and so on in some curses-style typing tutor. It was all about building skills required to use a computer.

Now, those skills are somewhat of a byproduct. The computer is the tool it's supposed to be, not the subject. Most kids have a computer at home already and are pretty familiar with it's basic usage. The technology now simply enables different methods of learning. You just can't timeshare an outdated piece of junk between 30 kids now.

In "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure", some douchebag jock dude says "The future...it's...computers..SAN DIMAS HIGH FOOTBALL RULES!". Now, I'm not sure if San Dimas Football's record warrants such a statement, but the future is now, and it *is* computers. However, just knowing the bare minimum (like a grandma who knows how to check her email and nothing else) won't cut it in the workforce. Students need WAY more exposure to using computers for everyday tasks than we ever got timesharing the ugly beige monsters of our day.

CS in schools

[VincenzoRomano]

CS should be a mandatory item in schools, even elementary.
We cannot think about 21st century without serious CS courses in schools.
But I'd prefer to spend more money in having more motivated teachers and better programs.
Then you can build a wired CS classroom (or two) with the usual desktop PCs that are becoming cheaper and cheaper. And I'm sure pupils would love the idea to do a walk to a different classrom.

Re:Good lord...

[i_should_be_working]

What do you think kids of yesteryear did? Sure we had a computer in the classroom. It was an Apple ][ and you had to share it with 23 other classmates. OH NOES!!!

Yeah, but life back then sucked compared to now. I wish I had been born a decade later just so that I would never have had to deal with:
trudging to the library to get info for a report
hand writing essays
typewriters
not to mention non-school related things like:
snail mail
print newspapers
lack of instant free porn

Just because we had to put up with this crap doesn't mean kids should still have to. Or maybe they should... lil' bastards.

Re:Backwards.

[emj]

And that's exactly what the article does, it says the children need away to search data in the class rooms, they only need firefox for this. So, Lets build a cheap wifi computer that they can easily use in classrooms, and that are mobile enough that you don't need 30 computers per classroom.

Re:Good lord...

[tomstdenis]

grade school == small kids == not exactly best use of computers. Think about it, your short stories in grade 2, were what? Maybe 100 words long at most? That exercise wasn't just to get your grammatical syntax juice flowing. It was to also get your hand used to handwriting, etc.

Same thing with math. We had "mathblaster" [with the gamepad thingy] back in my day. But we were expected to know how to add 17 to 23 by long hand. Why? So we could understand the mechanics of arithmetic. Sure kids have computer at home nowadays (damn brats!) but that doesn't mean all of the classwork should be on one.

That "star trek" future with the PADDs everywhere doesn't work IMHO. There is something to be said for doing things manually at the formative stage. That and the budget hardly calls for it. We can hardly pay the damn teachers, keep fresh books on the shelves, etc. Buying laptops for each student is hardly the best budgetary move (especially since as you pointed out, they have computers at home).

It makes sense in third world nations [e.g. OLPC] since the laptop is their gateway to knowledge. It replaces the books and other resources that they don't have [but should].

Tom