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How To Help Our Public Schools With Technology?
armorer writes "I'm a programmer engaged to an inner-city public school teacher. I've been thinking for a long time now about what I can do to help close the technology gap, and I finally did something (very small) about it. I convinced my company to give me a few old computers they were replacing, refurbished them, installed Edubuntu on them, and donated them to her classroom. I also took some vacation time to go in, install everything, and give a lesson on computers to the kids. It was a great experience, but now I know first-hand how little technology these schools have. I only helped one classroom. The school needs more. (Really the whole district needs more!) And while I want to help them, I don't really know how. With Thanksgiving a week away and more holidays approaching, I suspect I'm not the only one thinking about this sort of thing. I know it's a hard problem, so I'm not looking for any silver bullets. What do Slashdot readers do? What should I be doing so that I'm more effective? How do you find resources and time to give back?"
Look for old computers on freecycle/craigslist that you can put Edubuntu on and what-not. CRTs are hard to get rid of so I've found them being given away for free.
Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
How much technology did they have in the first place?
You see, I'm still not sold on the idea that PCs in every classroom is a solution to the woes of modern education but it would be nice to know what your experience is compared to mind. I haven't been in a non-college classroom in nearly 20 years and at that point it was mainly the computer labs plus a handful scattered between other departments. The PCs outside of the computer lab didn't seem to serve any educational use at all even though students had access to them.
Also, a bit off topic but, why isn't this an AskSlashdot topic? I think that line is getting badly blurred.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
Just get the kids to steal whatever you need.
Starting with one school, have the kids in the different classrooms start to write to various companies that use computers and ask for donations of old computers, monitors, money, etc and be prepared for the overwhelming support you get. Also, there is a lot of support from computer servicing places that just trash their old 'puters.
Good luck.
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
Whatever you end up doing, could I ask you to send a note about it to the people behind GothamSchools.org. It's a slightly New York-centric education blog, but they work with people around the country on improving education, and I'm sure they'd love to know about anything you end up doing.
<disclaimer>The non-profit that employs me is a parent of that organization as well.</disclaimer>
They need dedicated, enthusiastic teachers who:
- push the students to succeed
- maintain discipline (and are backed up by the administration when parents complain/sue)
- make the students do the work
- inspire the students to do better
- don't take shit from the students
This is so wrong, and yet somehow very insightful at the same time.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The school needs more.
The school needs TEACHERS, people who actually know how to use the equipment and how to teach others to.
Just putting equipment in the room has been a failing and expensive step for as long as personal computers have existed.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
Intel is a great company to look at; I went to a US News and World Report conference about three weeks ago where an Intel VP came to talk about the special deals and discounts they've worked out with select school systems. Apparently, Intel contributes not only by donating technology for classrooms and computer labs, but also by training teachers in how to use them effectively in the classroom and developing a "digital literacy" curriculum for them to use. Intel takes great pride in their school involvement, and you can find details about that at http://www.intel.com/education/. Now, there was a panel at this conference talking about the role of private interests in fulfilling the technology needs of 21st century schools beyond just straight philanthropy, and the perspective that came out was that more private companies should be selling deeply discounted equipment to schools to get bulk orders steady customers, not to mention the image boost. There was also a very touching vignette about New York middle school students reading Romeo and Juliet videoconferencing with an Israeli class that was reading the same work. Finally, the Brookings Institution had a little bit about how the Federal government can facilitate involvement in "educational entrepreneurship" which is developing cheap, classroom-relevant tech specifically targeted for school use. This was part of the Blueprint for Prosperity report which can be found at http://www.blueprintprosperity.org./
Yeahhhh.....I think maybe you've been smoking a little too much chronic and drinking a little too much malt liquor...
My blog
Works for dear abby during the holidays - why not kids in school?
In my other life, I eat cats.
I only helped one classroom. The school needs more.
The problem I always have with these statements is that this seems to be the end of it. "Getting" the technology into the classroom is not really that big of a problem ... there are huge numbers of companies that would gladly take the tax breaks available for donating old computers to schools (that may not put computers on every school desk, but it would be a start).
No, the real problem is finding something USEFUL to do with all that hardware. Just as pens, paper, and chalk aren't enough to teach students math, piles of computers and ethernet switches by themselves aren't enough to teach students .... well, anything.
And if you aren't willing to make a sustained, long term commitment to maintain, repair, and upgrade the hardware, along with ongoing teach training, course development and integration into the greater learning environment, all that hardware isn't going to be any more useful than a truckload of donated boat anchors.
Widescale computing technology deployment in classrooms has, for at least 25 years, been some kind of hold grail. But it's always been a "learning solution" in search of a problem.
The most important thing you can provide is computer education for the educators. There have been far too many times when a school district (or grant foundation) lays out millions of dollars, and every classroom gets a shiny row of networked computers ... which lie unused all year. Unless the teachers know both how to use the technology (which you can provide) and concrete ways it can improve their lessons (which may be the hard part), you'll be wasting a lot of effort.
Education is not about technology, it's about people. Access to information is not the same as sitting in front of a computer. Don't rob the kids of their teacher by giving the school outdated or inhomogeneous hardware which requires a lot of administrative time. If you really want to help, offer your time and expertise, not your hardware. Or raise funds for current hardware which doesn't need to be replaced next year. Just because refurbishing computers and installing free software is what you can do, it isn't necessarily what the school needs.
It's the utter, total lack of teacher training to effectively use them in the classroom that is the problem.
See Larry Cuban's book "Oversold and Underused"
I believe the plural of Prius is Prii. Also, nice troll.
-=Bang Bang=-
During my work at a local University we held an e-waste drive. In addition to Freecycle, craigslist, slavation army, and goodwill we were able to provide computers for 2 classrooms (30 seats). We also put Edubuntu on those computers and they are still kicking, that was 2 years ago. Since then they have garnered funding from grants through the NSF and local business. It is now a student run organization with faculty supervision. They invite faculty, staff, and employees from local businesses to donate their time, expertise, and equipment to help outfit the schools. If you have a connection to a local University you might want to consider doing the same. Get the compu-geeks and eco-trip hippies together. It is good press for the University and anybody involved. The students learn something. You do your part to save the earth. Kids get computers and slowly everyone is happy...slowly.
Part of the problem is that in most districts, teachers are no longer able to do the things you mention; the necessary power to carry out that responsibility has been taken away, by regulation and bylaws and lawsuits and a whole mess of other bureaucratic crap. You seem to recognize at least some of this with your comment about lawsuits, but I'm not sure you realize how deep it goes.
Of course it's still important to have dedicated and enthusiastic teachers, but there's only so much good these teachers can do when the system hamstrings them on the day they sign up. You also need a system that allows the teachers to teach.
Most public school teachers are clueless when it comes to technology. At best, half of the math and science teachers will be technically savvy, while less than 25% of the English and social studies teachers will know the difference between a browser and a word processor. At the elementary level, you're talking 10%, tops.
It's the whole "teach a man to fish" thing. Having a single teacher on staff that is technically savvy breeds dependence on that one teacher and continued naïveté. If all teachers on staff except for a handful are clueful, the others feel obligated to catch up out of peer pressure.
The fact that you're installing Edubuntu is great, but teachers will go to the one technological in-service they get per year and wonder where the "Start" menu is when they get back to their school and sit down in front of one of your machines.
I'm a former high school teacher. Teachers are under exceptional amounts of stress in a classroom. You're performing in front of an audience for several hours every day. Anything that they're even slightly uncomfortable with will be left behind in favor of the familiar. You can either give up or you can work to breed familiarity.
I'd say keep up building machines, but also volunteer to offer in-service or after-hours training. You might not have to do it alone — you could probably get one of the clueful teachers at the school to teach sessions during the day or after school. But I promise, if you build machines and don't provide any kind of support for how to use them, they'll only gather dust.
What the OP did was noble, but this is a solution that doesn't scale. If schools started excepting donations of old computers, everybody would bring in their broken computers and the schools would be stuck with a pile of e-waste. This e-waste could potentially cost more to dispose of than the cost of purchasing a few new computers.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
I work at a small and fairly wealthy rural ISD, a far cry from a struggling inner-city operation, but one of the best things you can do is get to know your school board. Their meetings are open to the public, and often have plenty of time for Q&A. Calling ahead can land you a slotted time to make a presentation. Convince them of the need for technology, and if you can stress the actual VALUE short and long term, you may be surprised at their willingness to budget for this sort of thing.
-Buddy of DoQ
I submitted as AskSlashdot, so I'm not sure why it's under news. I'm not sold on the idea that our district should spend its money putting a computer in every classroom either (I'm not asking them too though.) I agree wholeheartedly with the folks here who say that the school's really need dedicated teachers. Unforunately, I can't provide teachers so I'm trying to help with something closer to my area of expertise. As for the machines and kids goofing off instead of doing work: I locked down a lot of things on the machines I brought in so that the kids can only use them for educational games. And I was amazed at how much fun these kids had with TuxMath.
I know some guys in Atlanta that install linux thin clients on a school sized deployment. They're called GOSEF.
You might want to talk with them. http://www.gosef.org/
I'd bet they have a lot of other resources to get you started and/or involved in larger organizations.
I wrote my Ed thesis on this. You've gotta start with the teachers, as they are woefully unprepared (some argue unwilling) to integrate technology into their lesson plans. What good is a 1:1 student:computer ratio if the teachers don't actually have students use the computers for their work?
A second, lingering problem is trying to figure out what we actually do with computers. There are far too many old-fashioned minds that think education should teach kids about computers, which is an outdated paradigm for sure.
Keep the Computer Science classes for those truly interested in that field, but quit trying to pretend the computer is a magical box that requires special skills to operate. Realize that any 8-year olds know how to click a mouse, type some words, go on the Internet, etc. (the same assumptions cannot, however, be made about their teachers) and stop trying to teach them to be Computer Scientists.
Start thinking about how the students can USE the tool to learn as opposed to teaching students how to make the tool work. If they do the first, the second takes care of its self.
Use technology to find ways to get around shortages in other areas that aren't tech centric. Maybe start an "open textbook" movement where people write high quality textbooks under creative commons licenses and then get Amazon to donate a bunch of Kindles (or developer a low cost ebook device).
To help more than just the one classroom you're going to need to deal with the school board. Take the time to put together a proposal for a real computer lab, where students learn more than just typing but also learn how the hardware and networking actually work. Talk to some fellow parents and begin a petition to take to the board. And also go around to the local companies with this proposal and see if any would be willing to provide their old computers/networking hardware for the comp lab. Once you have a solid base, pitch what you are doing to the local news to see if will help spread the word. People trying to improve schools are great human interest pieces. Once you have some momentum behind it all take the proposal to the next school board meeting.
Its a time consuming process, but the only way to gain community support is by taking the time to address the community.
-=Bang Bang=-
step 1: Buy a printer
step 2: print vouchers
Computers in schools have a bit of a checkered history. My knowledge is probably a bit out of date, but I think the first step needs to be laying out exactly why you think this is a good idea in the first place. I would suggest writing a very specific description of the subject areas with which you think the computers will help and a run-down of why and how you believe computers can improve on how these subjects are taught without them. From this will flow some obvious questions about what other resources might be needed to make it work, and how best to provide these resources perpetually, which is also important. But I think in general it's pointless to ask questions about how to deploy computers in schools in general, without a more concrete idea of how they fit into teaching exactly which subjects (and by subjects I mean something a little more specific than "history," "english," etc.).
I'm typing this on a computer I obtained for free off of Craigslist. PIII 700 megahertz. It does absolutely everything I need it to do: video, youtube, Word, XP, WIFI. It does not run fancy games.
It's a damn shame that a majority of such computers are now in the landfill, since companies just throw them away. In addition to creating more waste, you have deprived someone of a perfectly good computer.
There is no organization that properly routes, vets, and refurbishes these types of computers to people who need them. Perhaps computer makers are actively discouraging them.
I'd be willing to start one up with enough seed money.
I think this sort of exchange is the way to go. With Moore's law making computers cheaper and cheaper, there will always be a steady supply of usable computers headed for the landfill.
If you support OLPC, then you should support such an exchange of technology.
I'm not trolling, and don't worry about modding this question, I just want to read the answers.
But... I assume you're in the USA? Does the government there really not equip public schools with IT facilities? I'm genuinely astonished. Surely schools have some facilities, if only a computer room for IT lessons? Is IT on the curriculum at all?!
These are all great points, and it reminded me of a recent point I made in a somewhat recent discussion....
Seriously, I didn't have it and I don't see why kids need them now to learn.
From hindsight, I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood in the 1980s. My parents threw in all they earned for me to attend a Catholic school, and they didn't offer much in the way of computers. When I went on to Catholic high school in the early 90s, I didn't get much in the way with computers until I took AP Computer Science which was taught using already old 286 boxes. I went on to earn my BSCS and have been developing and designing software for about the past 7 years.
More anecdotal evidence. Many people I know who have come to work (not just in software) in the US from countries such as China, India, and Russia when told me their first exposure to computers was around 16-18, right when they are beginning to enter their upper learning institutions.
Fortunately, Physical Education class is cheaper and meets all of these objectives and has other wonderful benefits! It's not fair to choose one over the other, yet many seem to value computer education over physical education in schools, especially with budget cuts.
Reading these I should clarify a few things: I know this is a big problem. I don't think it's worth it for the district to spend large amounts of money of computer equipment for a lot of the reasons that people here mention. So for the folks out here generally presenting that idea, I agree with you, but that doesn't mean the computers don't help. I can't give the district teachers, or money for teachers. The truth as I see it when it comes to technology is that there are a lot of resources going to waste that could be made available to these school for much less than they might pay if they go it alone. Another big problem that some folks have mentioned is administration of the boxes, and appropriate use / education of the teachers. This is the type of question that prompted me to ask slashdot! I know that there's a big difference one person having some computers in her classroom which I can realistically administer myself when needed, and donating machines to an entire school or beyond. It's a big problem, slashdot readers are a big audience and I'm hoping that someone has ideas.
is not how to get computers into classrooms, but what do the students learn on them? Are they taught how they work, how programming works, how the logic is constructed; or do they learn how to be good consumers, to buy the Dell PC with Windows and MS Office, to use Google, because that's what they learned in school and they know how to use it? I'm all in favor of increasing technology education in schools as long as the schools recognize that the computers are tools, not the end result. If we teach our children how the computer does what it does, and not just how to use it, then we accomplish something. BTW, a lot of kids don't have to be taught how to use a keyboard and mouse. My kids are self-taught!
I'm not a human, but I play one on T.V.
I'm currently working at a large urban school district deploying LTSP based thin clients. Access in the classroom to education web sites is extremely useful and shows measurable results. First pilot schools significantly improved their reading and math scores. It is also a nice reward. Many of these kids have no computer at home and 15-20 minutes of free time is a treat. Some even skip breakfast to get in line outside their classroom for computer time before school starts. It isn't a cure all, but as long as you integrate technology tools into the instructional mix correctly, it can be a wonderful supplement.
If a school has a working computer lab where students can type up their papers and do online research, that is good enough.
I cannot tell you how many districts are pouring money into adding plasma TVs, top of the line computers, and "intelligent blackboards" with digital projectors into classrooms. But at the same time, the teachers are underpaid, there are no funds for supplies, the students have to use old textbooks, lockers that don't work, bathrooms that never have the vandalism cleaned up.
Schools rarely get the kind of funding they should as administrators want to horde that cash for their district-owned car, or cell phone service, or other perks. They make it as hard as possible for teachers to do their jobs and for students to learn. If there is any kind of excess money, for god's sake use it for what matters. Pay the teachers, get the classrooms fixed up, buy new books, keep the campus safe and clean. Hire more teachers so students aren't packed 50 to a classroom.
Students these days will learn 'computers' no matter what you do in the schools. Just putting more computer in won't do any good.
Instead, they need to be taught how to do things on them. Programming, art, CAD... Mostly things -can- be done without the computer, but that proper use of the computer will make them more productive. (Or let them have more fun!)
In other words, if you aren't volunteering your time, you can't really help.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
You will make the most difference by helping some kid(s) by tutoring them. There are lots of organizations around that will connect you with the students that need help. Search one out in your area. You are not going to make a big difference by giving them hardware.
At our school I've helped the grade 8 kids to create their own interactive whiteboard using Johnny Chung's wiimote hack. It works pretty well! They also organized some fund raising to pay for the computer and projector and I donated my second wiimote to the project. The kids are extremely proud of the 3 different infrared pens they built! http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/
What if every slashdot reader spent one hour a week in an elementary school helping the teachers teach math and science.
Smaller groups help all the kids, the kids that are ahead
can be challenged, and the ones that are behind can be
helped catch up.
Satire maybe?
I am a 9th grade student and I know exactly what you are talking about! I go to a small private school of about 800 kids in 1st-12th grade. I am the only real computer geek here, there is one other kid but he is just about gaming and a little bit of hardware. Which won't get you much. So out of the whole school aside from the computer technician I am the computer guy. People come to me before they go to anybody else, I kind of like it but it almost hurts knowing that these people know nothing about computers (aside from myspace, they all have myspace) and that they are going to have trouble getting jobs because so much requires some type of computer skill. We used to have a computer class but that only lasted for about a year because nobody wanted to sign up. Now I have all the text books and use them for my own learning. This is pathetic. But a lot of parents that I know do not want their kids knowing stuff about the computers for fear that they will become non-active and start gaming, and sad but true thinking that they will become violent. I think that an example of why it might be the way it is would be something like Columbine. After Columbine nerds were being kicked out of school for days because of gaming and such, slashdot especially was jam packed with people telling their stories about how people had grown a fear for them. Many children had their computers taken from them for fear that they would act upon the actions in those video games. The truth is that the games and such are not bringing the violence in, its people that fear these children. These kids are rejected. People in schools do not support computers, they support sports and jocks. Stuff that will get these children no where in life. Something has got to be done to help the education of computers in schools. It is pathetic and very annoying. The teachers do not even know anything. The sad thing is that you have to be careful about how you come upon it, we do not want to raise a bunch of computer hackers and people that will turn to the dark side. Great point. I hope you can work someting out. As far as teaching these kids I have no clue, I have tried but they do not want to learn. I guess you have it or you don't.
-Steve "The Geek" Hencye
If you need a Domain Server at your school like I did, here is a link to a great tutorial to put one together. It has been working without flaw since september! It is running on an old Pentium 3 machine and allows for the students to have a personal network drive and shared network drive to use for collaborative projects... http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=640760
Apple
Apple
and more Apple!
Apple computers will make your students smarter AND better looking. Plus, since Apple is so fucking awesome, it will also make kids cooler, giving them a much better chance of becoming a doctor, lawyer or architect.
Some of the people who have used Apple computers include:
- His Holiness Pope John II
- Bll Gates
- President Barack Obama
- Albert Einstein
- that guy from Independence day
- many many others
Here in the US, more than 40 years of emphasizing PE hasn't actually achieved anything other than a slow dismantling of our arts programs.
Where I work, we get nice new Dell's for $400.00 each right now. Please don't act like you're doing the poor school some big favor because you give them your junk. Buy them something nice, or give them cash so they can use their leverage as an educational institution to buy something better than the junk you're giving them.
The problem is not too little technology. All too often technology is crammed in where it doesn't belong, under the supervision of people who aren't capable of maintaining or correctly utilizing it.
Unless you are teaching something intrinsically tecnological, the utility of a bunch of computers is limited, doubly so if there is no budget for maintenance.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
I grew up and went to school in a small village, 1hr away to this big city. Now i don't live there anymore, but i'm dreaming to be able to, some day. I consider the school there to be "my school". Here's what I do for it:
1. I'm a sysadmin, so I'm taking care of it's little server. For free.
2. I'm also running a small ISP business there (~20 clients), so I'm providing the school with internet access. For free.
3. They still don't have a IT/PC lab (that is, a lab with computers, where pupils have their "informatics" class); they only have 2 PCs. But when they will have a full lab, I will design+implement its network, and help somebody maintain it. For free.
3 1/2. I feel somewhat bad because I [still] can't afford to buy a bunch of old PC and donate them.
4. I am helping the teachers with their various IT-related chores; For example, basic audio editing for their ethnic dance class, or uploading to Youtube the shows of the school's chorus. Of course, for free.
I believe this: if anyone would do a little pro-bono work for his/her community (not necessarily school, but it's a good candidate), in the field that [s]he is goot at, this world would be a much better place. And i'm acting on this belief.
Most urban districts have significant resources to add technology in the classroom. With the e-rate program up to 90% of the cost for providing internet access can be recovered. Using devices like n-computing can multiply the amount of hardware available. K12LTSP and K12Linux are excellent starting points for putting large numbers of computers in the classroom. There are literally hundreds of free eduction websites that are proven to increase reading and mathematical abilities. Moodle and Sakai are great classroom management and collaboration software suites. Evergreen for library management is nice. Cups for school printing management. Training and integration with the lesson plans are critical. Add in Fedora Directory server for user management, LTSP is built into Edubuntu, add open source monitoring, package management and configuration management tools and a school can easily be managed by one person remotely. Despite what you are reading here, pervasive computing has a role in education just like it does in the workspace and our personal lives. What you can do here will make a difference for these kids. End note, make sure you design for easy maintenance and control, you want it to survive after you leave.
Oh well...
Agreed, and I did take time to go into the classroom and teach the kids how to use some of the programs on the machines. It was a great experience and one I plan on doing again. I'm not trying to teach the kids "computers" really. I'm trying to provide additional resources to the schools. Based on the feedback so far I am going to see if the school would be receptive to me coming in and giving some sort of computer training to the staff, because that does seem to be a necessary step if any of this is to be successful. (although I'm not sure what specific topics would be most beneficial.)
There is a rapidly growing suite of "tool" software that's free and works on all major OSs - these are probably the most powerful tools for the kids to learn because they can transfer their knowledge anywhere in "computerland."
As others have said, good teachers are key. I've found lots of cheerleaders in education that just go flat when you leave the room - all of their enthusiasm for what you're doing to help evaporates in the face of the daily grind.
I worked for many years as a systems/network administrator for the school district in my area. Through that and my engagement to a school teacher, my passion for technology in education has grown tremendously. Unfortunately, the biggest problem that I was always facing came mostly from the administration.
Some of the older school district administrators believe technology in the classroom to be an educational distraction, and at that point, the funding just isn't there. A superintendent who doesn't feel the technology belong just don't want to pay for it.
After I was given the funding, or sorted out grants on my own accord, it came down to the teachers. Most of the teachers I was involved with just didn't care about the technology. They weren't interested in using it or learning it so they weren't even going to begin to teach it. Some of it came from very little personal exposure to technology, some from the general "well I just don't see the need" mentality, but most came from the fact that they have very little time to get to it.
To expose the teachers to the technology, I would hold training courses designed around commonly used applications for both teacher and student use. These would be open to any of the staff. This had limited success at first, but after they started to see the benefit from those who were putting it into practice, more began to show up.
To deal with the time constraints, I would center the trainings around integrating technology into the everyday instruction. The use of Smart Boards or Mimios for presentations and interactive lessons on the board was very effective. The other was the hugely successful implementation of Moodle and the beginning of the deployment for Mahara (both of which can be found at www.moodle.org and www.mahara.org respectivly). Moodle allowed entire lessons with video, interactive flash activities, assignments, quizzes, and just about anything else you can think of to be available in class, after class, before class, or whenever. Mahara was our branch away from MySpace. The students felt connected to it in a similar way, but it was a controlled environment focused on education.
When I was in high school, our school had 1 computer for every 2 students at the school. The problem was that the school installed the computers in every classroom and let the teachers "have free reign". The majority of the teachers didn't know how to do anything other than checking email and doing grades. So the computers were hardly ever used. We never got "open access time" because the teachers wanted to continue teaching their classes the way they always had been. So the geeky kids found all the opportunities to use the computers while the other kids didn't.
I saw an interesting TED video at http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/19/etherpad-shows-google-docs-how-its-done/ He did an experiment where he just installed computers in villages where there wasn't much modern technology and then watched what happened. He found that kids learned how to use the computer on their own (without help from any adults). He found that the kids even learned a few English phrases because the computer was running English Windows.
So I think that we just need to give students the opportunity to use it and learn themselves.
The best thing you can do is don't. US Public schools are fear based, and heavily pro-Microsoft. If you are a Linux user, you don't have a prayer.
I grew up in US Public schools, and computers in US Schools have been a disastrous waste. Students really haven't benefited from them, in fact the reverse has occurred. You are just casting pearls before swine.
My solution.
Big time college football monetizes predominantly young male black intercity athletes to the tune of several billion dollars per year, tax free.
Ohio State makes about $10,000 per hour 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, tax free from it's football team. It's actually more, close to $100,000,000 per year, tax free. That's just the football team & doesn't include the money that goes to the conference which is own by the university's nor does it include the "professional" basketball team. That's one institution.
Why not legislate that a portion of that money must be spent in community outreach programs in underprivileged communities?
Damn it! How many times do you retards need to spout your "wisdom"? "I never saw a computer until I was in 7th grade." You are a retard, they didn't let the tards have computers until it was necessary, that's why. Schools need some technology. Teachers need to get with the program and understand how to use these tools. Students need some exposure. I think they need to learn to type. Also, controlled access to programs that do other functions is good. Like crappy math programs that go over basic facts. Why isn't there programs like some of the old basic math programs on the C64 available in the Open Source world? Now, teachers need access to teaching aides that are based in technology. If I go to a presentation and it doesn't have a couple of good power point slides and some interactive content, then I'm generally bored. Many of the online classes I take are pretty interactive. I could see a grade school teacher offering up something like an online assignment that would help these kids. Your kids are watching tv, playing games, and exposed to interesting "gee whiz" type of stuff all the time. Mrs.CrabApple droning on for 6 hours will kill your kids soul. You should be encouraging these teachers to learn how to implement some basic concepts of presentation. They should be using all of tech available at their disposal. And why doesn't my kids teacher have an fing email address? RRRGGGGHHHH!!!! I think you could be doing workshops on basic skills, creating Power points, some basic web site building etc.
CAPS LOCK: ITS LIKE THE CRUISE CONTROL FOR AWESOME
Not to get too tied into the implementation, when there are clearly other legislative or bureaucratic issues to address, but the consulting company I work for has had some rather good success (in my opinion with limited exposure to comparisons) implementing a district-wide web collaboration portal.
Their architecture is roughly: single district-wide site, sub-sections for each school (elementary through HS), subsections for each department, and finally for each teacher. (any teacher crossing boundaries may have two areas to make use of).
Because of their desired security, teachers can post homework assignments which can be accessed anonymously (parents can check homework, students may be able to gather info about next years' classes, etc), students may submit homework and retrieve the review (securely / privately).
The system in many ways provides similar usability to other school-focused packages (BlackBoard comes to mind) as far as collaboration among students for projects, etc.
I had suggested taking further use of the system with a teachers' collaboration portal whereby teachers may share and collaborate on curriculum (across schools, etc). This could potentially be viewable anonymously, covering anything from the material to presentation (I think youtube probably has a lot of videos that would grab students' attention about a specific subject which may be the next lesson). This doesn't seem (to me) that dissimilar from the ivy schools releasing classroom videos.
So far, the teachers' seem to still be exploring the system (plugging in some contact info, some news, handling some homework) but I definitely see potential.
If everyone that reads Slashdot, would go out and do the deal and then give the laptop they buy to a local area school that needs some help and technology, we would be in pretty good shape. $400 gift that helps local and the world. Does it really get much better than that?
Most of the real 'problems' with public education in the united states are systemic and cultural.
The best way to address them with technology is to go over to a home based system that entirely eliminates the social interactions that interfere with academics.
The various social aspects can still be met of coarse by allowing the teams, clubs etc a place to get together, but removing the 'having to see people I don't want to be around every day' aspect of school will go a long long way. Also if your teacher doesn't really see you or know you it eliminates 'teachers pets' and 'bad' kids and instead forces evaluation of knowledge based on objective testing.
Much of this is in a pilot stage in Florida and I have seen it work very well.
âoeTolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons.
I recently worked applied for a job with a local school system as IT support and got to know one of the techs there pretty well.
One of the things he told me is that, although the schools* accept donated PCs from well-meaning people, the techs (like techs everywhere) don't really want to support thirty different hardware and software platforms. They will use it if they can but if they can't it gets dropped in the recycle bin. Some people just assume that schools will take anything because those are poor, publicly funded organizations and it is okay to just drop off those pentium IIs with puppy linux installed.
What may be a warm fuzzy feeling for you might be a big headache for someone else.
*Yes, this is a suburban school. Your mileage may vary, yada, yada, yada. The point is that you should ask the technical staff (if there is one) or at least the school principal if the school can use the stuff.
Here will be an old abusing of God's patience and the king's English.
What are the problems and issues facing your school? Are their computers crippled with spyware? Do the kids spend all day playing games and looking for un-educational materials? Do the teachers know how to use computers to make their lives easier?
Even better, probe deeper and find out what are the real problems they're facing? My wife teaches high school, and they have a different set of classes meeting each day of the week(for reasons that are an essay in itself). So she was working by hand to track how many times each class had met, to ensure her different class periods each had equal prep time before a test or the same amount of time to complete a project, and she struggled at times to reuse last year's lesson plans with this year's schedule. I made an Excel tool that could keep track of the schedule, store day-by-day lesson plans, and had several easy-to-execute reports showing her plans by week/class subject/month/semester. Now she saves quite a bit of time planning lessons, which gives us more time together.
By the way, no flames please on my choice of software. It's done and delivered, there's no going back, and I used a tool that I and the customer knew well and already had in our environments. I'm sure there are many wonderful alternatives, and my customer is very happy with what she has. Plus, she's been able to demo it for interested coworkers. When your customer can do the demos and training for you, I think it's a good sign.
Give the children vouchers so they can go to better schools and learn about technology as they need it through life in the better opportunities that they'll have from not being forced into the government monopolized system?
I work in at a K-12 school. Technology itself is never the answer. Unless staff, administration, the PTA, the school board, and whoever else feels like they need to weigh in are on board, the tech will sit there and rot. You get to get rid of your white liberal guilt while the machines collect dust bunnies.
The economy is hitting hard everywhere. Here in Fairfax County Virginia things are tightening up too. The county is planning it's 210 budget and is looking to make some big cuts. I went to one of the planning meetings and suggested that they switch to LINUX county wide. We'll see.
I know that it's state sanctioned in some places and you thus have to go through the state's network, but many schools employ cumbersome Windoze based web filters. Here at my college, they use Websense (which sucks and has very inaccurate filters). At my previous highschool, they used squid. I propose they all start using OpenDNS. It'll save thousands for the licensing where Websense or other commercial products are used for content filtering, and if they feel they need finer control, they can always setup a Squidguard/Dan's Guardian box if need be. Either way, much money would be saved that could be spent on opensource equipped machines for the kiddies.
2. Diatribe on the bad products and business practices of Microsoft
As of your post, YOU are the only person in this entire thread to even mention Microsoft. EPIC TROLL FAIL.
Diatribe is a noun. Using it as a verb is an EPIC GRAMMAR FAIL.
get rid of that trash since it's useless. it's like giving those kids commodore 64s and wondering why they have a problem with windows when they get to the real world.
You give a couple of classrooms computers, you get them set up, and then you get too busy to do maintenance (or the teacher doesn't want to ask you about it). They end up with problems, they sit there, the IT dept. doesn't even know they exist, and pretty soon, they are just an eyesore and in the way.
Keep in mind that school districts do asset audits, and if your donations don't get put on the books, they aren't accounted for in case of a disaster or theft (so if you pump 20 donated computers in to a school and they get wrecked / stolen, then said-school is out of luck). Adding to that, I've been associated with districts who are searching out technology grants and have been in danger of not getting them, simply because the ratio of computers to students was too close to 1:1. That's right: some funding sources don't count the age or usefulness of a computer, only the raw numbers.
Also, remember that the school and / or district might actually have some technology curriculum that depends on particular software and GUI uniformity in order to teach a lesson.
SO, at the VERY least, talk to the principal, but a more ideal solution would be to go to the district office, talk to the IT head, figure out what they need and how you can provide them with something that fits in to the curriculum. Best intentions can really rock the boat.
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A very interesting reading, I thank you!
I'm thinking along the same lines.
I never touched a computer till the 7th grade, and never did anything more than basic word processing with them till the 10th grade. I learned how to do calculus using chaulkboards and paper.
I never touched a computer till the 2nd grade, and never did anything more basic on it than dbase II programming until the 7th grade when I learned C. In the 10th grade, I'd finished the Unix (actually Xenix) half of a Fidonet gateway for both email and Usenet.
But that was at home. At school, computers weren't used for teaching except in programming class. I learned how to do calculus using chaulkboards and paper as well.
But that doesn't mean they might not have their place in classrooms now. If the software was designed correctly, it could adjust to the reading or math level of the student and help them progress at a faster rate than they would otherwise (because the teacher is busy making sure "no child [is] left behind").
My kid is in the 2nd grade and already doing powerpoint. WTF?!?!?! The focus is on presentation, not content. The kids know how to make things 'look nice' but they dont have anything worth saying.
Here is my take it on: remove all computers from elementary school (K -> 6th grade), add them in at the 7th grade level for basic word processing only (no powerpoint) along with a typing class. In high school add them in where the material can actually use it (physics visualizations, math, etc). Add them to the library at that level as another research tool.
All very good points.
Marc
-- PGP keyID: 0x4C95994D
I appreciate that you have good motives. I'll share a little secret at the end of this post, but first I want to tell you something.
I'm a desktop tech at a local 7th-8th grade school, full time. We are not urban, very much redneck town. You might wonder how there's enough to do here full time with just two grades here. But actually, I stay pretty busy at just the 7th-8th campus, fixing software problems, reimaging machines, and fixing wireless which is the bane of my existence, and occasional /. of course.
We have probably around 40 classrooms. Each has at least two machines in it, usually three or four, and each has it's own printer. Of these classrooms, 2 are big labs, meaning 25 comps / 4 printers each, and about 6 or 7 are medium labs, meaning 10-15 comps / 2-3 printers each. We also have 2 laptop carts that float around, one with 25 laptops, and one with 20.
Can I make a humble suggestion? Most schools in my area have entirely too many machines in them. Now I'm not saying yours is that way. But realistically a school maybe needs one full computer lab per grade. Anything more is excessive IMO.
Not ten minutes ago I was looking at a laptop. This was a classroom with five students in it, although they sometimes have 10-20 in there. They have 20 laptops for this one classroom (all needing wireless access, sweet idea!). I'm sitting there looking at it, and as I'm waiting for it to ping a server, I briefly look around and notice something strange around me. There are coloring pages of different pictures on the table I'm sitting at. No, not like a US map that the kids can color each state or whatever. All out coloring pages, like Garfield and stuff like that (the cat, not the President).
Anywho, after I'm sitting there a few minutes, this kid (remember, 7th or 8th grader) comes and starts walking around by me, and I'm looking at him peripherally wondering what the hell he's doing. He walks around to the other side of me, waits a few seconds, chooses the Garfield coloring page, and goes and sits back down. That's right, because the laptops were messed up, we're going to color now.
Now I should probably get the laptops fixed chop chop so they can get back to learning right? Wrong. Computers in public schools have become nothing but a cheap babysitter. I'm not saying that it's the fault of the technology, I know that the fault lies with administrators, teachers, parents, legislatures, and all of us really.
I guess what I'm saying is, don't fall into the trap of throwing technology at the problem. You sound like a good guy, so you should know that what these kids need most is a good teacher, pencils, notebook paper, and a chalkboard. It's good what you're trying to do, but you need to know that teacher quality has gone way down, and if you give them technology, they'll most likely use it to babysit the kids rather than trying to educate them. I just wanted to give you fair warning.
Now for the secret. If you want this district to have superfluous technology coming out the ass, here's what you do. Tell them to find someone who has experience writing grant proposals. Advertise the position, get someone good, and pay them well. All of a sudden, you will have technology grants from government and corporate programs amounting in the tens of thousands to the millions. So the grant writer's salary will more than pay for itself. Well, at least in dollar terms, not necessarily in educational terms. Don't know what state you're in. This is Texas, so YMMV.
Sorry if that's being a downer, I just didn't want you to get caught by surprise.
Billy Brown rides on. Yolanda Green bypasses Gary White.
Give back!? I pay enough in property taxes to buy a new car every year and I don't even have kids in school. Fuck public schools. Let's eliminate the department of education, get education back in the hands of private citizens and families - and profit-seeking businesses that have to deliver results instead of meeting fake federal guidelines.
Then we won't have to worry about how to help our poor beleaguered schools with second hand computers. They'll be able to help themselves.
I'm thinking about this stuff, too. I think the first approach is to create a general interest in technology/science/math/engineering for students so inclined. The best model I have found so far is Leonardo's Basement. They get it. Check out the video at:
http://www.leonardosbasement.org/
Nope it's "priores". Prius is a third declension adjective. Go Latin minor!
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A while back, I was involved with the local 2600 chapter. I was in a college town and many of the posh collage kids would simply throw away their computer at the end of the semester. We used to dumpster dive and curb pickup many of these machines every year during move out day (on the order of 10+ a night).
We'd then take our time, and reformat the machines, get a working copy of Linux on them, and generally make them worthwhile to own. Then, we'd donate them to various schools in the area. It was a great learning experience for me, really got me understanding the ins and outs of PC technology. Plus, it helped out local schools; win / win as far as I was concerned.
Maybe the school in question needs some computers, but speaking as a parent of two elementary school kids, the general case is that computers or the lack thereof is usually the least of a school's problems.
Want to hear what they really need? Funds to cover field trips. At my daughters school, 100% of that comes from money raised by the PTA. Funds to pay for enough teachers to handle increases in enrollment. Funds to cover library books. Building maintenance. School supplies. The level of fundraising that I typically see at the suburban public elementary school my daughters attend exceeds by far that which I saw at the private religious high school that I attended. I attended a public elementary school in a similar middle-class neighborhood, and there was never any fundraising. No class bake sales, no hike-a-thons, no scrip sales, nothing.
Despite California enjoying until recently years of windfall profits and public schools receiving a huge percentage of the state budget by statue, public schools seem to be constantly begging for funds for a lot of really basic stuff. This is something most of us here on /. aren't really in a position to fix, especially since much of the problem in California comes from a combination of top-heavy school administration, especially at the state level, combined with drag on the system from illegal aliens in the school system, and you have something really tough to fix.
I kept looking for the libertarian solution, which is to scrap public schools and privatize education so that parents can regain control of the children that they brought into the world. Why institutionalize children and train them to become lifetime wards of the state? A real fix for many of this country's problems begins with eliminating the public "education" system.
Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch.
Who are you calling a minor? Get off my lawn!
-=Bang Bang=-
Although I am totally supportive of the idea of the poster, I think he's also missing the big picture of what the real problems of the US education are. What is missing is not a "computer in every classroom", but a strong math and physical science education. The US are failing to train the next generation of scientists and engineers, by focusing on irrelevant form of education. Being able to do a content-less powerpoint, is pretty pointless. Kids need to know math and science, but more importantly, they need to learn the scientific process of learning. Once they learn that, for them to learn technology is a pretty straightforward task. For this reason I strongly support the financing and development of science labs in schools, and science curricula strictly devoted in teaching science through inquiry. Stimulating the kids with proper questioning and teach them how to think rationally in a problem solving matter, is the goal. Kids don't need distractions, they need focus, and a stimulating environment, where their mind can grow. Besides labs, the key element for this to happen is not on PCs, but on well trained, capable, engaged teachers. The problem is not "not enoutgh PCs". It's "not enough capable teachers".
I don't believe that adding technology to the classrooms is a good thing. Giving calculators to school kids before they get into more difficult mathematics courses takes away from their ability to solve even the most basic problems. I also believe that young kids should only be using computers for typing practice and for learning games up until High School, so they can get the chance to develop a stronger grasp on the concepts of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so on. Computers may make things easier for people in business and at home, but I think it is actually detracting from students getting a proper education. I believe there is a proper time and place for technology, putting it into the hands of our students too early is not it though. Just my 2 cents.
In 1999, Sugata Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process learning how to use it and how to go online, and then teaching each other.
In the following years they replicated the experiment in other parts of India, urban and rural, with similar results, challenging some of the key assumptions of formal education. The "Hole in the Wall" project demonstrates that, even in the absence of any direct input from a teacher, an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who's now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University (UK), calls it "minimally invasive education."
Listen to this presentation from Ted Talks
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves.html
East Tennessee State University has, for several years, refurbished, checked, and donated used computers to local area schools (and non-profits). Some information about that is here: http://www-cs.etsu.edu/pasta/index.php?p=process The CS department offers both the refurbished systems as well as student-led training and support. Pairing technology with people to train and support helps make sure that the technology gets used and gets used well. It's been an extremely successful regional program.
A few notes from our experiences starting about 15 years ago:
We were replacing three in-house computers and thought donating the old ones (once thoroughly cleaned) would be a nice thing to do. We found a local school remedial program that was still using some 1970's math cards and approached the teacher with our equipment.
The teacher was thrilled, and we (myself and our new-system-production guy) loaded a few free math and typing training programs, set them up one afternoon and watched as the six kids enjoyed them.
A week later, we got a letter from the school saying they do not accept unauthorized equipment and the offending computers had to be removed immediately. Our president was furious! He called the school, vented, and eventually arranged a face-to-face meeting.
Over the next two months, we had meetings with the school administration, we visited a meeting of the school board, attended a PTA gathering, and was even contacted by our supportive state representative (I don't really know what became of that). After much wrangling, arm twisting, and demoing of what we offered, we had three agreements in place to allow the kids to use the computers. I figured we (myself, production guy, and president) spend nearly 60 hours to donate our computers. 20 hours per computer.
Next year, we cycled through four more computers, and took them with our experience to the other side of town. First, our president call the school superintendent to arrange a meeting with the administration and school board to pitch our offer. There, we spent 10 minutes on a demo and nearly an hour answering questions. Next was to show our computers at a PTA meeting. That took another two hours. Finally, we spent an evening cleaning out an unused room, setting up our computers, and training two teachers how they worked. Total time was about 10 hours, or 2 1/2 hours per computer.
Today we have a program in place where our customers can return their old systems for a discount on a new one. This plus our own turn over nets us ten to twelve complete systems per year. (Much of what we get back is just too old or lacking a monitor to be worthy.)
We no longer have to train teachers on computers, but we do often have to get buy in from administrator types who hate any one else being all goody-goody. Common objections now are viruses and malware, access to pr0n, and what-happens-when-it-breaks. For the first two, we explain the built-in virus protection and firewall. (If they think pr0n is a solvable problem, they don't know that a firewall doesn't protect against it.)
We have teamed up with a computer store that does repairs and together we manage about 35 computers for three school labs. We are now taking more like five or six hours per computer, but we are more spread out. As we have the president's blessing, we can find a few hours each month to clean/prepare a system. We have a couple shelves in our production area where we store and work on the donation equipment so that we can easily take spend just a few minutes at a time at it.
Er, long story short: talk to administrators first, have a supportive company president, and set aside some space so that your time is easy to spend on it.
(As far as the company president goes, he's more enthused than we employees are. We have recycling for almost everything -- paper, aluminum, plastic, and obviously our computers. He uses scraps of paper to run his life -- the back of a fax to us can last him an entire day as he whittles it down to two cm strips.)
There is a ton of research showing that just putting technology into a classroom doesn't change much without a LOT of training. The teachers and the administrators both need long-term professional development on integrating technology into their curriculum to effect real change. Not just a one-day seminar - it needs to be ongoing over a period of years. It has to become an ingrained part of the culture of the classroom and the school. Otherwise, the computer is just something for kids to type up papers on and maybe do a little web research.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
The non-profit I work with recycles and refurbishes computers for the disabled among others (www.touchthefuture.us). We can place our low cost PC's into schools now, with a one year warranty. We also can support students with software for a variety of disabilities (LD, Vision, literacy). The teacher needs to know how to implement the technology into the curriculum. That's still the weak link the whole chain. The computer's only the tool, the instructor is still key.
I have had some experience with wiring schools. Your mileage may vary depending upon where you are and the attitude of the local administrators and school board but it might be good to get at least the principal/other teachers on your side before expanding too far.
In my one experience with this a nice grassroots effort like this, initiated by a teacher, died an ugly death when the school board stopped it. Basically they and the school district admins refused to let anything happen until they were convinced that noone could ever do anything "bad" online. Here Bad was a largely undefined quantity. Unfortunately this stoppage meant that the system that had been installed on volunteer time sat unused for fear that it might be. So far as I can tell the problem with this initiative was that they sought permission rather than forgiveness and had no demonstrated successes of students learning on the system.
Ultimately we got computer updates largely through the efforts of one students' father who, like you, just dove in and helped. He of course had to fight uphill battles with the district but thankfully was aided in that by the school as a whole.
With that in mind I'd say you should get your fiancee to wow the rest of the school particularly the principal with what has been and can be accomplished. Then if the school board comes butting in you'll at least have an ally and demonstrated cases of kids learning and not doing "bad things" with the machines.
On a more practical note you might also clue the school into freely available tutoring systems. Many educational researchers put their work online for free meaning that there are Intelligent Tutoring Systems that your fiancee's class can access online. One such repository is the LeanLab at Carnegie Mellon University: http://www.learnlab.org/
Good Luck.
As my wife (well soon to be ex-wife, but thats a different story) of 17 years works in downtown Detroit. Over the years I would donate, fix, reinstall computers. The problems is they have nobody to do even the simple items. So they go into disrepair within days sometimes. They can't even get the janitor to sweep the floor. Rats running around chewing on cables. It is mid-evil down there. But the administration enjoys new buildings. So it is not the computers the kids need they need books. If you can believe it they only have about 50% of the books the kids need. And people wonder why the kids fail. They don't have a chance.
I signed up yesterday at change.gov. Hoping that they can organize people like us with Classroom Corps.
http://change.gov/americaserves/
The best way to use technology to improve the quality of education in the US would be to use cyborg killing machines to destroy all members of the NEA.
Besides gettign PCs, the other important part of the equation is software.
Google has many of the tools needed which include google apps, email and many more. It wont cost the school a dime to have them. And any PC with a decent browser will do, so you wont need anything else than a browser in each pc.
Also, look at opensource eLearning software, such as DOKEOS, you can host your eLearning system for as low as $20/month. Then you can have a complete eLearning solution for all the school needs.
I agree with you about those places but I would say that if you're serious, go further up the chain. Call the white collar companies in your area, especially ones like ad agencies that replace their stuff frequently, and see if you can get equipment direct from them.
Here in Portland we have a group called Free Geek that has done a fantastic job of this kind of thing. You certainly should look at their site and might want to consider getting their video, though they're not specifically education-oriented.
Lastly, frankly, if your goal is to educate, instead of specifically to "put computers in schools", then consider getting active in your local infoshop, especially if you can get some friends to get active there as well. A good community computer center will reach more people per machine, people who *want* to be using those computers. They also have the freedom to do what works rather than what the schools will allow. Again here in Portland, we have an excellent example, a place called the IPRC, or Independent Publishing Resource Center. It, in turn, was originally modeled on a New York City place called ABC No Rio, though it has long since gone waaay past what No Rio offers. On top of everything else, an infoshop can then partner with a free school, or, as they're sometimes known, a "free skool". As an educational publisher and somebody who has been involved in every organization I mention above, who has also helped put computers in so many schools that I've lost count, there is little that would make me as happy as to see more active free schools in low income neighborhoods that provided classes in things like the biology of local species or sociology and psychology taught using local human behavior.
It's all about the information. And what we do with it.
contact local business and corporations and make your case. they might be able to use their donation as a tax deduction. note: many lease their computers nowdays. but all you need are 2 or 3 strong donors and you'll be swimming in old computers.
introduce yourself to a manager at the local Goodwill, Salvation Army, and St. Vincent De Pauls. They might be able to hook you up with stuff they don't think they can sell, or they can direct you to other groups that collect and redistribute old computers.
It is a very sad fact that children need a certain level of education in their homes at very early ages. If they do not get that from their parents they are locked into failure mode in such a way that very, very few will ever break the pattern.
For example a six month old child might note that both mom and dad read every day. That is taken as the norm. In a bad home babies make note that such things as reading do not take place. To them reading will forever be taboo.
So it boils down to this. If we really honest to God wish to help ghetto children we need to inspect their home life in great detail and remove children from sub literate homes.
I wish there were a kinder and gentler way to help out but tossing computers at children whose minds are already malformed will do little if any good at all.
I worked as a teacher for 20 years and a tech administrator for 12, and I know how schools work from the inside. Meaningful change must be supported by the administration and the school board or it dies quietly. School board meetings are public forums at which the public is invited to speak for a few minutes on issues of concern. As a parent and community member, you have more voice that teachers and many principals. In less than three minutes, tell the board what you did, that you used free software and cast-off computers that are more resistant to viruses and abuse than their current systems. Explain how they could support expanding such an initiative at minimal cost. You could offer to host a training session for interested teachers or to present the idea in greater detail to their IT director. Don't expect them to endorse your idea right away because they fear change and new ideas. Follow up in three months at another public meeting, asking to see if anyone has pursued these tested ways of expanding technology access to students. "There's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." -- Good Luck on a noble endeavor!
Working as a third party provider funded by the NCLB Act and working with over 60+ plus publics schools I can tell you there are so many issues with technology in the schools.
- Just because a teacher is good with Excel does not mean he should be given the responsbility of IT at a school (it happens).
- The old analogy, "you get what you pay for" holds true in schools. If the schools are only willing to pay a tech coordinator 30k a year do they really think they getting a well rounded (Mac, Windows, Open Source) hire?
- "Teach an old dog new tricks". Getting teachers who have been teaching a particular style for 20+ years to change, difficult.
- NCLB. Since it pays my paycheck I have to be a little biased. The benchmarks do need to be addressed in how they measure success and they do need to give the schools the resources to handle the NCBL process.
My Recommendation - Take all the best tech coordinators from the school district and create a team that has:
- Mac, Windows, and Open Source Experience
- Has a grasp of hardware and software inventory as well as maintaining tech budget for each school (there are so many P3's laying around in closets that could get Edubuntu'd)
- Professinal Development skills. Some that can get in front of a bunch of stubborn teachers and explain to them how this techonology can help them and how easy it is to use.
I used to work in a very wealthy school district. They had zero clue about how to best implement their plans, but lots of cash to throw at the problem. They even had a computer lab with 24 desktops and 12 cheap printers; with a parallel cable splitter connecting two PCs to each! The teachers were also never shown how to even use the most basic functions of the PCs they each had in their rooms. So, the vast majority of hardware was relegated to collecting dust or game play when kids were done with their work.
So, what I'm saying is the first two steps are:
Getting too fixated on the hardware details first is putting the cart before the horse.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Yes, that is a good idea, just lock everything down.. but wait a sec. what do you need computers in a classroom then in the first place.
Maybe it would use something, if the teachers would get some education on how to educate the kids with modern technology. For example the kids could get an assignment and use the Internet as resource.. and to threaten them to use if for something practical you could tell them, that if they mess up the assignment, they will have to use this alien thigys next time, also called books.
Also, please let children sit in front of computers 24/7 and get a healthy portion of electro smog.. you know, everything that does not kill those pesky creatures only makes their suffering last longer.
ps. yes, this is a joke
I believe its actually "Pious"
the Idol of the church of green, there's no need to pluralize an Idol
I always thought of Creationism as the Raving Right's version of the Loony Left's Anthropogenic Global Warming-brightmal
Lazy ass techs don't want to do anything hard.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
The first computer I ever saw was an Apple II+ in my elementary school.
We had a computer lab and our teacher taught us some basic stuff. Logo. How to open file on the disk....things like that. Again, very basic stuff. I think towards the end we even did a simple graphic of somekind. I don't recall any games.
That was the time that I started loving computers and it was the very beginning of everything I know on the subject. Nowadays, that beginning has evolved into a pretty darn deep skill set. So deep, I can make a living at it. All from a 3rd grade Apple II+ with 48k and 170K floppy disc....
I worked for a program that brought computers into inner-city schools in NYC. I was responsible for overseeing two computer labs that received after-school use, and a dozen laptops that went in a rolling media cart. The laptops were running Edubuntu. I was on a six-month contract and so I don't have as many answers as I'd like, but here's a few lessons learned.
MOST IMPORTANT:
- You can't give the school computers, particularly running Linux, and walk off - even if the teachers are tech-savvy (most will not be). Your project will die off quickly if you don't make a long-term commitment to support it.
Edubuntu-specific:
- Linux support for wireless drivers is less than perfect. Skip wireless, or test thoroughly. Flaky wireless gave our Edubuntu project a poor reputation very quickly.
- Also test the printer drivers.
- Many schools have inane requirements that you'll need to support. For instance, our program required that the students be tested using software from Scholastic that was Windows-only and made of fail. The school neglected to tell us that this was a requirement at the time we decided to go with Edubuntu. We also weren't told that they'd want them for a comics-making course - there's no comic-making software for Linux.
More generically:
- Everything not nailed down will walk off. Not just mice and power cables, but even stupid things like monitor-to-PC VGA cables walk. Make laptops get checked in and out. The cables connecting peripherals to desktops should be inaccessible to users.
- 3 out of your 4 non-ruggedized laptops will need replacing after a year.
Forget the computers, focus on tutoring. The problem isn't that kids can't use computers, although that is certainly an issue, the problem is that kids are not being taught in a way that encourages them to learn. A good tutor can make the 'hardest' subjects (usually math and science) much more accessible. One-on-one time with a kid, walking them through material they feel helpless to face on their own, will do a lot more good than whiz-bang technology. A kid who is helped to learn to love math and science and buys into the learning process will be far better prepared to self-motivate to learn than a kid who has a Leapster at home and can click-through tutorials all day in school.
This assumes you are looking for direct effect stuff - if you want to generally help the school cope with a tech deficit, then there are many other good posts in this thread I defer to. Good luck!
I actually just signed up to reply to this. I see a lot of good ideas here and I feel most people are write about the issues of computers in the classrooms not being used correctly or to their fullest. Since, Kindergarten ('91-'92) I remember every one of my classrooms having a computer in it. I remember my 2nd grade teacher teaching us word processing and how to create documents on two Apple computers. Except for her, I don't remember many teachers making use of the computer as a learning tool. Some would hook them up to a TV to show things to the class, but not much else. Not even in middle school or in high school. I do remember seeing a Spanish teacher at my high school using a project connected to her computer to help teach Spanish. That's really the only time I saw a computer being used to help teach. Otherwise, it seemed that the computer was just there for the teacher to do their grading and to type up their assignments as most kids had computers at home and there was never any time allocated for using the classroom computer. Recently, I visited my girlfriend's old private elementary school and was given a tour as part of a reunion they were having. They stated that now, each student received (or maybe they had to buy it, I don't remember) a new Apple MacBook laptop (private school!) and each classroom had a smart board where the teacher could project things onto. When the teacher or student wrote on the "board" it would somehow interact with their computers. Since it was the weekend, I didn't have a chance to see this in action. I'm not saying we should give each kid a laptop (or should we-OLPC?), but I personally would like to see more computers integrated in to the lesson or being used to help teach instead of just for looking things up.
... is the least of problems with public schools.
Reading through others' comments, I remembered:
- In NYC at least, there's a city-wide censorware blacklist run by the Board of Ed. If that's the case where you are, find a way to bypass it, immediately. There were constant mishaps. For example, one teacher had a curriculum based around students' use of Goodreads. One day early in the term, goodreads.com got blacklisted as a social networking site. Many phone calls to the censors were needed.
- It's much easier to troubleshoot issues if the students all use one login - "student" works well.
- Students shouldn't be able to save files to their local desktop. That said, sometimes the network will be down and they need a way to save their work. Flash drives aren't an option in that environment.
- Having a way to update to the most recent version of Flash is often a surprisingly necessary thing to do. Most of the content at www.pbs.org, for instance, is Flash-based.
As a comp sci major who did Teach For America for two years before becoming a programmer this year, I can tell you that there are no easy answers. Technology can be a huge benefit to the kids, but the schools need people who can inspire the kids do actually learn. This doesnâ(TM)t mean teachers with great classroom management because itâ(TM)s easy to yell at kids. This doesnâ(TM)t mean all teachers need PhDs, because the kids will tune you out if you arenâ(TM)t bringing it to their level. It means people who know their subject matter, who care about children and people who are excited by learning. Excitement is contagious, even with seniors in the roughest high schools in the country. Show them you care, and they will start to care. Without these people, the kids will spend their time looking for the newest proxy to get to MySpace. Educational programs that lock down the whole system have their uses, however, I would bet that no one on this forum learned how to use a computer that way. We learned because we were curious and we had access to the tools and resources necessary to grow. If we ever want to close the achievement gap in this country, we must provide opportunities for these kids, who the country has left behind. But opportunity means more than just a old computer box. It means finding people to inspire these kids, people who will show them that education opens doors, people who care. If you think thatâ(TM)s you, volunteer, tutor, look into programs like Teach For America and Teaching Fellows and The New Teacher Project. It will be hard, but it will teach you more about this country and more about yourself then you could ever imagine. Plus, youâ(TM)ll meet some awesome people in the process who deserve an excellent education.
Looks like I'm on the of the lucky ones. I'm a School Support Officer (Strange name) and my job is to integrate technology with the kids. While I maintain about 100 computers in our small school, it's also my job to teach the teachers how to teach using the computers. We've got a stack of interactive whiteboards, they're used so much that the teachers don't know what to do when one breaks (rarely happens I might add). In our case, it's up to the school to provide the hardware, we've developed a full 4 year replacement strategy, where every computer is replaced every 4 years. We have a full Novell setup (tbh, Novell is pretty slow and poorly implemented but it does do the job). I think it's up to the schools themselves to build themselves a proper IT plan and then hire someone (like myself) to maintain the setup and help the teachers to teach.
Back when I was in highschool (late 90s), every couple months I would go with some Parents to a regular event done by the NIH in Silver Spring Maryland. Saturday mornings they would give away surplus computers to non-profit organizations, particularly education. It'd be with a dozen or so other groups, they'd ring a bell and it was a Supermarket Sweep style dash-and-grab. We'd fill up a van and drop them off at my school and other schools in my feeder system.
There are lots of surplus supplies out there. Besides NIH, I've also delt with the state of Maryland, the University of Maryland, and the DoD, but I don't reccomend the latter for technology, as they strip anything remotely good out of all electronics.
I work as a tech for a school district that isn't exactly inner-city kids, but it is in a low socioeconomic area (euphemism for poor). They have 1-3 computers in each classroom and a new computer lab with enough for a 1:1 for a single class.
But what should the teachers be doing on them? I rarely see any of the computers used, and when the kids sneak time on them they head for flash game sites. What are good programs (windows/linux) or websites for the kids to use?
Every classroom also has a smartboard (through a big grant). The teachers use them almost exclusively to post the morning work (about a paragraph on what the students need to do in the morning), and then shut them off for the day. I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not. The programs offered through the smartboard company are limited and hard to find. What should teachers be doing with this technology? Even teachers that want to make use of it are pressed to find useful applications of the technology.
Beware of the new 8.10 Ibex then.
3D support has been dropped for otherwise functional older machines. That doesn't just means games -- that means no Google Earth.
Unfortunately this /still/ isn't mentioned under system requirements, but you can find it in the release notes.
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/810
Basically the updates to Xorg and Nvidia drivers means CPU SSE is now a requirement. Because you don't install full video drivers during a LiveCD, the uninitiated won't know if their machine is excluded until after trying to install.
You can run 'grep -o sse /proc/cpuinfo' in terminal. If nothing is returned, you don't have SSE.
Intel P3 machines have this, but with AMD it looks like for Duron you need at least Morgan or Applebred, and for Athlon at least Palomino or Thoroughbred.
The LiveCD really ought to have a script that checks machines and warns users. Too many people have been finding this out the hard way.
To be clear - 8.04 Heron will still work just fine on these machines. It's good till April 2011. Use that.
This is exactly my problem with technology in the classroom. Some administrator somewhere decides that technology is important so we should have some, they spend a big pile of money, and there's no real benefit to most students.
Of course, this particular situation is different. Here we have a guy who's not directly affiliated with the school, offering to donate some of his own unique expertise. He's not in a position to buy art supplies or increase teacher salaries, but he is offering to help in one area he can, and that's great.
$x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
$x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
I am a sixth form (year 13) student at a state school in the east of England. Reading about the state of IT in US public schools like this absolutely astounds me!
In my school there are approximately 1200 students and 200 staff including support staff.
This is the equipment they have, roughly:
600 desktop PCs (all less than 2 years old, dual core, 2gb ram, dell optiplex machines)
120 dell laptops for staff
200 HP laptops for use around the school (mainly in science labs etc.)
75 iMacs in media studies and music classrooms
15 Macbooks for media staff
Active whiteboards in 75% of classrooms (100% of science labs)
It all runs off of Windows servers using Active Directory, they have a proper server room with racks of fileservers, web filtering server, AD server etc., and the system runs flawlessley.
They also have a WiFi network for student laptop use, which runs through the schools proxy server for filtering.
The contrast between the two education systems astounds me!
Ubuntu is likely not be best choice for PCs in the classroom. Don't get me wrong I've a big fan of open-source for development purposes but in the end you always get what you pay for. It's not that Ubuntu does not meet the functional requirements of a classroom PC, because it does have many educational usages. The problem lies with the support of these machines. If left in students hands (in the hands of Middle/High School students to maintain for example) it's likely the PC would not serve any "Instructional" purpose for the school district. Also, teachers and their "school based technology technicians" (SBTS) are most likely only familiar with "District" provisioned computers running Windows which would mean they would have many challenges integrating these machines in classroom instruction. My thoughts to your dilemma, if you're going to give away PCs to schools and integrate them... use a web based approach and deliver the services via a Browser. That way it does not matter if you're running Ubuntu, Windows or Mac PCs... the students all get the same experience and it simplifies support (ie. Just make sure the PC is on and the web page opened to the portlal)
You could always try to do something like this. Of course having truckloads of money to put into projects doesn't hurt ;-)
Check out www.learnalberta.ca
There are a lot of web-based resources that may help students with difficult concepts. Math and science are particularly well represented, of course.
While at Intel, I participated in "Net Day '96" where we wired up a school and provided equipment for a computer area in the library.
It was great to see the ADHD Intel types jumping in, when so many others were trying to plan things out. A few minutes later, we all pull back - DONE.
First thing that happens (and sadly, I'm NOT kidding) is that a teacher jumps on the net and went straight to a porno site.
Talk about knocking out the enthusiasm of the moment...
I also helped another school, but like a previous poster said - putting equipment in the classroom doesn't do one bit of good without good curriculum to use it. Otherwise, it's a distraction.
Kids in our local school district have lesson plans now that include making powerpoints (Yeah, I know the pointy haired jokes here), using Word to do reports, and the like (at elementary school).
My kindergartner could probably show his teacher a thing or two about computers. I'll be satisfied if the school teaches him reading, writing, math, arts, history, etc. He can handle the computer stuff on his own just fine.
All those old computers count as tax breaks if you donate them to a school. Sometimes it's actually works out great financially.
I know someone who donated 4 x 72 inch TVs. No one would buy them because they were 720p, but it still counted as a tax break.
I'm currently teaching as my second career; I spent 15 years as a programmer/programmer-analyst/systems administrator/consultant.
Many school boards and school administrators are pushing for more use of technology in the classroom without any evaluation of whether it benefits learning. I think that's one problem.
More relevant to the article that started this discussion, I've had serious problems trying to use donated computers in one particular classroom because they were simply too different from each other to support easily. *Any* change in the software was likely to touch off a time-consuming round of fiddling with one or more machines to get it to work the same way as on the others. Teachers do not have copious amounts of time. (I work much longer hours now than I did when I was in IT.) If the poster is going to support the machines once they're in place, that's a plus, but a diverse collection of quirky older hardware might be more of a curse than a useful gift.
Having computers is nice, but if they don't come with support, they'll either draw time from the instructor or collect dust.
If the instructor does get them working and in use, there are a number of potential pitfalls that need to be dealt with. For elementary kids, basic keyboarding skills are an issue. Time spent teaching keyboarding is time not spent teaching something else. (It takes about 20 hours of teaching/practice to get upper elementary kids up to speed on keyboarding. That's a significant chunk of the language arts time for a year.) The extra effort to use an unfamiliar writing device can seriously interfere with a developing writer's progress actually writing. (If the work is simply too hard, the kids *DO* *NOT* *LEARN*. Making tasks harder can shut down progress with the kids who need practice the most.)
I've had trouble with lessons that depended on the kids having certain basic computer knowledge that I found they lacked and had to devote a great deal of effort to playing catch up. (Want to guess the percentage of 8th graders I had who tried to cite "google.com" as the source of an article in the website section of a bibliography? Would you like a long analysis of why it's amazingly difficult to teach teenagers the difference between the location bar and the search bar? (Many of them have used the search bar to input URL's for so long that the habit is thoroughly ingrained and unteaching a wrong idea is much harder than teaching something correctly from the start.)
Sorry, I started to switch topics there. Computers in the classroom can be helpful, but they're not always good and in certain cases they detract from learning. I've seen good lessons that used them, but those took a tremendous amount of preparation and required well-maintained computers. Most classroom computers are under-utilized because there aren't enough techs/admins keeping them usable. Donating admin time is probably more useful to a district or school than donating machines, but your girlfriend might appreciate the machines if you do the work to make them useful.
Scratch from MIT is also good to teach kids of most school ages. It teaches programming and logic in real-time. You can change the code while the loops run, etc. Currently, my son's school teaches GameMaker stuff to older elem. kids but I wish they did use Scratch.
Thanks to all who contributed (and maybe make it this far down in the comments.) I couldn't keep up with you all since I was at work, but I will read over these tonight and into the weekend and try to extract the most useful bits. I appreciate your input.
How about going on an uber crusade against the obscene waste of money on athletics as opposed to spending it on, oh, call me crazy, TEACHING?!
Beyond that, talk to the FIRST Robotics people. And if you manage to pull that off, try to get the airhead cheerleaders to cheer for those competitors.
Novell, Userful & Omni have sponsored an initiative to get Linux desktops into schools wherein schools essentially get free computers (up to 30) as you can run up to 10 off one PC. http://www.omni-ts.com/linux-desktop/education.html
When it's implemented correctly. Here is a study that was recently completed for a Minnesota school district. We recently had a presentation of a study done by the U of MN of the use of technology in our two junior high schools. One has a 3:1 student to laptop ratio and the other has a 1:1. An article summarizing the results and the study itself can be be found at:
Access to technology changing way teachers teach and students learn
A couple of quotes:
Etch-a-sketch, and it's environmentally friendly!
Many schools are less and less interested in older computers with CRTs. They have an infrastructure, just like any other business, and need to meet minimum standards. Ask what those are before you get crazy and try to help them with freecycle systems.
If you really want to help your local schools, start by volunteering your time and talents. Very few schools would turn down someone to sit in the back room and re-image systems while their regular techs can be freed up to do work in the field or push major projects forward. During your volunteering, you can find out what their real IT needs are, and become involved in helping them get it.
Write your congress-folks and tell them to insure your public schools are properly funded! Find out how your schools gets their funding, and speak out as a member of the public that you're concerned with the state of your public schools.
The bottom line is that you should get involved with the school and learn their needs and try to meet them before you go out and try to put something together on your own.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
I see where the focus of this story is on bringing computers to schools that cannot afford them. All very philanthropical and nice, but I always feel that the gesture falls short. Putting computers in schools does not do much to improve education. The Open Slate Project has as its goal
"... to transform the way computers are used in secondary education. Rather than fencing computers in by making them a subject to study, computers ought to be fully integrated into the educational process, as common in classrooms as textbooks and chalk boards. The key to success is to recognize and use the skills of the students. The project encompasses self-made slate computers, a supporting network, and a collection of educational software."
This is not yet a project for the impatient. Results are still years away. If you enjoy that type of challenge, check us out.
Gary Dunn
Open Slate Project
You have already got the right idea. There are lots of companies throwing out lots of computers every day. OEMs have "recycling" programs to remove those computers from the market (they are going to be your biggest problem). There are probably enough free computers around for every classroom in every inner city school. All that is needed is someone like you go around asking for the computers and helping to distribute them.
So, where is your website? Where is your PayPal account? How can other interested individuals get in contact with you?
All data is speech. All speech is Free.
*sigh* You avoided the comma splice, but capitalized the 'L'. I could dismiss that if you hadn't used "Your" instead of "You're" to start the next sentence.
:)
I'll be needing your English Prof.'s email address.
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
We do not want your 'donated' equipment unless it is:
-brand new
-in the original boxes
-comes with a manufacturer's warranty that is transferable
-has the original OS install discs
-has the same hardware/software specs as the equipment that we spec for purchase by schools
By you giving schools your old equipment, you simply hold students back by depriving them of up-to-date technology -and no, something is not better than nothing. From experience, I can tell you that nothing frustrates students more than old crap that doesn't work -whether it runs FOSS or a licensed OS. Once students are frustrated by it, they will vandalize it, then it becomes the hazardous waste that the school has to pay to dispose of. Donating old equipment to schools is not a way for you to avoid your responsibility in disposing of your e-trash.
If you really wish to help education, donate cash , write a grant, organize a fund drive, advocate for a bond measure, or solicit contributions of cash from local companies. Do not donate your time unless you plan to be there every day and are willing to follow the instructions of district IT personnel. Because what you think should be done, is not what we know has to be done in order to meet various state and federal mandates.
I mean, Child's Play has worked a treat, and brought out the giver in every gamer...something similar should bring the whole tech community together and get us teaching the next generation how to do this stuff, yeah?
A few commands and it's all set up. The thin clients can be pc's as old as Pentium 2 - 233Mhz with no drives. If any particular unit goes bad it's easy to replace and get that station back up.
I started down this road once, but the district I was with wanted nothing to do with it. The administration wanted very few students to have little technology. BUT for any financally strapped district who wants to provide for their students, K12LTSP.org is where you can download an LTSP that is educationally geared. I started with a server that had 4 550Mhz pentiums and it powered a lab of 20 machines (p1-266 for the most part). Secondly, check out Freegeek.org. Take hardware donations, refurbish, recycle, give away computers, and show how they're made. At it's peak, my organization had 20 students daily volunteering after school. Good luck.
Give to Donors Choose.org. You can browse around for a classroom that you like, for a project that you like, and you give money directly to it. From there, the classroom will send you thank you notes and give you warm fuzzies.
Generally speaking, it's a good way to give back. Most schools don't want you to just come in, dump some old equipment on them and leave. They want new equipment and all the warranties etc. There's a little bit of overhead on the charity, but it's within acceptable ranges.
Disagreeing with me does not mean you get to mod me troll.
As a regular slashdot reader and someone who provides local support at a large urban high school, I see its time to beat this ole horse again.
I think its great that the original poster at least got himself involved in providing some technology - support for his wifes school. And his question - "What can be done" is a good one. The answers as I've learned are not clear cut in general, but also vary from grade to grade and district to region.
A dissertation (or several thousand) could be written on this - so I'll keep it short.
1. Technology in schools is comprised of many elements:computers, projectors for computers, and document cameras (lets teachers project various materials for the class). All of this costs money and like any technology has a 5 - 7 year life. Bottom line here is support your school bonds/measures, and if you feel the money is not being spent well --- still support the bonds and get your ass to the school board meetings.
2. Technology in the classroom is very relevant - if not for the teacher to use every day, then for students to use for finishing assignments or doing research. At high school level - a cart of 30 laptops lets students do writing assignments and also share via blogging. Computers combined with USB sensors allow student to do experiments and collect data for their analysis.
3. Open Source is great - but the educational software is very limited and most of what I've seen is more for elementary and middle school. So if you are a open source programmer - get in touch with your kids teachers and see what software they are using (on macs or PCs) and then start a project on sourceforge to develop some kick-ass free software.
Lastly - donating a decent PC to a school is nice and we do use them ... but you cannot run a school on a hodge-podge of dated technology. Why do we want our kids trying to use 2nd hand technology ? Why are we willing to throw billions at corporations who made poor decisions, but nickel and dime our schools ?
To be sure, many of our schools / school districts are still making the transition from paper+pencil to computers+technology. Volunteer - get involved - support your schools. After a successful career as an engineer -- I earn a decent (but modest) income and enjoy going to work every day to work with students, staff, and technology.
Its not the years, its the mileage
Its good to see a 9th grader posting on slashdot. I do tech support at a large high school - and we have a fairly strong technology program. But Tech classes are electives -- and like any elective if you can't get students interested than the program will not last. In a sense you must market your program(s) so students will sign up.
And you must adapt the course material to be relevant. As any programmer knows, you need to know how to create a database structure in the more advanced classes. Even for a moderate techie that sounds kinda boring -- but if you say learn how to create a facebook like application then hmmm that sounds like fun. They will have to code a database but for a relevant reason.
The other thing we do is have a is a game programming class. Using a simple game creation program - students learn basics of programming and planning. We also hybrid this class with one of our graphic design classes --- at mid term the two classes meet and form teams to create a new game. The artsy graphic design kids and the gaming kids work out a game story. Then the artsy kids do the graphic sprite designs and gaming kids write the game code.
We are just starting some 3D CAD classes on the same model. The sad truth is a lot of teachers - administrators and parents don't know how to approach technology classes.
Its not the years, its the mileage
I'm surprised no one has mentioned freegeek. It's not an overnight magic bullett type of thing. But here in Vancouver it has sprung up from nothing in 2 years and is growing fast, self-sufficient, recycling a lot of computers. Something like this is a great way to get the ball rolling and get the school administrators who far too often know little but Windoze propaganda to understand the issue. Then later they can make their budget allocations and bulk purchases a lot more wisely and the huge amount of money going into technology in schools can be useful instead of just more corporate welfare. Freegeek has the infrastructure and many volunteers, classes, do do this sort of thing quite impressively (though obviously not on a scale to replace proper regional governments)
Stupidity is its own reward.
I don't understand your question.
Is it *silver* bullets you don't need (e.g. lead bullets would be OK)?
Or is it silver *bullets* you don't need (e.g. you just need silver pistols, or other silver weaponry besides ammunition)?
I am a bit confused about what you are asking for.
Anyway, your right to bear silver arms is guaranteed by the Constitution, and I guess that includes silver bullets too, although you say you don't need them. Well, whatever shakes you boat.
When you've worked out what kind of weapons you need, let us know.
I know it's a hard problem, so I'm not looking for any silver bullets.
Yeah. I guess silver bullets aren't much use against something hard. You might want those titanium tipped bullets. Now they are good against hard things.
I am anarch of all I survey.
I think the problem is giving computers to students when teachers have no real experience with the technology. But if you think about this like a business, you might get more bank-for-the-buck by putting PCs on the teachers desk to automate their work. As an example, if you drive roll call from a database, and have the teacher click non-attendees, the server can send an e-mail to the parents notifying them that the student is absent. Teacher e-mail, discussion groups, etc. might reduce the administrative workload in the school, allowing the teacher to focus on teaching. It can also be used to share information on students.
Such systems would cause teachers to learn about using PCs as a useful tool with their peers, rather than put them into a position where they are embarrassed by the kids that know more than they do. Over time, this will raise the overall skills of the teachers, who will find application for PCs better than a group of slashdotters (self included). You have to start with people who run the system if you want to make a difference.
I'd suggest a Linux (or other open source platform) running a SQL database and web server. The idea would be to have a web-based application so any PC or other web device could be used on the system. Once in place, schools could use Windows, Macs or Linux. As long as it has a web browser, any computer could work, including boot-from-CD boxes and thin clients.
Might this be a worthy application of our time?
Place nail here >+
Bringing in technology is a necessary, but not sufficient step. It is also necessary to integrate this with providing teachers with the training and knowledge about how to effectively use computer technology in the classroom. This latter step is all too often ignored, and the technology is not used effectively.
A good place to start is Jonassen's book, Computers in the Classroom: MInd tools for critical thinking. Jonassen details what kinds of software should be used and how it should be used. It's an excellent place to start.
Reference: Jonassen (1996). Computers in the Classroom. Mind tools for critical thinking. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
It's not just about getting equipment into schools. Be aware that the equipment needs to be supported - for all its working life, not just this holiday, or the next.
Think about how the 30, 100, 200 machines will be technically supported over the next 5 years. It's one thing tinkering around maintaining your own and your significant other's machine but supporting a school's resources is a different scale. Do you have a plan for what to do when you get a phone call/email from the school 3 years from now asking you to come in and sort out a software problem that's affecting a number of their machines?
If the school is going to believe in the machines as a central educational resource then they'll need to be convinced that they will be supported.
I've got three older systems. Still serviceable but under powered for what I do. I'm going to do what you did. Install EdUbuntu and donate them to a local school. I know a few educators and I'll ask them who needs these systems.
I ran a similar project. I worked as an adjunct professor at a community college, and I also was the project lead for the computer scholarship program. We had 100 donated computers for a local business. We made sure the hard drives were wiped, installed Ubuntu, and then set up the computer so that they could work well with our existing systems. This mostly involved setting the defaults for things like OpenOffice to save documents in formats that were easily read by other Windows systems the school uses. The computers went to students whose families did not have a computer. Check with local companies. Many often get rid of their old computers. Download a live CD like DBaN to make sure there is no old information left on the computers, and you can then assure companies that you will be securely deleting any information on those systems. One of my students also used to go once a month to the local recycling center and would pick up computers other people had discarded. Many people throw out perfectly good equipment, or they will have a Power supply go out, and figure the whole computer is trash, so they toss it. Grab the stuff, and it is usually easy to repair for minimal cost. You can also get help in these projects. Check with local schools and computer repair shops. Often you will find techs that are more than willing to donate some time for a project like this. They learn and also get to do something worthwhile!
Open Source: Eroding the Digital Divide
As a student let me say this: kids only need computers in libraries, computer labs, etc. for research and writing essays. Giving kids access to computers in the classroom is just distracting. Computers should only be in the classroom when the teacher is doing something like giving a presentation, otherwise let's not try and distract kids.
Agreed, too much money and effort is spent on getting hardware in the classroom, but software is largely an afterthought. In too many situations, state of the art equipment is being used to run Word and PowerPoint. This happens in business too, and a lot of it is driven by companies convincing administrators they need the latest and greatest in an endless upgrade cycle. Hardly! What schools really need is someone to find or write good software. You're a programmer, find out what a classroom needs and write some software that will help the students learn the topic. It doesn't have to be anything complicated...think Oregon Trail. It was a fun game, and the students at least learned something, and it runs on a 20 year old computer! Or review the software that is out there, and consider donating some copies of it.
The sending of this message pretty much inconveniences everyone involved.
One thing I would suggest is to give teachers some timely and friendly tech support (you might want to include some technology instruction with that). I did some student teaching at an inner city public school and while I was there 2 of the computers in the classroom (they had 3) stopped talking to the network. I booted the machines using an edubuntu live CD and everything worked fine (it connected to network/internet, it was a software problem, not a hardware problem). We called the board of education's IT department 3 times asking for help and we never got a response in the 2 and 1/2 weeks that I was there. We even went to the computer teacher in the school and they wouldn't help us either (we asked if they would enter the admin password so that we could try to trouble shoot it ourselves). Those 2 computers were basically giant paperweights that whole time (the kids nor the teachers had USB sticks to even move files off the computers). I don't know what IT support is like in other districts but if it's like that then tech support might be the best thing to give them.
Begging your indulgence, this is gonna be a little long but it's history. So, if you are looking for the nutz and boltz, here it is.
Here in SF after the fall of the Earthlink/Google WiFi debacle with the Mayor against the entire professional tech community, citizens and city government, the city's IT department contacted a bunch of us for some pizza and cola over many meetings. They had no idea what to do next. This was exclusive of the Mayor as they knew he really doesn't get it.
Our proposal that was heard consistently over the course of the whole controversy was finally taken seriously after three years. The whole proposal was to expand the existing 40+ mile fiber ring in the city to fiber-to-the-premises.
Now that we had their ear, we gave them the salient solution; split the baby.
The Mayor started out with the right premise, close the digital divide and create digital inclusion. But, the Mayor wanted more. He wanted all the photo-ops, glitter with the big tech boys and the worldly promotion in preparation for a run for governor. He should have stuck with the original premise. Serving the people and not himself. Why?
In progressive SF (not the other half), it is well known there is a seriously marginalized population of the people. Those children and families who cannot afford Internet access, no less, computers for that matter. Getting these folks Internet access and resources is essential to equalize the disparity and inequality. Once done, then everyone will be at the same level. Then the city can move ahead all together at once towards better and wider access.
Also on a technical note, there was no way their WiFi-only plan was going to work which resulted in the demise of Earthlink's national efforts in many cities. San Francisco's topology and weather conditions does not make for good WiFi. Plus, with fiber having ben around for nearly two decades as a viable technology, the back-haul needs to be in fiber and not wireless. It's just plain science as radio and network professionals who make up the core of the citizen's representation in this effort for over three years have been hammering into public officials. The Mayor did everything possible to not have to have the word 'fiber' be uttered so as not to compete with his WiFi plans. But the stories about the city's fiber network is now very well publicized. You can read the basic information here. For more information contact me.
Our proposal was for the city to continue their efforts to bring hardware, software, training, technology centers and resources exclusive of Internet access to the underrepresented community which amounted to about 75,000 people in households a little less than half that number.
"So, let's start there," we said. Bring fiber to every low-income housing facility along the fiber ring and light-up (pun intended) the whole thing. Getting on-site hardware would be a contribution of local businesses and non-profits. Pretty cheap considering (about $3500 each location). Then move onto the next and the next location.
So far there are three major housing locations that now have or soon to get light-speed access and the rest are in the hopper.
Now, what does this all have to do with education. Everything! The second half of our proposal is to proliferate out to the rest of the city. The problem is that there are rights-of-way that the city has given away over the decades. These contracts are extensively for a very long time. So, there is no way to take them back without great cost and legal trouble. So, then what?
While the city has all the resources ready, the school district has none. They are still using expensive T-1's where the copper is getting quite worn down being nearly 100 years old. But, the school district is the largest property owner in the city with over 100 locations that could be used as fiber nodes that can be branched out to surrounding neighborhoods plus offer a solid WiFi hotspo
I taught a year in an inner city school. I grew up in a rural school. It is amaising how close the tech problems are. Few parents who care and a general lack of money. This means poorly paid teachers, lack of books, lack of hardware, lack of training - or time to train due to workload.
No money - except grants that are squandered by administators and their cousins who own networking companies, then stolen by students who want a few dollars. Or my persoal favorite very good computers used as "flat space storage area" - very modern expensive well supported computer buried under papers to be graded or returned because teacher has no clue on how to use.
Possible solution tech phase : step one- develop dummy terminals linked to central server via WIFI network. Provide multiple types of interface - big buttons that say check email, upload grades - (integrate scantron - yes the classic multiple guess test.) In short ask teachers what they waste most of their time doing. Personal favorites - ripe for automation - Taking role, recording grades, dicilinary paperwork. Make system modifyable to what individual teacher needs/wants.
step two - provide WIFI to neighborhood. Thus each student gets dummy terminal for life. Or can "cash in" terminal if their name matches burned in number - to prevent theft. Allow community to buy terminals at cost set up GED and literacy programms. Nothing helps a school more than a community that will act on what they know to help the school - Money is saved by vandalism reduction. Possible improvement of tax revenue.
step 3 - provide virtual teacher aids by providing work study to college students to grade papers from high school. (scan papers onto server where they are accessed and graded by college students) Stop paying college students to file papers and start paying them to grade high school papers.
Most important part of this essay:
Grade papers accordingly - correct mistakes give potential grade, allow student to correct mistakes and resubmit for improved grade. Alow cycle to repeat until student is happy with grade. This provides students that are way behind to find success through work rather than repeated failure through work. Nothing causes a hate for and I heard this when talking to a person in his 30s who crossed the street when walking past the school "I hate that place they told me I was a failure" - I have taught student's who's parents said something similar.
Maybe this is why 10% all the parents with students getting As show up for parent-teacher night. Schools need to become connected with the community by providing internet access, phone service, and television. Internet and basic phone for free, Television according to a pay as you go program.
1)
Anyone who works in IT and has seen the budgets knows that the greatest cost of technology is not hardware or software, it's training, administration and support -- including the personnel to provide training, administration and support.
It's all fine and dandy to donate equipment, but what happens when it breaks? Schools don't have the personnel to fix this stuff, and even if they had the know-how, they don't have people with time to provide training, administration and support.
And if the faculty cannot depend on the equipment working, they cannot build their lessons and/or pedagogy around it.
So, if you want to donate something, commit to providing this support for a year. Ensure that the equipment will keep working. Then, maybe, the teachers should start to use it in their lessons. But that's not a one shot thing. That's hundreds of hours a year for each school.
2)
What should schools be teaching? Should they be teaching how to use current technology? Or should they be teaching more fundamental skills that are worth learning for a lifetime? Shouldn't they be teaching problem-solving, creative and analytical thinking and how to evaluate standards of evidence and reasoning?
How do all of these Ubuntu computers further that effort? Are they really the best way to teach these lessons? Obviously, they are good tools with which to apply these lesson, and we can all come up with ways to use them to teach the lessons. But are the BEST way to actually teach the lessons?
Kids in school should not be learning the lessons of today. They should be learning more general lessons that they can apply for decades. We didn't need to teach them about Yahoo's directory, or altavista's new search engine, back in the day. And we don't need to teach them about Google, today. We need to teach about research, and understanding your sources, and how to narrow down a topic, and how to leverage what you have found to figure out how to find more and even better information.
Technology is useful, but don't make the mistake of thinking that just because to is so incredibly useful in YOUR work that it is a useful or as essential in teaching what kids really should be learning.
3)
Have you ever thought about how much power all of these computers and monitors use? Probably not.
I don't just mean the added electricity bills, though that is an issue. I mean that load on the wiring in the schools. Do you think that the electrical wiring in that classroom can support ten or more computers being added to the load?
Have you checked? I sincerely doubt it.
4)
Donors School is a huge waste of money.
For each project, they give an amount needed to fund the project, and they hide the actual cost of the materials being requested. The mark up is like 50%. So, what should cost $130 costs and $200.
Why? The ship items to Donors Choose, instead of having items shipped directly. The add extra steps and personnel. They add paper work.
Next, they don't leverage their buying to get better prices for vendors, or even find existing good prices and go with them. For example, look at how many computer LCD projector projects they list, and look at the variation is pricing. They are all over the place. They could use their clout to get a good price on a good model and a) save donors' money, b) get projects fully funded more easily. But they don't. Instead, they open up boxes, count item and then reship them, for a 10% shipping surcharge and another 20+% labor surcharge, in addition to other fees.
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Luckily, many people have made comments pointing out some of these issues. But there are many many more.
And for the rest of you, don't be a fool. Don't think you know what schools need without going to the professionals and asking them with an open mind what would help them most. Don't assume that it is more computers or more computer technology.