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Microsoft and MIT Team Together
tomreagan writes "The New York Times is reporting that Microsoft has teamed up with MIT to launch a joint research initiative on educational technology. " It's the largest alliance to date of institution and company, to the tune of 25$US million with a strong focus on "instructional technologies." The feeling at MIT is "mixed" regarding the new project, called I-Campus.
It is also interesting to note that studies have shown that there is little instructional benefit in computers as currently deployed. In fact, some people decry the increasing commoditisation of education. The biggest problem I see is that while information in books can last for decades, computer technology is outdated within 3 years, leading to increasing reinventment of time to update teaching material, often at a higher penalty. Hence the interest in OpenSource which is human readable and can be adapted for whatever technology is likely to arrive. The ongoing costs, both operational and replacement is an invisible overhead that is ulimately bourne by the students, whether in fees or additional staffing overheads. The open question is whether this leads to "superior" pedalogical benefits. While neater essays (downloaded from the web) may be easier on the marker's eyes and encyclopedias can be more compactly stored, highly technical or professional areas are dependent on the understanding and mastery of quite difficult concepts and I've yet to see any technology that can accelerate this task. Also what computer can teach creativity, curiosity or the love of learning?
As for the role of corporations in universities, the issue is that either the individual pays (through loans or parental support), industry chips in with scholarships or the state subsidises (through regressive taxes). Thus education can be funded through future, present or past income (with endless policy debates among the funders). The increasing elimination of low-end blue and white collar jobs lost to automation and computerisation means that a larger bulk of the population shifts onto the higher education system which was never designed for massification. The question still remains is who gets to pay for this education? If the army could sponsor people through the GI Bill, why not corporations? If RedHat or TransMeta sponsored internships, would people be complaining? If so, then you could shift to Britain or Australia where studies have shown it is 30-40% cheaper. Given the increasing global mobility and availability of choice, there's probably a place somewhere that fits people's desires and budgets but ultimately you only get out what you invest in sweat.
Besides, there are many ways to learning about the world, backpack through Europe/Asia, raid a library, chat with your grandparents abour the lessons of their youth, or listen to the great speeches of past leaders. Given the wide variety, there's no need for formal schooling to get in way of an education.
LL
Hmmmm - I can recall the days when introducing CALCULATORS into the edu environ was cause for alarm - "How will we get kids to learn math when they can just punch a few buttons and get the answer" instructors asked. "Teecher, why do I have to learn long division now that a box can do it for me?" Ditto's when 'interactive' computers took over - instead of having to punch a stack of cards, submit the program and wait several hours to get a printout back - there was no longer an incentive to weed out bugs the FIRST time.
:))
Like someone else mentioned, M$'s Raison d'etre and chief source of revenue is packaging complex software concepts so the uneducated layperson can utilize it - like Ford making the Model-T affordable to many people and raking in profits doing do, it didn't raise the quality of the average driver; contrarywise, it made it possible for any, ahem, idiot to become a menace to his or her fellow beings.
So, I'm fantasizing about M$ coming out with packages like "M$ TermPaper" - you pays you $95, put in the CD, it autoruns setup, it leads the 'student' thru a few generic menu selections and then spits out a 'paper' that is statistically unique but errily similar to the all other output it produces, in the way that all PowerPoint presentation kinda looks like all the canned example presentations, etc. Thus all the students are above average, dont' have to make much effort, gets a superficial idea of the process in case they'd ever have to really research something, M$ makes more, stockholders happy, alls right with the world, don't worry be happy, Ignorance is bliss.
Yours ever optimistically
Chuck
Little boxes
running windows
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
OK, if you found this article a little upsetting, just wait for Phase II:
"Today the US Department of Education announced passage of a bill which requires that all students be instructed in using a computer, it's operating system, and basic applications such as word processing. Students will be required to take one class per week from 4th grade through high school graduation.
'It is imperative that our students have the computers skills that they will need to survive in the 21st century,' said the President, 'and we're very fortunate to have such support from the technology industry.'
Such support comes from Microsoft who cut licensing costs for all their products in half, including educational software co-developed at MIT to show students the proper way to use operating systems and applications. Microsoft's and MIT's educational software is tightly integrated with the Windows operating system and the Office suite of applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) making it the perfect choice all around for the classroom. The educational software will also provide a universal interface to other educational programs on subjects as varied as Automotive Repair, Citizenship, and Art Appreciation.
'We're very proud that our software has become the standard, to the point that it will be on every computer in every classroom in the US.' from Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft. 'I've always felt that it was important to start teaching our children about computers as soon as possible. What they learn as children will guide them for the rest of their lives--and I can't express how happy we are to play a role in that!'"
uh, this is purely fictitious (at the time of posting...) Writing this I realized that getting Linux into the classroom (asap) is probably more important than I'd thought.
numb
First, I never cared for Bill Gates or his corporate policies (three years ago, 10 years ago, nor today). Also I don't see me at Sun's feet either.
No, I don't believe that the worlds software can come from a bunch of hackers, but I do believe that joint efforts help a lot. This is where I disagree with you. I'm worried that this One Company with One University, can become corrupted quickly. If this was a joint effort with multiple corporations and universities, then I would have no problem.
Microsoft being a corporation, usually does something to be able to take advantage of it in a later time. With MS being first to patent, do you see them sharing this technology, or charging a ton for it. There's a reason that MS is so rich, they overcharge, and we pay, because we have no other alternative (unfortunately, Linux is not there quite yet). MS has been know to kill there competition. If they see someone making money in an area that they want, they use their muscle to get it.
and I don't see VA Linux, RedHat, or any of Slashdot's favorite companies making any donations.
I don't know if they have made any donations or not, but I know it won't be of the magnitude of MS, mainly because they don't have the resources.
If you become a monopoly, you then have the leverage to keep it. And anyone who dares compete, you can destroy. Simply because you have the resources to do it. It seems all of MS products have become the "defacto" after another company was there first. The reason, MS has the leverage to do so.
I would have no problem with this agreement, if it was open for others to join, or that all results would be public domain. This is a University, not a customer. Universities are for education and sharing of knowledge, NOT for expanding and embracing ones monopolies!
Steven Rostedt
Steven Rostedt
-- Nevermind
Read "Killing off Linux: It's all academical" by B. Pfaffenberger in the Linux Journal. Very enlightening in this respect.
I shuddered when I saw this. I'm a freshman at RPI right now - I decided to come here instead of MIT due to monetary concerns [read: didn't want to owe $75,000 at graduation]. Right now...I'm terribly happy that I made this decision. I would have gone mad if I had to put up MS propaganda for four years in a place that was supposed to a very open environment.
:) ), has licensed itself off to the largest, most predatory corporation in the world. The administrators at this school have sold their souls to the devil. (I actually don't have _that_ big a problem using MS software or anything, but..when it is forced down my throat I will scream bloody penguin murder).
/.] has to stay together and be vocal, with one voice. Linux isn't going to win based solely on its techincal merit, I'm sad to say. It's the things like this we must work hardest to fight.
I have a problem with this article itself..particularly the paragraph that states that MS products have become the "de facto standard" among universities. While there is a slight overreliance on Excel and Powerpoint by much of the faculty, IRIX and Linux, as well as Macs and at least one other flavor of Unix, are a very large part of this campus. This I like. If Microsoft tried to move into this university, there would be very vocal opposition from any number of clubs and societies.
While I don't have that big a problem with MS software itself, I think this is a totally inappropriate move on their part. I can't believe an institution like MIT would, essentially, let Microsoft hire all of its students. I can see it now - no more *nix servers on campus, free copies of windows to make sure it's on every desktop, extreme pressure on the Linux community, the pushing of MS development tools...this literally makes me sick. MIT, perhaps the most respected technical university in the world (don't flame me if you're at Caltech..I'm a little resentful because i didn't get in
Anyway, I got 5 hours of sleep last night, and this is probably totally random, so I'm going to shut up while I'm ahead. None of you need to be told how horrible this is. The non-MS using public of this country [ie
Good day.
May I have my MS Education(TM) now, please? When I get my MS Diploma(TM), I will get a really good MS Job(TM) that pays lots of MS Bucks(TM) (I couldn't do MS Money(TM), that is already taken.) Then I'll be MS Happy(TM).
Althought not a grad of MIT (or CS from anywhere for that matter) I believe we are not giving enough credit to the Faculty and students at MIT. MIT houses (correct me if i am wrong) Tim Berners-Lee, Richard Stallman, and a host of other standards or open-source evangelists. I do not think that MS can fool, or coax, or bribe MIT into becoming a satellite of Redmond. It is in MIT's best interest to fund itself, and if it is with MS, or Sun, or any other corporation so be it. MIT has helped develop standards, and I believe they will continue to do so, despite the MS marketing juggernaut.
First big shots like Ted Turner blast Gates for not being philantropic enough. Now, M$ decides to actually GIVE SOMETHING BACK to society, and we're railing against it. C'mon now. If it were Apple or Red Hat, I suspect folks would be cheering.
;-> College is all about growing up and being open minded. I don't that believe today's undergrads are sheep.
Despite whatever misgivings we may have, the fact is that this money will help students by funding research. This EMPLOYS students. At least 5 years ago when I got my undergrad, getting an in-major research or even "gopher" position was like finding the holy grail!
If you're being brainwashed in college, you probably aren't smart enough to run a computer anyway.
So let M$ fund some research. Maybe it'll give other businesses (Hello... calling Sun and HP) to do more for higher education.
46. The Hobo smiles, his eyes glaze over, and he burps. "Beware the man who has lived longer than the Wasteland."