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  • Author Author: gervasi
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iPad Tablets in LA Schools

gervasi

imageMost people have at least seen headlines about the problems Los Angeles schools have been having with student iPad tablet computes.  The schools purchased these computers for the students to run applications and visit websites approved by the school.  In the very first day the students “hacked” them so they could talk to one another, share music, and go to unapproved websites.  The school district police chief suggested in a confidential memo that district delay issuing more tablets.  Some of the schools are taking the tablets back and the district is considering a slower rollout.

 

My first thought is what the students did is exactly what the 21st century economy needs people to do:

  • Be fluent with computers.
  • Talk to peers and build a tribe.
  • Use the technology and network to do new things that sound wrong by conventional standards and somewhat frightening to existing power structures. 

 

The biggest problem, I thought, was the security was too easy to hack.  They should make it harder, so that only 10% of the students could do it.  They could add the new security and tell students they’re now safe from talking to one another and from unapproved websites that give the political, religious, or extremists viewpoints.  They would only be able to do things that support the national Common Core Standards Initiative.  (Common Core is one of the main selling points used to market tablets to schools and is one reason for Los Angeles schools’ tablet computer purchase.)  Not in a day, but this time in a week, the smartest kids would have hacked the tablets again.  The cool kids would be sharing/listening to music, going to the wrong websites, tweeting articles from Fox News, Al Jazeera, The Nation, People magazine, looking at porn, and so on.  Continuing this fantasy, the school would again act shocked and appalled and install even better security.  They would repeat this cycle until they had a school in which hacking skills and sharing new ideas with a tribe were as cool as everything else the government tries to discourage kids from doing. 

 

When I researched the issue and talked to someone who had kids in the LA public schools, I discovered reality is much more complicated than this techie/libertarian fantasy the headlines conjured. There were practical problems with how the school introduced the tablets:

  • The school borrowed money on 25 year notes to purchase tablets with a three-year warranty and an estimated life of three to five years.  Imagine if a school were just now finishing paying for 286-based IBM ATs they bought 25 years ago in 1988!
  • The cost of the tablets with software was $678, significantly higher than the cost of tablets in stores.  The software is only partially developed. 
  • There was no plan in place to deal with tablets being lost or stolen.  Under California law, students and families cannot be held liable for loss of equipment provided by the school.
  • The school district realized after it purchased the tablets that it would need to purchase keyboards in order to use the tablets on Common Core testing, which was one of their primary intended uses of the tablets.

 

Despite these serious logistical errors, the LA school district is on the right track in encouraging tablet use in schools.  For these kids, tablet computers will not be the fancy toys they seem to adults but the primary method of reading books and a user interface for many devices, including lab equipment, that now have buttons and displays. 

 

The logistic errors are easy to correct.  The difficult part is working out just how to use the technology.  We cannot take the approach that NASA critics say we took with the Space Shuttle: This is the amazing but expensive hardware we want to use.  It has great potential.  Let’s look for things to do with it.  We need to define what we want to do and then find technologies than help do it. 

 

Next time, I’ll write about educational experts’ differing opinions of what computers should be doing in schools.

 

Further Reading on LAUSD iPad Rollout

Further Reading on Tablets in School in General

  • in reply to bluescreen

    Sagar Jethani wrote:

     

    makes it hard to have an intelligent discussion in LA about the right role of technology in the classroom.

    at least a sour taste when talking tech or apple for that matter.

     

    I remember the big push to put an appleII in every classroom. the whole idea of better educational support is total BS, both the software and hardware were already considered "retro" when I was in class forced to use one.

     

    I have kids in school now that are having similar experiences with tech that the school is forcing. for some reason the school is using microsoft word/office. my oldest has received a failing grade on a report because they would not accept an open document format.

     

    the current administration(local to me) is pushing Google hardware and software, prospectively every high school student will be sold a Chromebook, forced to use gmail, google drive, google docs etc...     this is also a school district that punishes students for filming video of teachers lying as part of the curriculum.

  • And then this happened--

     

    iPad software licenses expire in three years, L.A. Unified says

     

    Contradicting earlier claims, Los Angeles school district officials said Tuesday that their right to use English and math curriculum installed on district iPads expires after three years. At market rates, buying a new license for the curriculum would cost $50 to $100 each year per iPad, an additional cost that could surpass $60 million annually.

    (iPad software licenses expire in three years, L.A. Unified says - latimes.com)

     

    It's a shame that the iPad rollout has been marked with such incompetence-- makes it hard to have an intelligent discussion in LA about the right role of technology in the classroom.

  • It would be upto each individual school to decide whether purchasing tablet computers is worthwhile. The most disturbing aspect of this report is the above-market prices they were willing to pay and the apparently unsustainable loan terms they accepted. It would also seem that somebody is making a handsome profit from this venture for what seems to be a very poor service.

     

    The US is not alone, companies have profiteered in the UK from similar schemes: BBC News - Schools kit scam 'could cost schools millions'

     

    On the subject of 'Hacking' it would seem that the device profiles were removed in order to bypass content filtering that could (arguably) be considered too restrictive for out-of-school activities. Perhaps maintaining the tight security through proxy servers on the school wi-fi access points, and relaxing the restrictions over remote access would make the devices less worthy of hacking and teach some basic work/play dynamics that would ultimately be transferable to the working world.

  • I'd hire anyone who went through school without an iPad or tablet over anyone who had one in school. if you can figure out problems without the cut and paste mentality of the internet.

     

    IMHO supporters of "one tablet per child" programs have NO IDEA of how to effectively teach. Educational problems are all too often trying to be corrected by throwing money at it.

     

    politically incorrect portion follows

    And why the hell is the school censoring religious, political and what the school system(government agency) is labeling "extremist" sites. this is a terrible idea, and is nothing but brainwashing for a subservient future workforce. And very unsettling to someone who took oath to defend the Constitution.