I work for a telecommunications company in San Diego, and we have been in collaboration with Amazon to do just that – download textbooks onto Kindle. I love the idea – I do not love the idea of handing out laptops to every student. As for lugging around textbooks – my son is a sophomore and we actually weighed his backpack – fully-loaded. It was 25 lbs. In order to solve this, I went online and bought used textbooks for very cheap- I understand not everyone can afford it- but he keeps those used ones at home and then keeps the school-owned ones at school in his locker. Solved the problem of him lugging stuff around. And then I pass down the gently-used textbooks to other students that live on our block. I have been doing this since he was in middle school and it works great. I have had other parents say “I never thought of doing that.” Sure helps the kid’s backs, when they are lugging around 25 pounds of books, a musical instrument case, and a lunchbox. Just my 2 cents.

With an I-pad in the $500 range, pink slipping 2 $100K needless administrators buys 500 I-pads.

I ask everyone reading this article to stop thinking inside the failed existing paradigm of massive payroll, buildings, and bureaucracy.

It shouldn’t be about the amount of spending, but the amount of learning. If we can more education (connected neurons) for LESS money, then we’d be silly not to take advantage of what technology offers.

Just because ALL students don’t or can’t learn that way is no reason to disallow access for students who do.

This is why we must kill the “one-size-fits-all” of the outdated district system. No one should be forced to go digital, but no should be disallowed from doing so.

Please please please think about how awful and unworkable the existing system is.

awest521:
Good to hear from a college student, particularly one with your feedback.. As I was reading this story and the comments, I was thinking how difficult it would be for me to take a math course primarily using a laptop. Continued success in your education.

Psychological issues? Do not worry you children will still love you!

And let’s not forget that often the online textbook is identical to the hard copy. Those students who do better with the old modalities can print their texts if they desire.

It’s all fine and good when you’re talking about suburban kids, not ghetto children who sadly 70% have no daddy, then uncle Remus living in the dining room on the dole steals it to support his crack habit

who pays then when Xavier ‘s poor unemployed momma can’t buy a new one? Then the ‘personal responsibility clause’ gets chucked and poor little Xavier gets another one…and then the next hoodie and next hoodie and next illegal..

.then little Johnny and sister Helen get jacked on the way to school when Uncle Remus needs another one and another one and another one.. then Johnny’s working parents have to foot the bill for theirs..

That’s how these things always go ..

It really depends on buy-in by the teachers and what the expectation is for technology usage. We are in a one-to-one program and we find that it is exceptional overall. However, if the expectation is that the laptops will be used 100% of the time then that’s the entirely wrong expectation. They are tools for learning, not replacements for good instruction. They can and do seriously modify how teachers look at education and instructional delivery. There are public schools that do indeed do well with laptop programs, although not all public schools. This is not a one size fits all concept and to think that way is looking at it through the wrong lenses.

No technology and no textbook will ever offset poor instruction. If the teacher is not a dedicated professional who knows how to motivate students to learn then the laptop will do no good. However, the Internet provides access to more information and more opportunities for constructive learning than any other medium in the history of mankind. Keep in mind that we are training kids today to do jobs that don’t even exist yet. If we are not preparing them with more than the same old skills we received they are going to be totally unprepared for the world ahead of them. I cannot imagine trying to go to college today without the skills to operate in a digital world. Some estimates say that by 2020 half of all college instruction will be virtual anyway, and that means that it will only increase between now and then.

By the way, I agree with Joel. But I am taking it one step further. A Virtual Desktop (aka stateless thin client) is different than what I think he is referring to, a desktop PC. Virtual Desktops are essentially 21st century versions of the dumb terminals hooked up to mainframe computers in the 1980′s. He is correct about desktops costing $150…if you get barebones and with a school district discount. The beauty of the virtual desktop is that its not bare bones. Its just that the computing power resides on the central computer and the network infrastructure. I think with school district discounts, the virtual desktop units can be in the $150 each range as well.

So for the sake of an anchored down machine that costs next to nothing you would deprive a student the ability to work productively anywhere he or she chooses? Do you seriously think that learning must cease when a kid leaves the classroom? I work in a one-to-one school and I see kids legitimately learning (yes, I do see what they do) all over campus. Do they chat on Facebook? Yes, occasionally. Are they being productive? Absolutely. I find that the work submitted to me is of higher quality and greater depth than anything submitted prior to our laptop program.

It’s not about the money. It’s about how the resources get used. And for the record, we have yet to have a laptop stolen. Some get damaged and students are financially responsible for them. We have very few problems.

Sorry to break it to you, but public education systems aren’t responsible (nor have they been) for teaching those kinds of curricula. Fixing cars and repairing air conditioners are things one learns through apprenticeships or in technical schools. Digging ditches and driving bulldozers don’t really require an education. Arresting bad guys requires basic writing and math proficiency (that’s all that’s required from most Police academy exams).

It’s a stupid idea to suggest that all of that non-skilled labor requires extensive education inside the classroom. It’s also stupid to suggest that public schools would have the time or resources to teach such a diverse skill set.

If used correctly, laptops and multimedia education systems are extremely useful and actually can drastically increase student test scores. They allow students to be much more immersed in the ‘concepts’ they’re learning instead of just reciting facts.

You said it Mobile, Today’s America….. land of the free and the website//Photoshop experts and builders…

..using computers built for ten dollars in CHINA and the Philippines by 5 year olds who are still smarter than our 9th graders sold to dumb Americans for 1000 that are obsolete by the third quarter of the schoolyear….such a deal…

Consider the following example: a traditional Spanish class with a traditional lecture/note-taking system. Student goes to school, breaks out the textbook, listens to the teacher, does oral in-class exercises, goes home.

Once home, student logs on to the online exercise bank. He does 30 exercises, all of which are graded by the computer itself. The teacher doesn’t have to waste time performing the same function 800 times for a class of 25-30 kids, and thus the teacher can assign more homework, thus resulting in better outcomes.

Computers have their place.

If you fix a car you must be able to use a computer today. If you work for the power company there’s a computer telling you where the grid is failing. Look in a police car sometime and you’ll see a computer with instant access to information on vehicles and people. For that matter, people who use a computer today need to create with them. Bloom’s Taxonomy (the new version) identifies creativity as the highest order of thinking. That creativity may begin on a computer. You would deprive a student because you think he or she is destined to dig ditches? I wonder what you do for a living to be so envious of another person’s opportunity.

How does sitting in a desk all day looking at a textbook allow someone to learn how to fix cars, repair air conditioners, build houses, dig ditches, drive bulldozers, fix downed power lines, arrest bad guys, fight fires, etc….? The computer is just a new tool to get the same information across. Music used to be delivered by vinyl, 8 track, cassette, cds, etc…now it’s MP3s and ipods. The ability to have better sound and to “skip” to another track very quickly are some benefits in music. A textbook in “digital” form can also provide better benefits. The ability to enlarge text for people with visual problems, the ability to convert text to speech for people with hearing problems, the ability for perform “quick searches” instead of wasting time skimming and scanning for the information.

Nothing beats “hands on” learning, but the above occupations require MUCH more than public schoolroom teaching. Those skills are obtained in vocational schools, mentoring, and on-the-job training, not basic public school education.

Computers are not a distraction to learning, they are a TOOL for learning. The internet has more information than one textbook can hold. It is a virtual library. If kids are being distracted, then it’s because they are lacking in adult guidance and supervision.

Right…because laptops are cheaper than books. Wait…

Maybe you should learn basic grammar and spelling before you comment. You sound like a complete moron.

Mayb two much tyme in front yer computer?

Yeah, because nothing operates on batteries anymore. Gee. Wish my laptop had a battery so I could go anywhere with it. Wouldn’t matter anyway with all those random EMPs we keep getting.

Gad, what an asinine comment you made.

This school is so far ahead of the curve you think they are behind. This is brilliant. Not time to raise the school building and home school this way.

They aren’t having budget problems. The Pascack Valley School District includes Hillsdale, River Vale, Woodcliff Lake, and Montvale, NJ. Those 4 towns rank among some of the wealthiest in the Nation. Bergen County, NJ is one of the wealthiest regions in the World, with Alpine, NJ being one of the wealthiest towns in America.

Not coincidentally, bergen county also has one of the highest property taxes in the nation as well, and that is how this stuff is funded. While the school systems here do get very much needed money from the state government. The state’s contribution, compared to other districts, is quite low.

Another ignorant blogger: attend if you care to care
Pascack Valley Regional High School District
Monday, March 28, 2011 – 07:30 PM
Regular Board Meeting/Budget Hearing

You’re right. Content filters will never catch those things.

Good teachers find ways to incorporate laptops into learning. If it’s not time for the laptop the teacher simply tells students to close them. Problem solved. Plus there is plenty of monitoring software for that very purpose.

It’s obvious to me you haven’t a clue about what you speak.

Schools don’t have to have total internet access. They could have a network that the students log in to where they can click on a link to the textbook they want to view and have links to resources such as newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. And if they have internet access at home, they could access the school network via password, etc. Kinda like how some libraries will let you log into their system and access certain publications. Teachers should be monitoring students to make sure they are doing their work and aren’t doing other things in class anyway.