The need to educate children in the use of computers seems to be a frequent topic when talking about the cost of today's schools. I have been thinking about that and it seems to me this argument is unfounded. I agree that the technology is progressing rapidly. The Playstation, XBox or Wii that can be found in our homes is a many, many times more powerful and accessible computing device than ones I had to work with in college during the 70's. (How many of you remember the punch cards?) As the processors, data storage capacity, and software features of these computers become more and more powerful, the need to understand the underlying technology lessens. In my lifetime, I think that we will see computing devices that understand human languages and can respond to verbal requests and commands, just like the computer in Star Trek. So the need to teach technology diminishes as technology advances because the application of that technology allows us to interact with the device without specialized knowledge.
Additionally the pace of change in technology virtually guarantees that we will never be able to provide the latest within our means. In my personal experience, a liberal education that emphasized critical thinking, logic, reading comprehension, and clarity in written and oral communication has served me better, as technology progressed, than my courses in FORTRAN or COBOL programming languages did. The latter have been relegated to the dust heap while the former allows me to continue to learn and adapt to the changing technological landscape.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Playstation and education
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13 comments:
Boy, did you bring back some memories! I remember taking FORTRAN IV at SMTI, and those awful punch cards... "start in column 7".
I also remember 1 day working my tail off, at the last minute of course, to get time on one of the card punch machines, throwing a big elastic on the stack of cards, then running down the hall to get the cards "in the queue" to find out if the program compiled, except that the elastic broke and the dozens of cards flew all over the place. I am still not sure I found them all... must have been why the program didn't compile. :)
As a guy that has stayed with the field, and now build my own computers, I can testify that everyone has it much better today, especially students. I now have more computing power than what filled the whole room in the old days, and it all sits in a small box.
I understand the need to provide the proper technology to students, but there are 2 things that bother me about the situation in Town. The first is the estimates I have seen for new computers, some of which approach $2000 per box! If I can buy them all day (I don't) from Dell for about $400, why can't they?
The second is that I did some research, and found out that companies that exist in our state, like Intel and AMD, provide educational grants for hardware and software purchases, not parts, money. I have had a hard time getting someone, anyone, to follow-up on this.
Reminds me of an old saying, "taxpayers help those who help themselves."
Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but we're not talking about teaching kids how to use computers here, we're talking about getting sufficient quantities of up to date machines in the hands of students. The 'new' units at the HS are in fact now 6 years old. I know in my business I must replace the machines to stay current so why would that be different in the schools. The HS units will be passed to the MS and the MS units down to the elementary schools-not too outlandish in my mind.
I agree we need to get the units at the best possible cost-which can't possibly be $2000 each! The discussion should also include looking harder at internet based text book initiatives that are all over the country. Why continually spend money on obsolete texts when the internet provides first source materials all day long?
It would be great to get grants for hardware but that takes a grant writer - soemthing that does not exist in the system at this point although there is a fledgling volunteer group that may bear fruit in time.
Greg,
What difference does it make if the computers are 6 years old? What computing tasks do these machines do that requires them to be upgraded? If the problem is that the machines are not adequate to the task, then we may need to invest in new. If the software needs to be upgraded, then we should do that. My experience is that, except for a very few applications, 6 year old computing power is fine. The other objection is the same one as I have for 15 yr old textbooks. If they needed to be periodically replaced, a responsible school department would have planned to do so. Ours didn't.
By the way, I'm over 50 years old and still working :)
Bill,
Not sure what the software requirements are for the schools, I do know that several programs we use get updated constantly and sometimes do not work well on older hardware platforms. Worth investigateing further.
As far as I have been able to determine, the schools did have line items in early budgets for text book replenishment - some $80 a year but I could be remembering wrong. This line item over the last several years has been whittled down as its an easy target on most budgets. This has gone on for several years until we are in the position we are now in. Right decision or wrong? Probably wrong but as they say it is what it is and here we are-what to do about it now?
Still can't pe worth a darn - should read $80k per year not $80!
Greg, there has been a push with software and PC companies to get people to re-spend their hard-earned money on "new" when much of the old stuff is just fine. A good example of this is Microsoft's new OS Vista, which is a real hog and requires good hardware. However, XP is the best OS that MS has ever come out with so people are wasting money on 2 fronts to shift to Vista.
There is a large organized movement afoot to get MS to extend the "life" of XP because of the lack of desire for Vista. Dell is still selling some machines with XP just for this reason. Furthermore, in many cases a $35 stick of RAM would be all that is needed to make a recent PC "like new".
I don't know what your business needs are, but you may be spending money on new hardware you don't really need.
I agree with Bill in that a 6 year old computer should serve educational needs very well. My backup is about 6 years old and will run anything I can throw at it, including engineering software, stats packages, and home design CAD-CAM type of programs which can be very demanding.
However, I understand that in this situation the 6 year old computers are not being thrown away, but recycled to the lower grades. The PCs that fall out at the end of the chain may not be as satisfactory, so this is a reasonable plan.
Since I first posted I have had a conversation with Dr. Russell on computers, and other stuff. The current estimate is about $900 each, still way too high. The "approaching $2000" number I mentioned was a couple of years old. I have offered my knowledge to him and he has decided to take me up on my offer. I will get first-hand experience and offer suggestions. I want to see what the end-of-chain computers actually are and whether they are truly inadequate.
Whatever is planned to be bought now should be bought "smart" and "right". This will not only save money on the purchase, perhaps 2 for 1, but will also ensure some longevity to the machine's use.
Sounds like a good approach Frank, I'm glad Dr R is working with you to make the best deal possible.
My office runs Auto Cad software, a Cad program and like you I do not like to upgrade and will not upgrade to the Vista platform. What we face is that our consultants often upgrade and in order to easily share drawing files we usually need to be fairly current in our software so upgrades in hardware happen every 4-5 years for us although I try and stretch that as much as possible.
I'm also of the opinion that computers need to be acessible more easily throughout our system-they are rarely used in my sons 5th grade class - in fact I just asked him about it and he tells me they have used the computers at Quinn 1 time since school started in September. In 2008 this is just wrong but I recognize this problem is larger than just the number of machines in the system.
Maybe if the HS gets new machines and the old ones trickle down there will be more access for all kids in the system.
I wonder if they even need to have a stand alone PC. Would a terminal or thin client with a robust server and backbone be the way to go? What do they need to have a hard drive on the local machine for? Just asking.
The server/client option should be considered if it has'nt already been. While we're on the subject of technology, an urgent need in the priority list is I believe a technology consultant. The guy that had this position a couple years ago has left for the Falmouth school systema and has not been replaced. I know people's eye roll up in their head when they hear about another 'administrative' position but this position is responsible for knowing about the best systems, prices available, how to assemble them, keep them running, keep pepole trained in their use as well as searching out the best of the many new internet based learning tools out there. These tools have proven to be very helpful to many students and include the 'Study Island' series of programs available at the Middle and Elementary Schools.
This person also would be the one to identify and capitalize on the increasing availability of internet text book learning that is available. I think it is important as this discussion goes on to broaden the talk beyond just the hard numbers of computers needed and their cost but also understand how this machine and the internet are transforming schools and education in general across the country. Easy, equitable access to computers throughout a school system can save money as well as expand educational opportunities. One only needs to look at some other school systems outside our immediate area to see what direction they are going - and many of these schools are not wealthy, Wellesley type areas either.
So as this talk goes on, please do not dismiss out of hand the need for someone to be back on the payroll to coordinate and plan how technology can play a bigger role inour system. Right now teachers and administrators are having to do the basics to even keep the existing machines running and I believe that is one reason that my kid has only used a computer one time in school over the past 4 months.
Greg, I tend to think that information technology has transformed our world and our schools as part of that world. I think it is the communication networks that are accessible via computers which have made the greatest impact. I am often truly astounded at the information available on the 'Net
Unfortunately, most "educational" software stinks! I have not explored Study Island that much but I can see that it is better than most. As a prep tool for state testing, it seems to be widely used and well thought of. But many of the packages available thru publishing companies are just horrid. Little more than poorly written textbooks with glitzy graphics. To bad that we can't have educational software that is as popular as games. My daughter knew that on level 15 and screen 3 if you went to a certain spot, you got something good but can't to this day tell you what 6X7 equals. Seems to me that both require the same rote memory learning.
But to your point, I think that information technology can be put to better use. Every college that I know has some sort of class or professor bulletin board program that allows syllabus, assignment, and other info to be quickly available to students. Some schools or at least teachers do too. Check this out. http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/kallen/index.cfm
It's not difficult to understand why Ms. Allen is teacher of the year! I think this sort of program gets return for investment. But the goal in our schools has to be to provide information that is accessible, not to provide hardware counts or the newest technology. The tools are there, such as the website I referenced. We need to carefully apply our dollar resources to maximize information flow and not a count of computers. I would like the goal to be a system wide technology to increase information availability. The network technology exists, the software exists, the hardware is available now, what we need to do is apply that technology. So I agree that a position may be needed but think it should be geared toward information flow, not hardware or software. This is somewhat of a subtle point and I don' think I have really expressed it very well here. I'll keep thinking about it and may post about it later.
One problem in public schools is that not all students have access to networks outside of school. Initiatives like One Laptop Per Child eventually may solve this.
Third attempt at the URL. Here goes!
http://www.myteacherpages.com
/webpages/kallen/index.cfm
I will have a better opinion after I get my tour, but my gut tells me that it is cheaper and more flexible to do it with stand-alone PCs.
Client-Server can be pretty expensive both in the purchase of enough "horsepower" and the maintenance. PC machine "systems" can be more easily maintained in-house without expensive service contracts.
We did it both ways at work and some "dumb" terminals can cost more that a whole PC nowadays, especially with graphics capability, which isn't as good either. Requiring Internet access adds a whole additional layer of system complexity too.
If you have a PC problem you have 1 point-of-access not working. With Client-Server if the problem is anything more than a bad terminal it is at the server end and usually everything is dead-in-the-water.
We moved more and more away from Client-Server and toward networked PCs. The only real advantage of Client-Server is that back-ups are easier, however I doubt there is a big need to back-up much at the student level.
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