[dbaust] LA schools snub iPads in favor of laptops, hybrids
- From: "Peter Tarrant" <tarrp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <dbaust@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2014 11:54:00 +1000
LA schools snub iPads in favor of laptops, hybrids
An effort last year to provide iPads to students at 47 Los Angeles schools
didn't quite go according to plan.
by Lance Whitney
June 30, 2014 7:42 AM PDT
The Los Angeles School District is again trying to share the benefits of
technology with students, but this time is taking a more flexible approach.
In a program approved by LA school district officials, 27 high schools have
gotten a chance to choose which of six different types of laptops to
potentially dole out to students, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.
The Board of Education will review contracts on Tuesday that would authorize
spending up to $40 million to purchase devices for each of the 27 high
schools, said the report. Teachers, students, and administrators will then
get a chance to try out the winning laptops this fall to see if the devices
should actually be used.
Apple scores $30 million to sell iPads to LA schools
LA schools give kids iPads; kids hack them
Google goes after Apple in tablet education
Microsoft kicks in $1 billion to help students buy under-$300 devices
The initiative represents another chance for the school district following a
$30 million deal with Apple last year to give an iPad to each student across
the 47 campuses of the LA district. That program, though, didn't quite work
out as expected. Instead of using their iPads solely for educational
reasons, students hacked their way past the security filters to tap into
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and similar sites. As a result, some schools
took the iPads away from the students. Distribution of iPads to LA schools
is on hold, said the Times, but some school are still scheduled to receive
them later this year.
Some of the new machines already chosen by certain schools include the
Lenovo Yoga Touch, the Microsoft Surface Pro 2, a Dell Latitude E7240, and
Chromebooks. The new arrangement would offer schools the option of a full
laptop or a hybrid rather than restricting all students to the iPad.
"The benefit of the new approach is clear," Los Angeles Unified school board
member Monica Ratliff said in a statement. "Why would we treat all our
students -- whether they are a first-grader or a high school freshman -- as
if they all had the same technology needs? They don't...To have a
one-device-fits-all approach does not make sense."
Of course, enterprising students can hack a laptop as easily as an iPad. The
schools will still face the challenge of how best to secure the devices so
that students don't spend all their time hanging out on Facebook.
Tags: Computers, Laptops,
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- » [dbaust] LA schools snub iPads in favor of laptops, hybrids - Peter Tarrant