01.19.06

Laptops for the Masses

Posted in Future at 10:55 am by Norm Garrett

I heard on the radio the other day that here in Illinois, the Lt. Governor has proposed that we divert some tax money to providing every single seventh grader in the state with a laptop computer. The details are fuzzy, but the essence is that every student would be issued a laptop computer in the seventh grade, which they would keep and use through the twelfth grade. He estimated the cost by guessing that it could be done for about $300 per student and that the funds could be diverted from some unused tax income. Let’s get real. Here is my response:

1. As a professor in a state institution of higher learning, I have been told for the past 4 years of flat budgets that there is no “unused tax income” at the state level.
2. Think back six years. Six years ago we were still using Windows 98 on 500 mb processors with 64mb of RAM and <10 gb hard drives … hardly a platform that would have a stellar performance for this year’s high school seniors.
3. How would these be repaired and replaced as they break or are lost (which they certainly will be … remember that these are 12-18 year-olds!)? That’s easy. They will be replaced with current technology. That gives the students an incentive to lose or break their computers. Further, it creates a mismatch of technologies which would result in untenable support demands, underuse of current technology (i.e. catering to the lowest common denominator) and, ultimately, a degradation in the education of these youth.

My common educational sense tells me that a computer for every child, with a common platform, is a good idea. My common business sense tells me that the model proposed is a very bad idea, replete with technical support nightmare scenarios, mismatches of technology and pedagogy, and horrendous costs.

I attended the E-Learn 2005 conference in Vancouver last November and one session I attended was pertinent to this discussion. The speaker’s point was that we have to remember that technology is (can be) a pedagogical tool but that technology itself is not pedagogy.

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