Impact of more computers on teaching (was: Re: _[school-discuss]_Interview_with_Larry_Cuban...)

[Daniel Howard <dhhoward@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I totally agree with Jim, and would like to add that at Morris Brandon, 
we *have* seen teachers completely integrate PC usage into daily 
activities, across all grades and subjects.  Older kids use Firefox 
fearlessly for research all day long now, younger kids play on 
starfall.com, firstinmath.com and our kindergarten and 1st grade 
teachers have completely integrated Childsplay and GCompris into their 
daily computer time, it's what I usually see up when I pass by and peek 
into the classroom.  Before, kids went to the computer lab and practiced 
typing once a week for an hour, now they do it daily with Childsplay, 
GCompris and Tuxtypes, and their keyboarding skills improve much more 
rapidly.  Which is why I think it needs to be more than just web access.

What else can we test?  We have about a 2:1 ratio already, and upper 
grades have 1:1 ratio daily with the laptop carts outside in the 
hallway.  Maybe it is a good time to put out another survey to our 
teachers asking how they're using the thin clients now that they have so 
many and they work so reliably.  Any suggestions for questions to ask them?

Regards,
Daniel

PS, note my new moniker below; I've followed Scott Belford's lead and 
formed the Georgia Open Source Education Foundation, and we've already 
briefed another school on OSS and gave them a tour of Brandon.  Their 
socks were completely blown off and are all over the hallways now...

Steve Hargadon wrote:
> I'm thinking of using our LiveKiosk.com program.  Even more efficient
> than thin-client Linux.  But only web access.
>
> Steve
>
> On 9/9/06, James P. Kinney III <jkinney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > On Sat, 2006-09-09 at 09:13 -0700, Steve Hargadon wrote:
> >
> > > It also seems that Linux and Open Source Software hold the potential
> > > to reduce acquisition and maintenance costs for providing a computing
> > > environment. The work in Indiana, in particular, should be very
> > > instructive. If the cost of having one-to-one computing can be
> > > significantly reduced, there should be a great opportunity to study
> > > the transformative effects of this kind of program. And I can't stop
> > > thinking about the concept of a "web appliance:" a no-maintenance
> > > computer that provides access to the web. If every classroom in a
> > > school had some number of "webstations" that the teachers knew were
> > > always available and would always work, would they begin to integrate
> > > web reasearch and other web tools into their classwork as easily as
> > > they have the overhead projector? This is something I would like
> > > specific feedback on, and would like to try some testing if anyone is
> > > interested.
> > >
> > What kind of testing and study are you thinking about? Morris Brandon
> > has a solid working set up (and more on the way in the area). As the
> > concept of "reliable web access" is a truly new thing at schools, Morris
> > Brandon is no exception to this, teachers are just realizing the
> > potential of anywhere web access.
> >
> > > --
> > > Steve Hargadon
> > > steve@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > 916-899-1400 direct
> > >
> > > www.SteveHargadon.com - (Blog on Educational Technology)
> > > www.K12Computers.com - (Refurbished Dell Optiplexes for Schools)
> > > www.TechnologyRescue.com - (Linux Thin Client Solutions)
> > > www.LiveKiosk.com - (Web Access and Content Delivery Solutions)
> > > www.PublicWebStations.com - (Disaster & Shelter WebStation Software)
> > > www.K12OpenSource.com (Public Wiki)
> > > www.SupportBlogging.com (Public Wiki)
> > --
> > James P. Kinney III
> > CEO & Director of Engineering
> > Local Net Solutions,LLC
> > 770-493-8244
> > http://www.localnetsolutions.com
> >
> > GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
> > <jkinney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7


--
Daniel Howard
President and CEO
Georgia Open Source Education Foundation