This is a great story. I interviewed Mike Huffman and Laura Taylor from Indiana last week, and the recording (mp3 and ogg) of that interview is available at
http://www.k12opensource.com/interviews.
From my blog (
www.stevehargadon.com):
"These are both fascinating interviews [Indiana and tuXlabs], and along with the interview
with the folks from Atlanta Public Schools last week, they are
confirming a pattern that deserves some real exploration: high-priced,
high-maintenance computers have led to relatively little actual student
time in front of them (35 minutes a week per student in the case of
Indiana, at a cost of $100 million a year!); low-cost computer
solutions provide significantly more actual time in front of computers
for students, and the result is dramatic engagement by students and
teachers, and significant academic success (some measured and some
expected).
"This is interesting to me, since I've lately been
very aware that while the Windows, Linux, and Mac folks fight the
battle of which OS is best, there is still a more fundamental and
hotly-debated question with regard to computers in education: do they
actually help students do better for all the money that is spent on
them? What Atlanta and Indiana seem to show is that because it has been
so costly to have computers in schools, they haven't been truly
available enough for teachers or students to integrate their use into
the curriculum. But in programs that are dedicated to cost-effectively
getting the computers into the classrooms in sufficient quantity to
impact education, the results are significant and exciting. And the
"cost effective" part belongs to Linux and Open Source..."
Steve