Since its the back-to-school time of year, I thought I would post about a recent article in the August 31st, 2006 edition of the Wall Street Journal titled 'Saying No To School Laptops' by Jessica E. Vascellaro.
The article is interesting because it talks about programs to give laptops/computers to children in schools coming under fire because of cost considerations, inappropriate use by kids, and little proof of their effectiveness when used to teach students.
The article states that companies like Apple, Dell, and HP are quick to jump on programs and work with schools to provide their students computers, basically for branding purposes, with the idea of establishing brand loyalty at an early age. This is not new news. The challenge seems to be that as education $$ dry up, there is alot more concern about how school districts, states, and other entities assess the effectiveness of these programs when weighing budget allocation decisions.
The article discusses some of the issues associated with student laptop/computer use in the classroom such as setting up profiles in social networking sites such as MySpace, chatting and instant messaging all day long to friends, surfing inappropriate web sites, pornography, and cites some cases where students have "bummed" wireless internet connections off of neighbors to surf inappropriate web sites.
Some of the reservations cited by parents in the articles are that students may be learning the wrong skills, i.e., not learning about how to do research without using the Internet and that laptops in the classroom encourage students to spend too much time online surfing cites that may be harmful. The article cited that in "Henrico County, 232 students were suspended for violating the school's acceptable use policy".
The article also stated a study done by Texas Middle Schools released by the Texas Center for Educational Research "this spring reported that technology immersion improved student attitudes and behaviors but had a neutral impact on student achievement".
In the past, I have had a few posts in regards to laptops for and in schools :
No Laptops Allowed...Go Figure...
The $100.00 Notebook Computer..........
Dave Boggs
SyberWorks
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