Comments on: Wayne Gretzky on educational reform http://ideasandthoughts.org/2005/12/12/wayne-gretzky-on-educational-reform/ As an educational technologist, I am exploring ways to make learning more relevant, engaging and authentic. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:01:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Dean Shareski http://ideasandthoughts.org/2005/12/12/wayne-gretzky-on-educational-reform/comment-page-1/#comment-155 Dean Shareski Wed, 14 Dec 2005 19:27:00 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/?p=157#comment-155 Thanks Michael for your input and perspective. Here's another perspective from our IT dept.... <I>If we were to project the costs associated with this project, we would come out with the following: Given: 435 laptops per technician 1:1 ration of notebooks to students ~ $37,500 per technician per year ~ 9,200 student/staff in our division Therefore: 9,200 (student/staff) / 435 (notebooks per technician) = 21.15 (technicians required for this support model) 21 technicians X $37,500 per year = $787,500 per year in technician costs This does NOT include: initial capital cost for the notebooks notebook replacement costs (i.e. do these units get replaced every 3 years... 4 years??) travel time/costs (we are not in a single school in Maine) office space for the technicians (one could argue that the techs could be housed in the schools) technician PD management overhead employee benefits annual software license costs any hardware maintenance Also: I don't think our students/staff would be happy about a limited set of software tools? is it Mr. Arsenault's full-time job to support IT in this school? If so, we would also need to add in the cost to employee a professional in this capacity for every 435 student/staff (~ $1,000,000 +/year) I'm not sure the public would support the mil rate increase required for such a project. As far as our IT Department is concerned, we would have no problem supporting this model given adequate resources. Interesting thoughts though.</I> Thanks Michael for your input and perspective.

Here’s another perspective from our IT dept….

If we were to project the costs associated with this project, we would come out with the following:

Given:
435 laptops per technician
1:1 ration of notebooks to students
~ $37,500 per technician per year
~ 9,200 student/staff in our division

Therefore:
9,200 (student/staff) / 435 (notebooks per technician) = 21.15 (technicians required for this support model)
21 technicians X $37,500 per year = $787,500 per year in technician costs

This does NOT include:
initial capital cost for the notebooks
notebook replacement costs (i.e. do these units get replaced every 3 years… 4 years??)
travel time/costs (we are not in a single school in Maine)
office space for the technicians (one could argue that the techs could be housed in the schools)
technician PD
management overhead
employee benefits
annual software license costs
any hardware maintenance

Also:
I don’t think our students/staff would be happy about a limited set of software tools?
is it Mr. Arsenault’s full-time job to support IT in this school? If so, we would also need to add in the cost to employee a professional in this capacity for every 435
student/staff (~ $1,000,000 +/year)

I’m not sure the public would support the mil rate increase required for such a project. As far as our IT Department is concerned, we would have no problem supporting this model given adequate resources. Interesting thoughts though.

]]> By: Michael Arsenault http://ideasandthoughts.org/2005/12/12/wayne-gretzky-on-educational-reform/comment-page-1/#comment-154 Michael Arsenault Wed, 14 Dec 2005 16:17:00 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/?p=157#comment-154 I am fortunate enough to work in a middle school in the state of Maine that has been part of the 1:1 program Angus King discussed in David Warlick's podcast, Connect Learning. He is a tremendous speaker and visionary. I'd like to comment to the assertions you placed from people in your district about the idea of going 1:1. In Maine, we have a single image that is provided for all of the laptops with a standard configuration. Each district has the option of customizing that image. It does create more work for the IT department. But isn't that what we're here for? My school has approximately 400 students and 35 teachers with laptops. We take care of all of these machines with one full-time technician and I support the teachers as an integration specialist. The MIT $100 laptop project may provide some lower cost options for schools in the US that wish to implement similar programs. The one thing to keep in mind with the MIT project is that the only way to get the cost that low is to have a minimum purchase of 1 million laptops. These laptops have minimal functionality in comparison to the iBooks we use in Maine or any other laptop initiative out there. The Wayne Gretzky quote ought to give your IT guys some idea of where we are headed. If we are looking to the future, we will not be working on desktop computers. Mobile is the only way to go. The main thing you must keep in mind about 1:1, that Angus King really understands and presents well, is the importance of keeping the focus of these iniatives about student learning. It really isn't about the technology. Keep in mind what you wish students to be able to do with a "digital device" and you'll be headed in the correct direction. I am fortunate enough to work in a middle school in the state of Maine that has been part of the 1:1 program Angus King discussed in David Warlick’s podcast, Connect Learning. He is a tremendous speaker and visionary.

I’d like to comment to the assertions you placed from people in your district about the idea of going 1:1. In Maine, we have a single image that is provided for all of the laptops with a standard configuration. Each district has the option of customizing that image. It does create more work for the IT department. But isn’t that what we’re here for? My school has approximately 400 students and 35 teachers with laptops. We take care of all of these machines with one full-time technician and I support the teachers as an integration specialist.

The MIT $100 laptop project may provide some lower cost options for schools in the US that wish to implement similar programs. The one thing to keep in mind with the MIT project is that the only way to get the cost that low is to have a minimum purchase of 1 million laptops. These laptops have minimal functionality in comparison to the iBooks we use in Maine or any other laptop initiative out there. The Wayne Gretzky quote ought to give your IT guys some idea of where we are headed. If we are looking to the future, we will not be working on desktop computers. Mobile is the only way to go.

The main thing you must keep in mind about 1:1, that Angus King really understands and presents well, is the importance of keeping the focus of these iniatives about student learning. It really isn’t about the technology. Keep in mind what you wish students to be able to do with a “digital device” and you’ll be headed in the correct direction.

]]> By: Raj Boora http://ideasandthoughts.org/2005/12/12/wayne-gretzky-on-educational-reform/comment-page-1/#comment-153 Raj Boora Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:44:00 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/?p=157#comment-153 It seems to me that part of the problem is that we are dealing with education as a clash of two ideals. We certainly accept fads - open classrooms w/o walls, "Social Studies" and the like. Some of these stick because they fit well and are assimilated into the other ideal of the "classic classroom" that is based in IR England and that has as much to do with enhancing learning as Sony knows about respect and DRM. I see in schools now that the open concept is being abandoned for more walls and more fixed desks because "the kids are out of control" and "they need order". Of course this isn't everywhere, but there are schools like that - heck even post-secondary is like that. But in a world without order, what are we doing trying to recreate history every time we teach - I agree with Prensky, we should go out on a limb every time, but that of course is not the IR way of doing things. What has succeeded are ideas like Social Studies that find enough commonality to change some of the educational world while "still playing the game". If we want to move toward ubiquity in computing, we need to find a way to play the game so that what happens is palatable to culture that still pervades majority of the school system. Simulations are certainly a start, but they are about as far as we can go without rocking the boat. To go beyond things that "look like better teaching" we need to change the way that we think about learning in schools - from gathering and storing information to managing it. It seems to me that part of the problem is that we are dealing with education as a clash of two ideals. We certainly accept fads - open classrooms w/o walls, “Social Studies” and the like. Some of these stick because they fit well and are assimilated into the other ideal of the “classic classroom” that is based in IR England and that has as much to do with enhancing learning as Sony knows about respect and DRM. I see in schools now that the open concept is being abandoned for more walls and more fixed desks because “the kids are out of control” and “they need order”. Of course this isn’t everywhere, but there are schools like that - heck even post-secondary is like that. But in a world without order, what are we doing trying to recreate history every time we teach - I agree with Prensky, we should go out on a limb every time, but that of course is not the IR way of doing things.

What has succeeded are ideas like Social Studies that find enough commonality to change some of the educational world while “still playing the game”.

If we want to move toward ubiquity in computing, we need to find a way to play the game so that what happens is palatable to culture that still pervades majority of the school system. Simulations are certainly a start, but they are about as far as we can go without rocking the boat.

To go beyond things that “look like better teaching” we need to change the way that we think about learning in schools - from gathering and storing information to managing it.

]]> By: Rob Wall http://ideasandthoughts.org/2005/12/12/wayne-gretzky-on-educational-reform/comment-page-1/#comment-152 Rob Wall Tue, 13 Dec 2005 17:22:00 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/?p=157#comment-152 Some interesting food for thought, Dean. I don't think of this issue in terms of 1 to 1 student/computer ratios, but more in terms of an accessability issue. We need to provide students with access whenever they need it. The stockpiling of computer resources into computer ghettoes in the business education labs, libraries, etc. is definitely not going to get us to the goal of "anytime anywhere" computing. I don't know if laptops for all students will either, because as soon as a student's laptop has technical problems, that student has lost access to their resources. I think a pervasive thin client model would work best, so that everyone can access all their data from any terminal, but that is something that is certainly up for discussion. Some interesting food for thought, Dean. I don’t think of this issue in terms of 1 to 1 student/computer ratios, but more in terms of an accessability issue. We need to provide students with access whenever they need it. The stockpiling of computer resources into computer ghettoes in the business education labs, libraries, etc. is definitely not going to get us to the goal of “anytime anywhere” computing. I don’t know if laptops for all students will either, because as soon as a student’s laptop has technical problems, that student has lost access to their resources. I think a pervasive thin client model would work best, so that everyone can access all their data from any terminal, but that is something that is certainly up for discussion.

]]> By: Clarence Fisher http://ideasandthoughts.org/2005/12/12/wayne-gretzky-on-educational-reform/comment-page-1/#comment-151 Clarence Fisher Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:39:00 +0000 http://ideasandthoughts.org/?p=157#comment-151 I'm lucky. I have 4 computers in my classroom and a small lab of 12 new Dells next door. I have been for some time seriously considering hunting down the money I need for a classroom of laptops. I have seen the difference already that even this many machines makes and I also know the difference it made for me personally having my laptop on my desk. The quote from Gretzky is correct. I wrote yesterday about incremental vs. evolutionary change. We need to begin thinking as a community of bloggers about where we want to be. Do I smell a summer conference in the wind? I’m lucky. I have 4 computers in my classroom and a small lab of 12 new Dells next door. I have been for some time seriously considering hunting down the money I need for a classroom of laptops. I have seen the difference already that even this many machines makes and I also know the difference it made for me personally having my laptop on my desk. The quote from Gretzky is correct. I wrote yesterday about incremental vs. evolutionary change. We need to begin thinking as a community of bloggers about where we want to be.

Do I smell a summer conference in the wind?

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