From: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#1] 3 Feb 10:02 To: ALL
Interactive Textbooks Headed to iPad, Report Says
Ian Paul, PCWorld
Feb 3, 2010 9:59 am
Software developer ScrollMotion has been tapped to develop iPad-friendly versions of textbooks for education publishers like McGraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin, and Kaplan. Features that may make it into the iPad textbooks include video, interactive quizzes, the ability to record lectures, highlight and search text, and take notes, according to The Wall Street Journal. ScrollMotion announced a similar deal to bring textbooks to the iPhone and iPod Touch during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June of last year.
From: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#3] 5 Feb 9:33 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#2] 5 Feb 10:23
Well, as much as I dislike Apple, I have to hand it to them on this one. They have a chance to be the ones that finally do away with textbooks while enamoring a new generation of users to their products. Add to that the fact that teachers no longer have to print out tests and quizzes, it helps to save on paper costs.
Now here's the question: do you want to issue each student an iPad? or do you want to keep the iPads in the classroom and have students carry their work in a flash drive or SD card?
If you assign each student their own MaxiPad, that would open up a whole new can of security worms and would make them targets for thieves.
If you keep the MaxiPads in the schools, then how are they supposed to do their homework? Maybe posting the assignments online would be the answer but not all students have that privilege.
From: worsel [#4] 5 Feb 10:08 To: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#3] 8 Feb 10:38
No problem. Currently school districts issue their students iMacs. What would be the difference between issuing iMacs and iPads? My daughter has been bringing a school-issued iMac home for the last four years.
iMacs are issued in September and collected in June. Any repairs and/or maint is performed by the school staff. Any damaged deemed to be the student's fault result in a repair bill being presented to the parents. Sites that are not on the approved list are blocked. Log files are randomly checked and penalties for unapproved surfing can range from a slap on the wrist to taking the laptop away from the student.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#5] 5 Feb 10:36 To: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#3] 8 Feb 10:38
The problem with leaving the units in the schools is the same you have with fleet cars or public fixtures. If nobody's directly responsible for any particular unit, they get treated poorly and you end up with serious maintenance issues.
From: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#6] 8 Feb 10:55 To: worsel [#4] 9 Feb 4:49
You must live in the nice part of town; here in NYC, only a small percentage of public school students are issued laptops and it doesn't look good in the immediate future because of budget concerns.
Whats mind boggling is the fact that "New York State spent $14,119 per student — more than any other state in the nation — in the 2005 fiscal year".
Memphis City Schools, for example, is beefing up its laptop-security policies after nearly 1,800 machines -- close to 1 in 4 -- were lost, stolen, or destroyed within the span of four months
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#7] 8 Feb 12:00 To: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#6] 8 Feb 13:27
As bad as that is, that's not the saddest part. The saddest part is that they want to spend even more, because they're convinced the reason Johnny can't read is that they're not spending enough.
It's bullshit. the reason Johnny can't read is because teachers aren't allowed to punish kids anymore. Positive motivation may work if you're training dogs, but humans are too creative and hedonistic. They need a reason to not do things. The risk of pain and loss is is a helluva deterrent. I say beat the shit out of the miscreants and toss out the incorrigibles, and watch how fast the balance fall into line and become model students. The cost of teaching would drop to third world levels.
From: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#8] 8 Feb 13:41 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#7] 8 Feb 13:57
quote:
The risk of pain and loss is is a helluva deterrent.
I must agree only because I attended a public school in Florida for a year before moving back to NYC but I remember that they had an ongoing "corporal punishment" policy that made me be on my best behavior. I never even so much as got detention the time I was there. This is what they used to carry out their sentences, the only question was "how many paddles should johnny get for his infraction?"
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#9] 8 Feb 14:52 To: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#8] 9 Feb 12:25
I went to private schools, but I swear half those nuns were sadistic dykes who derived great pleasure from inflicting pain to ensure discipline.
Of course, it may have been simple expediency. What are you supposed to do with a room full of 40 children that don't want to be there or do the supremely unenjoyable things you want them to do for 6 or 7 hours? It was probably self-defence. On top of that nightmare, you're given about $200 a month to spend, and that's your whole motivation outside of the pseudo-altruistic psycho-babble the church feeds you in order to protect your anonymity and the fact that you're either queer as a 3 dollar bill or a pedophile?
"Oh, no, I've said too much... haven't said enough..." -R.E.M.
From: worsel [#10] 9 Feb 5:04 To: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#6] 9 Feb 12:25
quote:
You must live in the nice part of town
I live in the exurbs, where civilized people live.
quote:
only a small percentage of public school students are issued laptops
How long do you think kids would hold on to their laptops at Bushwick HS or Boys & Girls HS??? Two hours? Three? Laptops are fungible.
quote:
New York State spent $14,119 per student
How much of that amount was spent directly on the student and how much was spent on "overhead"??? Dividing the total of all NY school districts budgets by the total number of students in NY schools hides a lot of waste and misspending.
From: worsel [#11] 9 Feb 5:11 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#9] 9 Feb 5:17
quote:
I swear half those nuns were sadistic dykes who derived great pleasure from inflicting pain to ensure discipline.
No, no, no! You misjudge them so. They only have the best interests of the students in mind. According to the Mother Church, a little suffering is good for the soul. If little is good, then a lot must a lot better. Besides, how else could the nuns and the brothers sublimate their carnal frustrations?
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#12] 9 Feb 5:28 To: worsel [#11] 9 Feb 5:56
I'm sure their motives were pure. On the plus side, we learned reading, writing and arithmetic early and fast, which gave us a good foundation we could build on to learn other things.
As bad as that is, that's not the saddest part. The saddest part is that they want to spend even more, because they're convinced the reason Johnny can't read is that they're not spending enough.
It's bullshit. the reason Johnny can't read is because teachers aren't allowed to punish kids anymore. Positive motivation may work if you're training dogs, but humans are too creative and hedonistic. They need a reason to not do things. The risk of pain and loss is is a helluva deterrent. I say beat the shit out of the miscreants and toss out the incorrigibles, and watch how fast the balance fall into line and become model students. The cost of teaching would drop to third world levels.
The real reason why Johnny can't read is because he has no real parenting. If he's lucky, he has two lazy parents that won't discipline him or teach him anything because "that's the school's job." More likely, he has one parent and a bunch of other siblings (all with different fathers who they probably do not know) and doesn't get any discipline or teaching at home. Add that to a very prevalent thug culture that portrays education and intelligence as major negatives, and you have a recipe for a very poor educational outcome. The horrible behavior is just another symptom of the same root cause.
quote: he has one parent and a bunch of other siblings (all with different fathers who they probably do not know)
That has nothing to do with "lazy parents"
The main premise of my original statement was that the kids have a lack of parenting:
quote:
The real reason why Johnny can't read is because he has no real parenting.
That lack can either be due to parents who could be doing an adequate job but choose not to:
quote:
If he's lucky, he has two lazy parents that won't discipline him or teach him anything because "that's the school's job."
Or it can be due to a parent who is not in a position to where they can do the parenting they need to, due to other reasons that are usually very apparent:
quote:
More likely, he has one parent and a bunch of other siblings (all with different fathers who they probably do not know) and doesn't get any discipline or teaching at home.
One parent with several kids and no help from any of the fathers is in a very difficult social situation. I've not lived it, but I have seen others struggle with it on many occasions. The mother has to work to support herself as well as support and raise the kids. Odds are she isn't working at a very high-income job, so she very likely works long hours or multiple jobs to try to make enough money. That does not leave a lot of time to spend with the kids and give them all of the attention and teaching they need.
