Arizona school shook books for laptops
[NOTE: This blog is in recovery mode with posts exported from another site. I aplologize for broken links/missing files, but plan to have this resolved in the next few weeks.]
I remember the days when I had to go to a special, once-a-week class to be able to use a computer in school. I didn't feel that old until I saw this AP story about an Arizona high school that is eschewing textbooks (average costs per student: $500 - $600) per year, and is instead giving out $850 laptops with lessons coming from online articles.
While this is just one high school, I do think it shows what a lot of people think about the role of paper vs. receiving information electronically.
And while I think it's a neat experiment, I wonder what will happen to these machines when they're lugged to school every day by drowsy teenagers who studies show need more sleep than adults and younger children. And inevitably, someone's going to forget their computer. Borrowing an indentical textbook is a lot different than logging into a "loaner" machine.
Methinks that the people at Lavasoft (and who make AdAware) might want to give these school administrators a call. You know, just in case.
Comments
I'm all ready for the laptop revolution. A project that I'll be watching with my fingers crossed is the MIT Media Lab's $100 Laptop initiative. Nicholas Negroponte and crew want to develop rugged, WiFi-enabled, USB-equipped, Linux-based laptops with full-color rear-projected (or electronic ink) displays. They're aiming to mass-manufacture these for a cost of $90 per laptop, by late 2006 or early 2007. Imagine what it could mean if they're successful.
Posted by: Matt Thompson | July 11, 2005 02:15 PM