“For the first time since the Maine Learning Technology Initiative began in 2002, schools have made a choice in the solutions they will use for 21st century teaching and learning,” Samantha Warren reports for the Maine Department of Education.
“This fall, 39,457 students and educators will start using Apple’s iPad tablet ($266 per year, per seat with network), followed by 24,128 using Apple’s MacBook Air laptop ($319 per year, per seat with network) and 5,474 using the HP ProBook 4440 laptop which runs Microsoft Windows 7 ($286 per year, per seat with network),” Warren reports. “Those figures are not final as orders – including those for most of Maine’s Career and Technical Education centers – are still trickling in following Thursday’s opt-in deadline.”
MacDailyNews Note: Okay, that’s 63,585 Apple devices and 5,474 HP POSes. In other numbers, of the 69,059 devices recorded so far, smart educators have chosen Apple over 92% of the time vs. under 8% who mistakenly settled for HP’s OS-limited devices in an attempt, we assume, to produce a new crop of Maine potato pickers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
“Teachers in schools that went with Apple’s iPad will additionally receive a MacBook Air to use over the four-year contract,” Warren reports. “The State will submit the total next generation order Monday, with teacher devices shipping in July and student devices arriving in time for the start of the upcoming school year.”
Warren reports, “Since its start, the program has only provided Apple laptops but Governor Paul R. LePage and Department of Education leaders wanted to ensure schools had options, including equipping students with the PC and Microsoft technology they are most likely to find in the workplace.”
MacDailyNews Take: On this issue, at the very least, Governor Paul R. LePage and DOE leaders are clueless morons.
Maine’s Idiot Governor Paul LePage“It is important that our students are using technology that they will see and use in the workplace.” Oh, so you think kids who learn Windows 8 will be using that in 12-20 years, you abject idiot? You teach students concepts, not memorization. Because things change; very rapidly in technology, especially. Look at Window 7 to Windows 8, for example. Look at the Mac invading the enterprise for another. You want students who can adapt, not students who learned one way to do something and who therefore FAIL abysmally the moment they enter the real world. We’ve seen it with our own eyes: The Mac kids can do pretty much anything – they are adaptable – the Windows-only kids are completely, stupefyingly lost when not on Windows 7 or earlier. (The Mac kids also know instinctively that Windows sucks compared to their Macs and beg for the MacBook cart.)
New Hire: “Duh, where’s the blue ‘e?'”
Manager: “Son, you’re fired. Helen, get me human resources on the phone!”
Anyone who can’t see that the world is moving rapidly away from Windows is delusional, blind, and/or stupid. LeTard consigned 8% of Maine students and teachers to antiquated, dying technology. Maine taxpayers should be incensed. What a waste of money and time this will be! What’s next, Maine, allowing schools the choice to replace school buses with horse-drawn carts or copiers with mimeograph machines? A long-term contract with Palm?
“It is important that our students are using technology that they will see and use in the workplace.” So, genius, hop in your time machine and bring back some pallets of 18th-generation iPads.
Read Warren’s last sentence thusly: “Since its start, the program that has only provided filet mignon, but Governor Paul R. LePage and Department of Education leaders wanted to ensure schools had options, including feeding students the beef shank that they are most likely to find in the workplace to which Governor Paul R. LePage and Department of Education leaders have doomed them: Taco Bell kitchens statewide.”
Spot on with the Macdaily news take. When I was doing education sales I tried to get the teachers to go from memorization to learning concepts. Anybody that can use Macs should be able to use Windows. They may not like it but they should be able to make the transition.
Paul Richard LePage (born October 9, 1948) is an American businessman and politician; he is the 74th Governor of Maine, serving since 2011. A Republican, he was mayor of Waterville from 2003 to 2011, and was a city councilor before that. He worked in the private sector as general manager of the 14-store discount chain Marden’s Surplus and Salvage from 1996 until 2011.
What is wrong with sympathizing with someone who likes pink flowers, likes the idea of one world, has blood in their veins and doesn’t have a square head?
There is only one world. The one world is populated with billions of people with individual beliefs, ambitions, and desires. You may think that if every one thought and behaved alike the world would be a peace. You are wrong. This is tyranny and the place is called prison.
A truly unified world is one that recognizes the inherent beauty of diversity. Everyone should fear a world that tries to impose sameness and should embrace our mosaic of culture, ethnicity. heritage and diversity.
Nations, empires, tyrants, and dictators have historically attempted to “unify” their citizens and “pacify” the opposition. Hasn’t worked well then and won’t won’t well in the future, because not every agrees what path to take and what rules to obey. This means that the only thing that groups can agree on is that they are right, others are wrong.
If your only model for unity is based on coercion and force then of course you wouldn’t like it. If you just take the US of A for example, there was little if any coercion or force to unite quite different states into a united country. The same model is at work in the European Communities and will bear great fruits when they achieve it. So goes the world and it will be because of shared interests and peace and prosperity that the world will come together.
MDN:
“On this issue, at the very least, Governor Paul R. LePage and DOE leaders are clueless morons.”
The Clueless Moron Governor is a Republican and not the traditional type- he’s a Teabagger in words and deeds.
Yes, I agree that the Republican party started out with a great direction.. Sadly, many in the know, now say that the Republican party of today bares no resemblance to the party of only 15 years ago.
It is now about the old rich white guys making a last stand to keep power. Blacks, Latino, women,and poor are all feeling left out and being treated like second class citizens.
Just my thought,,,,, oh and the thoughts of a majority of the country at the last election. But what do we few matter. ??
First of all the Senator is a Troll.
1- It is the Democratic Party – not the Democrat Party. members of the Democratic Party are Democrats. It is not the Republic Party either.
2- He states the Republican Party was founded exclusively as an anti-slavery party. That is incorrect and is not even a common misconception. The Meetings at Jackson, Michigan and Ripon,Wisconsin that birthed the Republican Party were not centered around abolition.
3- The historic Republican Party has about as much connection to today’s Gang Of Perverts as my dog does to a mosquito. Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln, Ford, Coolidge and Eisenhower would not be welcomed as they are not the lockstep ideologues the ConservaBots demand today.
4- Todays’ GOP calls itself conservative and is anything but. Deficits only matter when a Democrat is in the White House and every war is a good war- just ask John McCain.
Not just the students, so does the staff in most places. But they can’t get Macs either. The people actually producing the work and the clients (students) want Macs. Those running things, the pointy heads and the PEECEE Weenie IT’s are the ones roadblocking.
Side note: the adverts rotate, but the first I saw for this article was an ad & link to Gucci. Not that Apple hasn’t always attracted buyers that like and can afford Gucci products, but I didn’t imagine companies like Gucci “getting it” or “us” and seeking out online outlets such as MDN (no offense meant) to reach their potential audience. I don’t know if their advertising here means there perception has evolved or our rank and file has. Or is it more a “whatever!” – as long as someone’s helping MDN pay their bills… WhooHoo!
I’m kinda sorry I submitted the story if it’s going to devolve into a political commentary.
The bigger issue here is that the HP solution was put forward, not with Win 8 but with Win 7 and the Android offering wasn’t selected at all. First off, that’s a dismissal Win 8 and of the “What the real world uses” argument, as well as a complete rejection of Android as a viable option for schools.
Why not focus the attention on those REAL issues, instead of taking it as an opportunity to ridicule people?
As a Mainer I can tell you he is not popular. He slipped into office because of a split ticket and has been an embarrassment ever since.
When the bids came in and the iPad was still the least expensive option, he changed the rules and allowed HP to adjust their offer and told local school systems the state would only cover network costs if they selected the HP option. Most communities chose the Apple option anyway. Of those that did not, I would guess they simply could not afford to given the tilted playing field
I’m a Mainer and I have to point out that 61% of Mainers voted for someone other than LePage. So I beg you, please don’t judge all of us based on this idiot. Seeing how unpopular LePage is, I’m seriously surprised he hasn’t been recalled yet.
I love Apple products, but I do not think that any school should buy a computer for every student. The keys to success in school are parents who care, students who are willing to work, teachers who are good at their job, and small class sizes. I would love to see us focus on these “keys” rather than look to technology as an answer to why Johnny and Janey can’t read, write, or do arithmetic.
Technology isn’t an “answer” it is a tool. Kids are hyper stimulated today, screens everywhere. In most cases they are more savvy than their parents with them. (and in many schools the teachers) Why should we hide from the devices in school? Why not leverage it? It works.
Traditional rote learning does not turn out anything but dumb robots. Reciting a fact does not mean you understand the fact. Project based learning, teaching true problem solving, researching using tools instead of filling in the worksheet or circling the answer is so much better for our youth.
Schools cannot make parents care, can’t make a second parent be there. They can feed a hungry kid, they can give them tools they might not otherwise have access to. AND most importantly schools can inspire kids to learn. If it takes computers to do it, that is what needs to be done. The worksheet isn’t working, and hasn’t been for a long time.
Everything that you write sounds great but is not great. Of course if the only alternative to technology is something which produces “dumb robots,” then you win.
In the real classroom, there are students, teachers, parental influence, and budgets. Maine schools are performing poorly by any measure, the laptop program was started two governors ago and has had no impact in any way that can be measured.
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as good teaching and valuable learning that does not involve every child on a laptop. I am with you that “rote learning” is not good, but we disagree about what “traditional learning” was and could be. They did not learn less or poorly back in the day just because the photos are black and white, just because they dressed more formally, just because the books had fewer pictures– a good teacher does not need a laptop, and budgets are real issues in Maine.
Perhaps I came across as overly harsh towards the traditional classroom. I am pretty hostile towards it. I have spent the last 15 years working on changing it & toward more technology in the classroom. I’ve seen many a luddite decry technology expenditure. I’ve had to stand in front of school boards and community to justify, explain and educate them on the use of technology in schools. So yes, I am all about technology in schools. I am very passionate about it, no doubt. I know there are good teachers who can inspire, who do it without tech. They are a dying breed thanks to the hyper-stimulation of todays kids I think.
I have seen the improved outcomes, I have seen the creative and engaging spark tech produces in kids. I’ve seen drill and kill turn out great test scores and lousy thinkers. I’ve seen the lab model fail because 15-20 minutes a day is not enough. I saw that two computers in the back of the room were not effective, I’ve seen kids thinking, researching, collaborating, creating and presenting with enthusiasm and determination because they all had digital tools at their finger-tips all day, everyday. I’ve seen the shy withdrawn kids drawn into collaboration, I’ve watched them gain confidence and competency. I’ve seen the difference a media rich presentation can make in keeping interest and focus. I’ve seen tech initiatives fail for lack of support or poorly picked tools.
Yes, it takes more than just the technology, you need to rethink the classroom, the curriculum, change your mindset, your methods, not the facts, not all the goals, you need parental and community involvement. Done properly it is yielding great outcomes. It takes vision, determination, and hard work.
My school is an Apple distinguished school, our kids do amazing things with technology. They all have iPads with keyboard folio cases. They are great thinkers, researchers, & speakers. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
All schools have real budget issues, ones with good leadership find ways to do things anyway. I have been there, learn good grant writing. Reach out to the community, find donors. I do it every year.
I think it is disgusting the way education is politicized and budgets held hostage in this country. A nation unwilling to sacrifice and invest in it’s kids is doomed indeed.
92% if that doesn’t convince that bloated gasbag, nothing will!
Do you trust the opinion of Maine-iacs?
Long winded rant MDN!
Spot on with the Macdaily news take. When I was doing education sales I tried to get the teachers to go from memorization to learning concepts. Anybody that can use Macs should be able to use Windows. They may not like it but they should be able to make the transition.
From the Governor’s Wiki page:
Paul Richard LePage (born October 9, 1948) is an American businessman and politician; he is the 74th Governor of Maine, serving since 2011. A Republican, he was mayor of Waterville from 2003 to 2011, and was a city councilor before that. He worked in the private sector as general manager of the 14-store discount chain Marden’s Surplus and Salvage from 1996 until 2011.
Yup, no mysteries here…
I bet he picked potatoes in his youth.
Training is the act of teaching people what to think. Education is the art of teaching people HOW to think.
guess you’re still workin’ on that second part.
Are you just starting the first part?
heh, got me.
They’re all muslim-sympathizing, pinko, pansy, one-world, egg-headed, bleeding heart commie bed-wetters in Maine.
What is wrong with sympathizing with someone who likes pink flowers, likes the idea of one world, has blood in their veins and doesn’t have a square head?
There is only one world. The one world is populated with billions of people with individual beliefs, ambitions, and desires. You may think that if every one thought and behaved alike the world would be a peace. You are wrong. This is tyranny and the place is called prison.
A truly unified world is one that recognizes the inherent beauty of diversity. Everyone should fear a world that tries to impose sameness and should embrace our mosaic of culture, ethnicity. heritage and diversity.
Nations, empires, tyrants, and dictators have historically attempted to “unify” their citizens and “pacify” the opposition. Hasn’t worked well then and won’t won’t well in the future, because not every agrees what path to take and what rules to obey. This means that the only thing that groups can agree on is that they are right, others are wrong.
If your only model for unity is based on coercion and force then of course you wouldn’t like it. If you just take the US of A for example, there was little if any coercion or force to unite quite different states into a united country. The same model is at work in the European Communities and will bear great fruits when they achieve it. So goes the world and it will be because of shared interests and peace and prosperity that the world will come together.
MDN:
“On this issue, at the very least, Governor Paul R. LePage and DOE leaders are clueless morons.”
The Clueless Moron Governor is a Republican and not the traditional type- he’s a Teabagger in words and deeds.
My new hero, Louisiana Senator Elbert Guillory:
Yes, I agree that the Republican party started out with a great direction.. Sadly, many in the know, now say that the Republican party of today bares no resemblance to the party of only 15 years ago.
It is now about the old rich white guys making a last stand to keep power. Blacks, Latino, women,and poor are all feeling left out and being treated like second class citizens.
Just my thought,,,,, oh and the thoughts of a majority of the country at the last election. But what do we few matter. ??
First of all the Senator is a Troll.
1- It is the Democratic Party – not the Democrat Party. members of the Democratic Party are Democrats. It is not the Republic Party either.
2- He states the Republican Party was founded exclusively as an anti-slavery party. That is incorrect and is not even a common misconception. The Meetings at Jackson, Michigan and Ripon,Wisconsin that birthed the Republican Party were not centered around abolition.
3- The historic Republican Party has about as much connection to today’s Gang Of Perverts as my dog does to a mosquito. Theodore Roosevelt, Lincoln, Ford, Coolidge and Eisenhower would not be welcomed as they are not the lockstep ideologues the ConservaBots demand today.
4- Todays’ GOP calls itself conservative and is anything but. Deficits only matter when a Democrat is in the White House and every war is a good war- just ask John McCain.
Ya know, not just educators, but the students want macs and iPads. Not MS crapula with bloated viri infected shitware.
Not just the students, so does the staff in most places. But they can’t get Macs either. The people actually producing the work and the clients (students) want Macs. Those running things, the pointy heads and the PEECEE Weenie IT’s are the ones roadblocking.
Side note: the adverts rotate, but the first I saw for this article was an ad & link to Gucci. Not that Apple hasn’t always attracted buyers that like and can afford Gucci products, but I didn’t imagine companies like Gucci “getting it” or “us” and seeking out online outlets such as MDN (no offense meant) to reach their potential audience. I don’t know if their advertising here means there perception has evolved or our rank and file has. Or is it more a “whatever!” – as long as someone’s helping MDN pay their bills… WhooHoo!
Why bash the Mainers? I kinda think they spoke pretty intelligently based on the choices they made. For a better perspective on the whole issue, take a look at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-picks-school-laptop-contract-winner-.html?searchterm=MLTI
I’m kinda sorry I submitted the story if it’s going to devolve into a political commentary.
The bigger issue here is that the HP solution was put forward, not with Win 8 but with Win 7 and the Android offering wasn’t selected at all. First off, that’s a dismissal Win 8 and of the “What the real world uses” argument, as well as a complete rejection of Android as a viable option for schools.
Why not focus the attention on those REAL issues, instead of taking it as an opportunity to ridicule people?
I’d be so pissed if I was one of the kids that got stuck with a windows computer when most of the other kinds got Macs or iPads.
There’s a reason Moxie is the official soft drink of Maine. But they sure vote for imbeciles.
As a Mainer I can tell you he is not popular. He slipped into office because of a split ticket and has been an embarrassment ever since.
When the bids came in and the iPad was still the least expensive option, he changed the rules and allowed HP to adjust their offer and told local school systems the state would only cover network costs if they selected the HP option. Most communities chose the Apple option anyway. Of those that did not, I would guess they simply could not afford to given the tilted playing field
I’m a Mainer and I have to point out that 61% of Mainers voted for someone other than LePage. So I beg you, please don’t judge all of us based on this idiot. Seeing how unpopular LePage is, I’m seriously surprised he hasn’t been recalled yet.
I love Apple products, but I do not think that any school should buy a computer for every student. The keys to success in school are parents who care, students who are willing to work, teachers who are good at their job, and small class sizes. I would love to see us focus on these “keys” rather than look to technology as an answer to why Johnny and Janey can’t read, write, or do arithmetic.
Shows how little you know about education.
Technology isn’t an “answer” it is a tool. Kids are hyper stimulated today, screens everywhere. In most cases they are more savvy than their parents with them. (and in many schools the teachers) Why should we hide from the devices in school? Why not leverage it? It works.
Traditional rote learning does not turn out anything but dumb robots. Reciting a fact does not mean you understand the fact. Project based learning, teaching true problem solving, researching using tools instead of filling in the worksheet or circling the answer is so much better for our youth.
Schools cannot make parents care, can’t make a second parent be there. They can feed a hungry kid, they can give them tools they might not otherwise have access to. AND most importantly schools can inspire kids to learn. If it takes computers to do it, that is what needs to be done. The worksheet isn’t working, and hasn’t been for a long time.
Everything that you write sounds great but is not great. Of course if the only alternative to technology is something which produces “dumb robots,” then you win.
In the real classroom, there are students, teachers, parental influence, and budgets. Maine schools are performing poorly by any measure, the laptop program was started two governors ago and has had no impact in any way that can be measured.
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as good teaching and valuable learning that does not involve every child on a laptop. I am with you that “rote learning” is not good, but we disagree about what “traditional learning” was and could be. They did not learn less or poorly back in the day just because the photos are black and white, just because they dressed more formally, just because the books had fewer pictures– a good teacher does not need a laptop, and budgets are real issues in Maine.
Perhaps I came across as overly harsh towards the traditional classroom. I am pretty hostile towards it. I have spent the last 15 years working on changing it & toward more technology in the classroom. I’ve seen many a luddite decry technology expenditure. I’ve had to stand in front of school boards and community to justify, explain and educate them on the use of technology in schools. So yes, I am all about technology in schools. I am very passionate about it, no doubt. I know there are good teachers who can inspire, who do it without tech. They are a dying breed thanks to the hyper-stimulation of todays kids I think.
I have seen the improved outcomes, I have seen the creative and engaging spark tech produces in kids. I’ve seen drill and kill turn out great test scores and lousy thinkers. I’ve seen the lab model fail because 15-20 minutes a day is not enough. I saw that two computers in the back of the room were not effective, I’ve seen kids thinking, researching, collaborating, creating and presenting with enthusiasm and determination because they all had digital tools at their finger-tips all day, everyday. I’ve seen the shy withdrawn kids drawn into collaboration, I’ve watched them gain confidence and competency. I’ve seen the difference a media rich presentation can make in keeping interest and focus. I’ve seen tech initiatives fail for lack of support or poorly picked tools.
Yes, it takes more than just the technology, you need to rethink the classroom, the curriculum, change your mindset, your methods, not the facts, not all the goals, you need parental and community involvement. Done properly it is yielding great outcomes. It takes vision, determination, and hard work.
My school is an Apple distinguished school, our kids do amazing things with technology. They all have iPads with keyboard folio cases. They are great thinkers, researchers, & speakers. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
All schools have real budget issues, ones with good leadership find ways to do things anyway. I have been there, learn good grant writing. Reach out to the community, find donors. I do it every year.
I think it is disgusting the way education is politicized and budgets held hostage in this country. A nation unwilling to sacrifice and invest in it’s kids is doomed indeed.