“Apple Computer will pay to study a plan to provide 15,800 Apple laptops to Cobb County students and teachers, a school spokesman said Tuesday amid questions over whether it’s a conflict of interest for the company to fund the study,” The Associated Press reports. “‘Apple is writing the check,’ said Cobb County schools spokesman Jay Dillon, but ‘this evaluation wouldn’t happen if we weren’t paying Apple for it.'”
“The school board has approved the first phase of a three-phase plan to put laptops in the hands of all the system’s students and teachers. The initial phase involves providing laptops to 8,700 students at four pilot high schools and all 7,100 of the system’s teachers,” AP reports. “Before moving to the second or third phases, the school system thought it was necessary to study the effectiveness of the first phase, Dillon said. Bids from Dell, IBM and Apple all included proposals for who would conduct a study on the program’s effectiveness.”
“Based on the number of computers provided, Apple agreed to pay $214,540 for the University of Georgia to study the program, Dillon said, but he emphasized that it would’ve been the company’s responsibility to pay for the study regardless of which computer company the school system chose to provide the laptops. ‘We asked all vendors to provide a solution,’ he said. ‘The evaluation would not happen otherwise.’ The school board voted 4-2 on April 13 to buy the Apple G4 iBooks for the $25 million pilot program, but refused to move forward with other phases until the study was conducted, Dillon said,” AP reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “It would’ve been the company’s responsibility to pay for the study regardless of which computer company the school system chose to provide the laptops.” So much for manufactured controversy.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
More controversy in Atlanta-area school district’s plan to buy Apple iBooks – April 16, 2005
Cobb County Georgia approves first phase of plan that could equip schools with 63,000 Apple iBooks – April 15, 2005
Atlanta-area school district on verge of deal for 31,000 Apple iBooks – April 12, 2005
Cobb teachers voice concerns over using Macs for proposed laptop program – March 29, 2005
Cobb County Georgia meeting discusses plan to equip schools with 63,000 Apple iBooks – February 24, 2005
Report: 90 percent of emails opposed to Georgia’s Apple iBook program – February 10, 2005
65,000 Apple iBooks for Georgia schools one of the largest school laptop programs in the country – February 10, 2005
Georgia school district to propose 63,000 Macs for students and teachers – February 07, 2005
Come onnnn . . . this is typical. I mean, really, if the Dark Lord’s pitiful company from Redmond were involved this would’ve been viewed as a good thing from the very beginning — kind of like how everyone originally thought Howie Mandel was funny. Yeh-hesssss.
You know, the more I think about it, the more I don’t think the people of Cobb County are solely to blame. Yesssss. I mean, it’s clear that there are brainwashed Wintel morons in every state in the Union. To only blame Cobb County would be like only blaming Florida for the 2000 election controversy. Hey, I keed, I k-
Hmmm, wait a minute . . .
Yaayyyy . . . FIRST POST! FIRST POST!!! Let’s rejoice with all de dorks!! Yeh-hess. Yeh-hess.
Sing it with me! . . . and to all the Wintel dorks lurking here . . .
FIRST POST! . . . AND REDMOND BLOWS! ! !
FIRST POST! . . . AND REDMOND BLOWS! ! !
Yeh-heh-heh-hessssssssss.
Somehow Redmond Blows has a much nicer ring than Poop On,
As great of a deal as this would be for Apple, and as nice as it would be for students and teachers to have their own laptops, it just seems that $25 million is a lot to spend. I think there are other more important educational needs that could be addressed with $25 million.
Schools have computer labs, so it’s not like students need to have a personal laptop in order to get school work done. And how many of the teachers are going to use a new laptop? I’m willing to bet that most teachers have their own computers that are probably good enough to get whatever they need done.
And if I recall my school days correctly, most of my classes like English and Math didn’t require a computer. Sure, you can incorporate a computer into the curriculum, but it’s not going to help a student become better at math. Not to mention, this is more of an expense for parents as well who will probably have to shell out another $50 for insurance on top of all the other school supplies.
I’m not disagreeing with the advantages that can be gained from giving students their own computers, I just think the costs outweight the benefits. I know some of you will probably disagree with what I’m saying, which I can understand, so keep in mind that this is only my personal opinion.
While it seems the issue is settled, MDN was still way off base in laying into the school board members for voicing legitimate concerns in the matter.
But, as the smug take suggests, I’m sure they still feel they were completely correct in doing what they did… as always.
MDN seems to only be covering the good news involving Apple.
It’s nice of them to provide us a nicely filtered view. Almost makes me feel like I’m at church.
http://news.com.com/Java+glitch+hits+OS+X+update/2100-1016_3-5675631.html?tag=my
With computers, the students may become descent typests. U can be almost be dam sure of that. MDN, ur comment – So much for manufactured controversy – is crap. If any other manufacturer were to do this, you’d be on it like flies to sh*t.
—
Cobb County BOE should focus on how to write, and not what to write it on.
—
I’m still left wondering, why keep the source of the funding such a secret?
With computers, the students may become descent typests. U can be almost be dam sure of that. MDN, ur comment – So much for manufactured controversy – is crap. If any other manufacturer were to do this, you’d be on it like flies to sh*t.
—
Cobb County BOE should focus on how to write, and not what to write it on.
—
I’m still left wondering, why keep the source of the funding such a secret?
With computers, the students may become descent typests. U can be almost be dam sure of that. MDN, ur comment – So much for manufactured controversy – is crap. If any other manufacturer were to do this, you’d be on it like flies to sh*t.
—
Cobb County BOE should focus on how to write, and not what to write it on.
—
I’m still left wondering, why keep the source of the funding such a secret?
bad news bear,
that’s my impression as well.
MDN!
What about an article on or even a small mention of the serious hardware problems the G5 iMac is having – and the bad response (cover-up job?) Apple is guilty of. Have a look at http://www.macintouch.com.
There are many calling for this computer’s withdrawal from the market!!
MDN! Are you colluding with Apple’s cover-up?
Triumph, I am gay too. You wanna hook up?
Yeh-heh-heh-hessssssssss!!!!!