“The St. Paul district is scrapping a multi-million dollar project once touted as the centerpiece of its taxpayer-backed technology plan,” Mila Koumpilova reports for TwinCities.
“Dell and the district agreed this week to scuttle an almost $4.3 million contract to design a new online home for the district’s digital learning tools,” Koumpilova reports. “A year and $715,000 into the project, it became clear the learning platform would not work as well or at least as soon as the two partners had hoped.”
MacDailyNews Take: Duh.
“Meanwhile, the district is finalizing a new deal with Apple to provide an iPad tablet for each student by 2015. The district is not disclosing its price tag yet, but officials have said the investment will far exceed the $2 million they had set aside for devices for this year,” Koumpilova reports. “Dell will refund fees on the platform project in the form of credit for the company’s technology. ‘Over the last year and a half we have gotten a lot clearer on where we want to go with personalized learning,’ said Matt Mohs, the district’s chief academic officer, adding, ‘The platform is not necessary for what we want to accomplish.'”
“When the district announced its platform deal with Dell two months after the 2012 levy referendum, some experts cautioned it was making a risky move: The company has limited track record with such software, and custom-designing product would be time-consuming and pricey,” Koumpilova reports. “Some, like the district’s teacher union, strongly opposed the deal, arguing the district should seek more input from the public and educators before signing a five-year contract. The district now said input from teachers and other staffers largely informed the decision to pull out of the project.”
“Dell first pitched a learning platform to St. Paul officials back in 2011 — an innovative product that would allow teachers to tailor lessons and feedback to each student,” Koumpilova reports. “The district sought proposals from vendors in the spring of 2012 and eventually pitched the platform in asking taxpayers to renew and increase its operating levy. A Pioneer Press investigation last fall showed the district had dismissed the runner-up for the project and enlisted Dell to help explain it voters months before the November vote. It presented the deal to the board, teachers union and public, though, two months after the election.”
“Now, officials said over the past year of designing a custom product with Dell, it became clear the technology the district was seeking just wasn’t there yet. For instance, the platform didn’t work well on mobile devices, a key requirement spelled out in the contract. The district would be able to pilot it with only a portion of its ninth graders, and not until next spring,” Koumpilova reports. “‘We felt we had been overpromised and underdelivered to,’ said Jean O’Connell, a school board member and former board chair.”
MacDailyNews Take: Gee, you don’t say?
“Dell will refund most of the $715,000 the district has paid it so far, save for $50,000 for an evaluation of its IT services and infrastructure. Officials said that study provided helpful information,” Koumpilova reports. “They said the past year was not a total loss in furthering the technology plan: The district upgraded its wireless network, engaged teachers and learned a lot about managing a major technology initiative.”
“District leaders now say they zeroed in on Apple because of its track record in working with Minnesota districts. About two-thirds of district educators already use Apple devices,” Koumpilova reports. “It is tapping a state contract with the company, which means the district didn’t have to bid out the project and might not have to secure school board approval… A number of smaller metro area districts, such as Farmington, have recently entered into leasing arrangements with Apple, which markets actively to school districts across the country. St. Paul would be the first large district in Minnesota to invest in a device for each student.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Lesson learned the hard way, but learned nonetheless.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Zanus” for the heads up.]
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Educators making uneducated decisions.
Actually, it’s the administrators who caused the problem. If they listened to the actual educators, they wouldn’t have to backpedal while while wiping egg off their face. To their credit, they made the tough decision to dump a program which isn’t working and move on rather than try damage control and brazen in out
Had they “try damage control and brazen in out” and even threw more money at the problem, they wouldn’t be called administrators. They would be called government!
Gee, and we let them make decisions for our kids’ education?
At least they stopped the front row seats to blue screen.
iPad, as a platform, is not a “custom” solution, but it can be “customized” with software to be the solution for just about anything (even something that has not yet been considered as a need). One device, unlimited functionality.
There you go. Now why isn’t Apple creating turnkey systems within its cloud of crap to do things like this for schools (there can’t be that much difference between different school systems), instead of wasting their time producing (visually horrible) junk like iOS7 with so much eye-candy my iPad is developing a hole in the back cover?
Thank you for your opinion about iOS 7, despite it not being asked for and no one particularly caring.
Ah, but Bob has to report his trolling for Samsung and the 37 votes he got for himself by wearing out his index finger, so he gets his click-trolling income.
Really ? Still harping on with the “iOS7 sucks” meme ?
iOS 8 is just a few weeks/months from now.
You lost all credibility with your post as soon as you dropped the iOS 7 whine.
Grow up
Seems to me that everyone making comments and even a lot of these school disctrict are forgetting about a certain special event that Apple held at the Guggenheim in NYC in Jan 2012 in regards to iBooks Author, iBookstore, iTunes U… Ring a bell to anyone? Apple has always had a strong concern for education and making education fun and engaging. Go back and watch the event in Apple Keynotes podcasts.
I noticed two points:
“Dell will refund fees on the platform project in the form of credit for the company’s technology. ” and “Dell will refund most of the $715,000 the district has paid it so far, save for $50,000 for an evaluation of its IT services and infrastructure.”
Let’s say the refund is $500k in Dell technology credits. What would you buy from DELL?
Does Dell make mouse pads?
Displays for Mac minis and some printers.
As someone with two kids in the St. Paul Public Schools system, I applaud this decision. Especially given the fact that every teacher in my kids’ elementary school already uses a Mac.
It’s definitely a move in the right direction to get away from PC’s and get on Apple’s platform. It only makes sense these days for kids to not have to carry around a bunch of outdated books and all. The iBooks that teachers/educators are already creating are so simple to use and can be updated exactly like a app from the app store if they want to change/update the information. That’s the way it should be so everyone has fast and accurate information. Hey, maybe it will keep kids doing their homework when they are at home on sick days 🙂
I was at a small tech convo last summer where St. Paul’s district tech director announced the plan to go with Dell during a panel discussion. This was in the midst of Dell’s planning to go private, and its future was in question. I thought, “What on earth are you going with those guys for?” My own kids attend St. Paul schools, and I was truly alarmed. I’m glad they’ve backpedaled.
Regarding creating a Learning Management System, Apple doesn’t have one. Yes, teachers can create texts and iPads can be used to access zillions of apps and lots of other platforms, including Schoology, which is used in my current district. But an LMS like Schoology (or Blackboard or rSchoolToday, etc) allows teachers and students to interact, allows teachers to create, upload, and distribute assignments and assessments, and may even tie in to the grading system. Google is currently working on one. Yay.
It’s still a challenge for schools to manage iPads, too, although it’s getting easier. Bear in mind that St. Paul has a high percentage of students who are immigrants or come from low-income families. Accessing wi-fi from home is out of the question for many of them, so while they’ll be able to get work done on the iPads, getting that work to their teachers will be an issue for many kids unless they’re in their school building.
How to manage iPads:
http://www.apple.com/education/it/
http://www.netop.com/classroom-management-software/results/ipads-in-schools.htm
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-configurator/id434433123?mt=12
MECC!
@CitizenX
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Crush, Crumble and Chomp!