The eee PC from ASUS is the little laptop that I passed around at the meeting last month. I presented this as one of the possibilities for future student use. I want to be careful here. I’m not suggesting that we jump to this machine (or any other device). Rather, I was pointing out that there are several interesting developments in the portable PC market, and as we do an overall analysis of our program, we should be looking at everything out there.There are five things that attracted me to the eee for student use:
- The size and weight: The machine measures only about 6″x9″x1″ and weighs about 2 lbs. One of the objections I have always had to the traditional laptop is that it is not practical for students to carry and store a heavy machine that won’t fit into a locker.
- The stripped-down ease of use. Well over 90% of student computing is simple application use and Internet access. The eee is specifically designed for these tasks. The Open Office software is comfortable for any student who has used Microsoft Office and the Open Office program opens MS Office documents and saves in these formats. Though Open Office does not have all the functionality of the Microsoft product, the average user would be very hard-pressed to find anything lacking. The built-in wireless makes Internet access possible anywhere on campus (or in a Starbucks!).
- Portability of data. The eee shifts the paradigm of computer from data storage unit to a processing unit. Since the machine has virtually no hard drive (only 4Mb, 2 of which is used by preinstalled programs), Documents will primarily exist on memory sticks, SD cards, or on the Internet. This new model better fits an evolving image of technology where we have universal access to our data (I carry documents back and forth on my cell phone).
- Cost: The $400 price point (this is the retail price before any special school deal is reached) seems so much more reachable for parents than the $1000 or more that would be spent on a well-equipped laptop. At this cost, as student could use the machine for two years and then perhaps upgrade for 2 years.Connected with the cost would be the possibility of using the machine to replace other costs. I’m thinking mainly about textbooks here. I don’t think that “reading intensive” subjects like English, social studies or science would lend themselves to online textbooks (I could be wrong here…personally I don’t like to read books on a computer screen, but this may not be as true with our students), but math could easily be adapted for a digital format, available on a memory stick (or better still online). It would be easy to make the case for a machine like this if we could say that students would save $100 or more a year on textbooks.
- School Curricular Program: One of my biggest fears about going to a laptop program is the pressure it would place on teachers in every class to use the laptops incessantly…even for projects not best for suited to them. The small laptops would be easy to carry and have available at a second. This could replace some of the trips to the Multi-media labs, which are currently impacted because (with the exception of 503 and 209) they are the only place where Internet or application based project can be done.
Those are my initial positive reflections. I will be following this up with a discussion of some of the not-so-positive things about this machine (I was going to do this all at once, but this post has become ENORMOUS!.But what do you think about a program that would involve student laptops? Are there points that I am missing (I’m sure they are)? How do you feel as a teacher about this? How would you feel as a parent? as a student?
“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”
–Stewart Brand
The ASUS machine does have some good points, but as a parent and teacher it is not something I am enthusiastic about. It is smaller and lighter and less expensive than most laptops, but I am not convinced laptops for students is the way to go, for several reasons:
* Students don’t know any near as much as they THINK they know, so there will be too many students who will ‘know’ how to use the laptops, and ‘fix’ them to make them ‘better’, and make them un-usable.
*Students forget things – if their textbooks and work is all saved on one laptop and if it is left at home, in a friends car, at dad’s house when they are with mom, at grandma’s, etc. they will not have anything to work with at school.
*If it is not ‘cool’ enough some students will ‘forget’ it all the time.
With textbooks published online, interactive web based texts, and publishers providing electronic text services (Houghtin Mifflin’s ‘Eduspace’ for example) I think there are other options that are even more cost efficient and engaging.
What I think would work:
Most colleges and universities are informing prospective students they will need to have or have access to an internet linked computer for classes. I would like to see more computers in classrooms for student use and that they have access to computers in their home.
*The concept of electronic ‘lockers’ on the school server for document storage is ideal, this allows access to their work wherever the student has internet access – no need to remember to bring a laptop, memory storage device or anything.
*Subscribing to online textbook websites and educational RSS feeds in lieu of using traditional textbooks. The information is up to date and more visually engaging (usually). It also eliminates the need to download textbooks to any one place and cannot be ‘left at home’ or forgotten on a locker – where there is internet access the text is there.
* Laptops for classrooms not students – they can be put away when the teacher is lecturing or students are discussing and or debating information and taken out when needed. Keeping the laptops in the classrooms means more powerful computers can be purchased and more secure.
*Students using PDA’s, iPhones, etc. for document carrying, storage, downloading for pod casts, receiving classwork, school texting, etc. Students have and use cel phones anyway, incorporate their use into something positive – specify certain types for students to purchase, if it is something they can choose and really ‘buy into’ they will use them and not ‘forget’ them as easily.
I agree with Catherine in having the machines in the classroom and have the kids keep the storage devices for their info. Students could pay a technology fee as a way of paying for the number of classroom sets we’d need. That way teachers have more control over what students are doing when. Personally, I would not encourage phone use for data storage; that opens up a huge can of worms, in my opinion. I do think that we should explore on-line textbooks.
I want to word this carefully, because I don’t want to be painted as a eee PC apostle. I will be following up with a list of problems I find with the machine. I also am hesitant to move to a student laptop model and I want to take a good hard look before we make any decisions.
However, I think what I am suggesting with talk about this machine and other UMPCs (ultra-mobile PCs) is that the terms of the game have changed (and my thinking is changing with it). In the not so distant future the majority of the population will carry some sort of a computer with them all the time. This will require new navigation skills for education and for life. I wonder if there will come a time where the “computer-less” classroom will be essentially an artificial environment.
I don’t see any practical implementation of desktop stations. I don’t know how you would retrofit the entire campus for these machines, and they would have to be built in, because any laptop would walk. Apart from the expense, it would be practically impossible to maintain 2300 machines without a huge staff doing nothing but. Having students purchase the machine spreads the cost and responsibility, and the school could supply “spares” for missing machines (maybe one or two per classroom). Another concern I have is that some students working with school equipment might be much more likely to try to hack or damage the machines than they would with their own equipment.
I have always liked the idea of moving carts with PCs, so a teacher can bring them in when needed. However, the practical reality is that these carts are heavy and hard to move, and there is no cart with 33 computers (I know, we should limit class size…that’s another discussion). Also these mobile carts are really hard on the machines.
Responding to the question of student responsibility, I agree that students have a tendency to forget things, but despite this we still have them bring books, paper, calculators to class every day. In fact, if storage (or textbooks) are online, then students actually have better access if they leave their computer in a friends car than if they leave a book in the same car. If we ever move to online texts, students will have to have access to these texts anywhere they could read their books. “I can’t do my homework, I can’t get to a computer!”
Finally the “can of worms” of cell phones in the classroom…what I’m saying is that we’re up to our chins in worms already. Our current strategy is to try to keep the worms outside the classroom (though they can crawl under the doors) and telling ourselves that there are no worms. If we don’t find a way to live on a Diet of Worms, we will drown.
Think radically for a second; what if we were to allow students to bring in and use any digital device into the classroom? How would you approch teaching then?
I appreciate the comments, keep’m coming.
I see both business applications and educational applications switching to an online colaboration, always available format. Students practically “live” on the internet. There are enough schools out there that have implemented 1 to 1 computer programs that we should be able to gleen what works and what doesn’t.
I think the choice is between an UMPC and a tablet PC. Yes tablets are heavier and more expensive, but I see several advantages with tablets. Any tablet can be turned into a smartboard. There are new projectors that are wireless and in conjunction with a tablet can be used to show a students work or teacher demonstration.
We can control many of the “worm” factor concerns with either software or hardware technology. I have been investigating application level content filtering options. We could then restrict chating, mp3 downloads, peer to peer sharing applications, etc. We can even control it on the students computer while they are using it at home or anywhere else off campus.
I have actually used the computer carts and found that besides being difficult to move around, sometimes I would have a lesson planned for my class and would get the computers the morning of the lesson only to find out some of them don’t work. I like the idea of making the students responsible for their own lap top computer/eee PC.
In answer to Greg’s question “….what if we were to allow students to bring in and use any digital device into the classroom? How would you approach teaching then?”
I think that in the near future students will be bringing in their own technology into the classrooms, which includes cell phones. A student’s cell phone, with internet access, could easily be incorporated into my science classroom. Their are many internet labs that students could access and complete in class or I could have them research current information on a specific topic. They could use online dictionaries or search engines for difficult science words or concepts. I could also have students view podcasts and then have a classroom discussion. Lastly, we could do a class activity and graphing assignment using current/immediate data (for example on earthquakes).
I would love to have internet access in my classroom. It is difficult to plan an internet lab/activity in which I have to schedule use of the multimedia center and take my students there. If I had the technology, I would do many more internet labs/activities with my students.