This teacher blogger, Rene Dietrich, addresses an open letter to Apple about the iPads for all students in the district.
Such questions as whether they are configured to block inappropriate content; whether Apple will offer training and tech support to teachers; whether they can be used without access to the Internet; whether there is any way to disable them if stolen; and many more. These are the kinds of questions that school districts should get answers to before spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new technology.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What’s the future of writing? Cursive, printing, keyboard? Hunting and pecking with index fingers or thumbs would seem like the least economical means. That does not seem like progress.
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This reminds me of last year when suddenly all the K-3 teachers in the Syracuse District were suddenly given iPads. No explanation, nothing. Just here. What were we supposed to do with them? Eventually we were told we were to use them for “data gathering.” Why an iPad? Can’t I do that on my computer? Then we were told we could not download any apps unless they were approved. Approved for what? Did that mean no NY Times, or other information gathering? We were also told that the district wasn’t paying for any apps, even if they were approved. So, like I did when they were “offering” laptops for about 100 hours of extra work, I said thanks, but no thanks. And then bought my own iPad. No strings attached. So typical of education “leadership.” Jump in head first, and then worry if there’s water in the pool on the way down.
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Renee asks some very important and thorough questions about this purchase but she knows as I do that someone is lining their pockets on this deal. We can only hope that the bond committee can stop this giveaway of public bond funds for purposes the taxpayers did not approve.This is a bad deal and should be stopped ASAP. If technology is what we need,a wiser and less expensive deal can be had.
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Lining ltheir pockets is the only thing the LAUSD school board has ever done. They have a “get out of jail free” card, and move on to City Council jobs and other high paid positions in the public sector. Not enough maggots on the planet could equal their filth.
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Follow-up. I just remembered, when the iPad first came out, LAUSD put out a memo stating that they didn’t recommend that schools purchase them as they might not be compatible with the Isis intranet system. I would like to get a copy of that memo to see what else they said to discourage the purchase of iPads. Strange huh.
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Paula if you find that memo, send it to me. I vaguely remember it myself. You’d be surprised what you discover when you google the right words. I do this with my ipad and get all kinds of stuff like this. Of course when I use it to type my text is never perfect.
Send it to me @ artsoldier13@yahoo.com. I see you all over cyberspace and suspect I may know you in the flesh.
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This was a very informative post. Ms. Driscoll’s response was dead on. Things(sometimes very expensive toys) just get dumped on educators without explanations, training, and support. If the powers-that- be just spent a little time thinking about some of the obstacles in every school and community in the country they might handle things differently. The burden seems to fall on the teacher. With what we have spent on iPads and virtual labs in classooms, we could have hired more TAs, specialists for each school, and classroom teachers. We are pouring good moeny down the corproate drain.
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Kids need good teachers a lot more than they need technology. A good teacher can teach with technology or without it. I hope they train the teachers to use it well because it could become an issue of class control if the kids know more about the equipment than the faculty does. I remember a school where we had staff development one summer and a student had put a semi-nude picture on a screen saver the last day. They had a time getting it off. One of mine put on Dragon Ball Z and I had to ask one of my other kids to take it off before we got in trouble.
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Actually, some of us need assistive technology to be the most effective educators we can be. I remember getting my first Mac (not MAC, which stands for machine address code) in 1986. Suddenly, it no longer took me four times as long as it did most other teachers to type up a study guide, test, or worksheet. This year, my district installed a Promethean board put in my room, but the scheduled training was cancelled. So, I’ve been training myself. This seems a more productive use of time than writing letters full of questions and whining. I would rather have this technological assistance there than not. Whatever happened to intellectual curiosity?
Finally, Deitrich needs to learn to write; her letter has basic subject-verb agreement errors that most of my 9th-graders wouldn’t make in a finished piece of writing.
I find it difficult to take this “problem” seriously.
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I would like some corrections, teach. I do not know where you are or what you are teaching , but I have met few 9th graaders who write well enough to be in a Ravitch blog, though it would be cool to hear from some of them and I am sure we can be forgiving of a few writing flaws. Anyway, before you criticize another consider your own exposition closely. The tone is arrogant thus obnoxious, and the purpose is not ethical in light of your fallacious logic.
My creative work is frequently published. I am translated in French and German. I can erite well enough to sell a book or two. It is possible I made an error, even subject-verb agreement –maybe, but it certainly is not egregious and that, sir, is beside the point . As a matter of fact, whining has nothing to do with asking solid and reasonable questions about something that will basically dominate the entire pedagogical practice teachers need to use in class each day. I wish you mercenaries would be a little sharper in your comments when the effort is to usurp someone else’s credibility. I actually agree with the use of technology, and enumerate the potential it has. Like you, I could easily train myself and students to make the most of iPads as long as I had internet, apps that functioned ( not likely with Pearson by the way ) and a place to keep tablets synched and charged. None of the most crucial concerns are being addressed at LAUSD. You clearly did NOT read the letter closely, if at all, so YOUR credibility has been damaged not mine or anyone else who has enough “intellectual curiosity” to ask questions. I question everything. Sounds like you are an eager whipping boy for the oppressors who wants a subordinate to call his own. .
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Are you calling me “teach” and “sir”? You’d “like some corrections”? Please clarify.
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Beware Of Geeks Bearing GIFs …
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Well-crafted!
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Beware of a LACK of geeks in education. Beware of Luddites…
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The iPad is the latest magic pill that LAUSD is trying to cram down everyone’s throat. LAUSD just doesn’t understand that we need teachers and teaching assistants in the classroom instead of iPads and quarter of a million dollars per year directors of instruction who do nothing for the students in spite of their lip service. We are overcrowded (40 students or more in classrooms meant to accommodate 25). As an LAUSD teacher and former lawyer, I see the problem of extreme top-down management without any vision or planning that pushes programs on teachers without consulting them. We have had over four or five reading programs in high school mandated by downtown, but they do not look at the fact that we have a lot of students for whom English is a second language and have to deal with poverty–overcrowded housing, parents who must work two to three jobs to support their families, lack of family tradition of college, and on and on. All of those materials sit in piles waiting to be recycled.
As to the iPads and maintenance and those issues, it’s a sure bet that LAUSD did not think about maintenance, security, and training. Look at all of the technology that has been bought and languished into obsolescence at the schools. LAUSD, especially Deasy and his minions, does not understand that the iPad is merely a tool, it is not a panacea.
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I do agree with your tool-and-not-panacea point. But how does adding a tool equate even remotely to pushing new curriculum onto teachers?
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Thursday at my school’s Parent Night I explained that in my Latin classes this year, I’d be focusing on “1st Century Skills.”
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I LOVE it! I’m totally into technology but have never lost sight of the fact that there are some things (you know, like human nature) that never change & always need to be part of our curricula. Bravo!
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I would add one more question to the list. Can you roof an entire school using 600,000 iPads as roofing tiles? Bonds are for buildings. Maybe get Frank Gehry to design the roof?
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Hahahahahaha
No architects will work with LAUSD after what happened at # 9 ( aka Cortines Arts High School –shudder!) the guy who designed it was from Germany I believe. Eli Broad stiffed him. Wouldnt pay him the money LAUSD was supposed to according to more than rumors. I have an article from a solid source about this posted but you will have to search Broad on the site as it was a while back,
Www. Hemlockonthrocks.com
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