Technical issues dog schools

A delay in implementing interactive White Board technology in computer labs and "archaic equipment" in language labs drew fire last night from one member of the School Committee, while others asked for a complete overview of what is going on with technology in the school system.

[Snake oil]

"The cost for digital lab technology would be $231,000"

And so the endless treadmill of "computer technology" in school continues. The only one profiting from this "computer technology" are the hardware vendors promoting the next best thing.
As soon as you install a new computer in a school it is obsolete within 18 months.
Schools should be spending their efforts on building a strong foundation in the basic sciences; Chemistry, biology, Physics, physical science.
Teach these students the quantitative and qualitative methods of fundamental science. Spend the money on laboratory equipment and supplies. How many know how to measure basic chemistry reactions? Create wave interference? Perform field studies in biology with a journal? Perform basic dissections? Focus a telescope?
Forget the wiz bang whiteboards.
Most students know how to use computers. They need hands-on practice not wow look at what we can do wiith a whiteboard.....
5 years from now the whiteboards will be obsolete. The vendors will be out of business, the latest version of windows or Google cloud will be incompatible. Yet the students will not know how to siphon water from one pail to another or why it works.

[Smokestack Lightning]

I agree. What happened with the language labs is an object lesson. Teaching does not depend on the latest technology, unless that technology is what's being taught.

PS. Is your nic a reference to Silicon Snake Oil, the book by Clifford Stoll?
http://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Snake-Oil-Thoug...

[Phat Cat]

The white boards are indeed nothing but a distraction. Forster;s original plan to outfit all classrooms with overmounted projectors would have been more than sufficient and still work with the 'thin-client' plan. He was overruled by people who are impressed with the whizbang white boards. The British based software that was purchased along with them is less than useful and was also recommended by people who have no idea what a Massachusetts classroom is about.
Don't hang him. He DID what you asked. YOU masde poor decisions.

[Waste]

Easiest thing is a plain dry erase white board with a overheard project that connects to a computer that has access to a central server for any files or lab. Keep it basic so costs are not out of control.

[Smokestack Lightning]

Waste wrote:

Easiest thing is a plain dry erase white board with a overheard project that connects to a computer that has access to a central server for any files or lab. Keep it basic so costs are not out of control.

That's more or less what MIT has in their Stata Center. If it works for MIT ...

[Concerned Parent]

What happened to Bruce in the meeting is a shame when he was not there to comment and defend what actually happened. The big mistake was the purchase of the Easiteach software that is proving to be junk and over priced. I agree that the white boards the school wants to install is an over kill. Previous recently retired staff implemented this lack of judgment decision before they left and the school now is left holding the ball. Every class room and lab should have a projector, a modern computer and a internet connection that has the speeds needed to show the latest developments in education through the web. I think the real problem is why did it take so long to move on the purchase and install of the white boards and the fact that the school lost out on over 100 grand in technology that the teachers could be using to better our students today.