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Robert Pogson reports:
Recent news about the popularity of Chromebooks with schools may seem puzzling.
Schools in Hillsborough, New Jersey decided to make an experiment out of its own program. Beginning in 2012, 200 students were given iPads and 200 students were given Chromebooks. After receiving feedback from both students and teachers, the schools sold off their iPads and bought 4,600 Chromebooks.
After all, a keyboard is a great input device and writing is one of the three "Rs" but why not just [buy] a notebook PC? The answer is that the high cost of maintaining the legacy PC is too great. Keeping content on the server makes the job easier and with Chromebooks, schools don't even need to own the server.
...then there's the malware, the slowing down, the re-re-rebooting with that other OS.
That makes the ChromeBook a winner in education and probably a lot of organizations large and small, even consumers. Of course, they could get those benefits with GNU/Linux but it would take more technical knowledge. Again Chromebooks win.
See iPad vs. Chromebook For Students
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 13 2014, @02:51PM
As a tech in a school district, I've been anti-ipad in schools ever since they came out. Outside of very small groups, like special needs or learning disabilities, I've yet to see a single success story with them. Thankfully my boss has put his foot down and has said we're not supporting ipads in any organized fashion. They get access to our wifi, and that's it. Thankfully, most of our teachers have come around to these stories and realized that a consumption-only device has limitations and isn't going to revolutionize education. A few still push for large sets, but that group is shrinking.
I think the best thing my boss has done when asked for ipads, is ask "what are you going to do with them?" And to date, not one has given a satisfactory answer. At best, the answers given are done vastly better by other devices, at a much more cost effective rate.
Google apps and chromebooks have been increasingly popular over the last year in the neighboring districts. We've trialed google apps at one school so far, and results are overall positive. I've got my hands on a couple of chromebooks to test over the summer, and they're pretty amazing. I'm not happy with throwing into an outside infrastructure, especially one as datamine heavy as google, but their shit works. There's no way for $300 I can get a solid laptop that boots in 12 seconds that can run the google suite as well as this. I was actually surprised and impressed at how well the low end ones I picked up run, and their far better (at what they do) than a laptop double the price.
I no way do I want to replace our entire laptop fleet with chromebooks. Having windows devices around gives us far more opportunities to run things like the adobe suite, robotics labs, programming, etc. But for regular internet access and document processing, I find them impossible to beat.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 13 2014, @06:11PM
Having windows devices around gives us far more opportunities
Pogson already covered that.
the malware, the slowing down, the re-re-rebooting
to run things like the adobe suite,
Adobe == Malware. Adobe knows NOTHING about security.
robotics labs, programming, etc.
Much of the the robotics stuff is being done with FOSS these days.
There are many programmers who never touch a Windoze box.
Pogson was a teacher. His kids ran -only- Linux.
They didn't have the problems you seem to think exist.
The Public school system of Brazil runs -only- Linux
(the world's largest Linux deployment at 500,000 seats).
They don't have a problem with the limitations you seem to think exist.
The only reason to run Windoze is to indoctrinate kids into using EULAware.
It's NOT a necessary thing. [mrpogson.com]
Can you say "FUD"? I knew you could.
-- gewg_
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 13 2014, @08:39PM
Congrats on the shitty reading comprehension. I didn't by any stretch write that only windows devices were usable, just that they're more flexible than chromebooks - an undeniable fact. I never said that Linux devices were missing any capabilities - only that I wouldn't replace my existing windows infrastructure.
And Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and other industry standard graphics and design software are malware. You all heard it here first folks.
I also don't really give a crap about what Brazil uses. I'm part of some of the highest worldwide ranked education systems. It seems like we're doing something right.
Can you take the zealotry back to Slashdot, or better yet a dumpster?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 14 2014, @01:38AM
This just in: No one gives a shit what Robert Pogson says or thinks.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Thursday August 14 2014, @01:39AM
If there is _one_ thing I've taken from my learning experiences with computers, from school kid, through college student, programmer and guy-who-hires-programmers, it is that learning _only_ _one_ of pretty much _anything_ in computing (but particularly platform, OS, and programming language) is a really spectacularly BAD idea - and it does not matter _which_ one it is. It is incredibly short sighted, breeds an insular inflexible outlook, inability to appreciate strengths and weaknesses of different solutions, and means that you cannot demonstrate to future employers an ability to adapt and learn something new.
In 30 years college + commercial experience I've used (as end user, developer or admin) at least 10 major different OSes (that I can remember), so that's changing about once every 3yrs on average (of course in reality, some overlapped). Note: that is _not_ counting OS versions, not counting mobile, not counting embedded / custom OSes for particular projects, and not counting OSes I only played with or tried out - only ones that I used significantly for at least a year. For programming languages, text editors and compilers, multiply that number up by a few (I've lost count).
I've been to job interviews where I had never used the target OS, or compiler/toolchain, and barely knew the target language. I was successful, in the interview and the job, those that hired me knew that I could do it because of what _else_ I knew. Similarly if I am hiring have a candidate who knows one language, the one for the project, and one who knows ten but not the one for the project, who will I favour ? Maybe that makes me strange in the world of HR-droids asking for 5yrs experience in a language that has only existed for 3, but it hasn't failed me yet, and when the PHB wants the next project done in buzzword-lange-du-jour, I know I have a team that will cope.
If my kids' school system is short sighted enough to _only_ teach them one OS, then I will ensure they learn about, and to use, others (note the plural). Anything else is just failing to prepare them for the future - because it _will_ be different, and it _will_ involve change.
But, you go ahead and teach kids just the one true language on the one true OS - just so long as you understand that that is Fortran 77 on VAX/VMS (first job - "learn this right, it's all you'll ever need"...).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 14 2014, @06:07AM
I amend my statement:
The oldest/earliest of his students probably -had- used Windoze.
When Pogson got to his first teaching assignment, he had a bunch of Lose95 boxes that were infected to the gunwales and were laying idle.
With the M$ OS those were running, he couldn't keep the boxes he had up very long and the amount of time he wasted on de-crapping boxes drove him to Linux.
...then there were the licensing restrictions (specifically, networking).
.
Schools should teach CONCEPTS.
Once the kids have those, they should be able to extrapolate.
Teaching where to click in a particular app is just silly.
("Industry standard apps" have been mentioned in this thread.
Think of the kids who were taught that it was useful to memorize menu locations in M$Office just before "The Ribbon" was introduced.)
If a language|app|protocol isn't cross-platform, I question the utility of that something.
Again: Teach CONCEPTS.
...and if you didn't read my post about Pogson in a previous thread:
He was in the Great White North working with First Nation kids.
They didn't have a pot to piss in.
The freight charge to fly something in added significantly to the purchase price.
Pogson discovered that having Linux Just Work(tm) on his old gear allowed his kids do computing with modern, supported software without wasting a dime on that software.
That was another good lesson for the kids to learn.
-- gewg_