Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#301

Post by thomaskcr » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 5:57 PM UTC

ReverseCold wrote: post #74

ReverseCold wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chromebooks are the best, my school has them, and they're 100% usable in all non-tech classes. Battery lasts forever, great for typing, and everything is a web app anyway. We had iPads at one point, but luckily the school realised those were bad and I haven't seen them this year at all.

I also see comments about programming on them, that'd be painful. For everything else (that matters at school) though it's 10/10.

For younger programming classes I try to lean towards using Scratch which is in browser. For the older classes I'll usually set up a terminal server and let them login to it.

To help smooth the process of having them program on their own, I send home a writeup with how to install everything on a home computer for different operating systems, how to ask questions on StackOverflow and give an email address I have manned by other students that like responsibility.

I've worked off of them a few times, they're basically useless without internet is the only major drawback - if you connect to a RDP session the battery will last forever.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#302

Post by boznz » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 6:34 PM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #219

blipmusic wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so nice to read after having seen my sister's children receive laptops at school. No one was actually giving them any system knowledge. No programming, no "how does a computer work, what is a file...", no support/teaching on how software can help when e.g. writing an essay. Nothing. They were carrying 10+ kg (no joke) in their bags every day because of course they were forced to bring the (heavy) laptop to ev…

Same with my kids' schools. iPads handed out to every kid, but incredibly, they were incompatible with the online Math textbook selected. Millions spent on technology for its own sake, without any real plan. Honestly I think paper, pencils, and books are still the most effective tools for most primary education.

+1 for pen and paper at school. Didn't touch a computer until I was 15 and didn't do me any harm.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

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Post by [deleted] » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 7:08 PM UTC

taurath wrote: post #135

ux-app wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, where do you live/teach? "Year 7" I'm in Australia. Nationally we are transitioning to a R-6 = Primary School, 7-12 = High School model. My school is a little unorthodox. We're a private school with a 6-12 shared campus which is why I had experience teaching younger students even though I am HS trained. > What to your mind would not be rubbish? Either Mac or PC is fine in my books. Anything that allows them t…

I think the key reason tablets were chosen wasn't that it was the best learning tool, but it was the best learning tool that won't cause a maintenance nightmare for school IT when kids go crazy with viruses and bricking their laptops whenever they were late for a homework assignment. Ipads are relatively hard to fuck up fron a software side, and if they do you just do a reset.

[deleted]

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#304

Post by Kalium » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 7:20 PM UTC

foxfired wrote: post #65

When I used to see all schools turning to iPads I was one of the naysayers. I saw my nephew working(playing) on his school iPad and I thought this was the worst decision the school system ever took. But now looking back, I am glad they went through it, call it a phase if you must. The American school system (or government) is always last to adopt any tech. You can still find outdated technology barely holding togethe…

> When I used to see all schools turning to iPads I was one of the naysayers. I saw my nephew working(playing) on his school iPad and I thought this was the worst decision the school system ever took.

Personally, I think the attempts that school IT make to prevent playing are great! They're the best way I can think of to create a generation of flexible problem-solvers who penetrate security for fun.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

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Post by Veratyr » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 7:23 PM UTC

unfamiliar wrote: post #183

dpark wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Chromebooks are rubbish too, so I don't really see the move to them as a positive either. What to your mind would not be rubbish? I'm a Microsoft employee, so I have a vested interest in Windows devices being the dominant choice for schools, but I don't see anything realistic students at the high school or below level couldn't do on Chromebooks. Also, where do you live/teach? "Year 7" is not high school in the US.…

> "Year 7" is not high school in the US. Maybe we could all agree to just use pupil age in these discussions, to avoid the international confusion between "year 7", "4th grade", "primary 6", "middle school", "6th form", and all of the other country-specific nomenclature.

I don't think that's entirely reasonable in a discussion about schooling as curricula in different countries differ considerably. A 17 year old Chemistry student in Victoria, Australia might be learning about how to read NMR spectrograms and some common industrial chemical processes [0], a 17 year old Chemistry student in Texas, USA might be learning about the chemical processes involved in genetics [1].

0: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/chemistry/Chemistry...

1: https://www.kleinisd.net/users/0138/Chemistry_Scope_and_Sequ...

Different places teach different things at different times, so I don't think equating ages works very well.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

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Post by carussell » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 7:43 PM UTC

intoverflow2 wrote: post #282

carussell wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not crouton. That comes from Google's coreboot-derived firmware. See https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/2014-firmware-summit It's true, though, that the whole process needs to be made more straightforward and easily circumventable. It's just not a part of crouton.

Ok but one press of space during boot on this scary looking screen [1] and the whole system will need to be reinstalled and all data on the linux partition will be lost correct? Just finding it ridiculous that HN users suggest this with a straight face every time we have this discussion. [1] https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/os-veri...

Yes. It's stupid and is worse than it needs to be. See my last paragraph. I don't know what else I can say.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

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Post by xiaoma » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 7:51 PM UTC

throwaway91111 wrote: post #265

xiaoma wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That relies on a Node.js back-end... don't think it's possible to install it onto a Chromebook. You'd have to have to go to the web page. If you have any experience with a large class of children, I'll bet you can guess how long most will be patient sitting in front of a web browser at school without thinking about loading another page.

This doesn't seem like a tech problem, then.

Not being able to install apps to a machine absolutely is a tech problem.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

#308

Post by Filligree » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 9:28 PM UTC

jaegerpicker wrote: post #208

Filligree wrote: post #205

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Even then, he's wrong. There are power tools such as Scrivener which have no equivalent outside the PC ecosystem.

What? Scrivener has LONG had a iPad version https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scrivener/id972387337?mt=8 Also Bear is another amazing iPad writing app. As good or better than anything on PC IMO. Clearly he's not "wrong", it's almost like people who like the iPad for content creation actually may know what they are talking about.

Leaving aside that I'm on Android...

That's still version 1. It won't even open my files.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

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Post by bitmapbrother » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 9:30 PM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #138

bitmapbrother wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, it is running ChromeOS. You can switch back and forth between Linux and ChromeOS quite easily because they're both running simultaneously.

That Linux experience isn't a ChromeOS feature, rather something that one with developer experience needs to dig on Google forums and not exposed to the regular users that buy Chromebooks.

No one said it was a ChromeOS feature. It's an option for the more technically inclined to expand the functionality of their Chromebook with the added benefit of being able to switch back in an instant.

Re: Apple’s Devices Lose Luster in American Classrooms

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Post by bitmapbrother » Fri, Mar 03, 2017, 9:36 PM UTC

bubblethink wrote: post #171

bitmapbrother wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To have the benefits of ChromeOS full time and the option to use Linux part time.

What are the benefits of ChromeOS compared to standard GNU/Linux ? The main benefits are 1) Better security model and updates 2) Easier to use. 1) Goes out of the window once you flip that developers switch. Not to mention crouton/vm/dual-boot etc. are fine for mucking around. You can't use that in any sane way if you have to deploy and maintain hundreds of machines for a school. Regarding 2), I can't comment on usab…

Yes, a mass deployment of Crouton may not be feasible, but in edge cases where a teacher wants to use the additional capability of Linux for their curriculum then it's certainly a manageable and viable solution. And the ability to instantly flip back and forth between the two OS's is icing on the cake.