L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum • Hacker News Board

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#21

Post by fit2rule » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 10:23 AM UTC

4927a15fe7b0c35 wrote: post #17

This is almost 100% about Pearson. The article even has this gem buried toward the end: Although the threatened legal action applies to Apple and Pearson, the district also sent letters Tuesday to two other companies: Lenovo, a device maker, and Arey Jones, a computer distributor. These companies also have included the Pearson product on some devices purchased by L.A. Unified. So, they had problems with non-Apple dev…

Its not entirely almost 100% not about Apple. There's a small percentage of the complaint which refers to the hassle that the school infrastructures need to go through in order to update the curriculum - Apple have a finger in that pie, do not forget.

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#22

Post by Nullabillity » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 10:26 AM UTC

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #15

threatofrain wrote: post #10

Aside from how Pearson performed, I'm rather surprised that they choose to buy so many iPads. What does the iPad offer to the pedagogical process? Are they teaching kids about programming or computer skills? Probably not. Did they expect Pearson to produce an entire curriculum just for the iPad? Why not a website instead, which is so much more easily accessed and maintained? Did these schools want to be "technologica…

> Did they expect Pearson to produce an entire curriculum just for the iPad? More or less, yes: "Under the contract, Pearson was to provide English and math curriculum." > Why not a website instead The article says "Deasy had said the technology effort was a civil rights imperative designed to provide low-income students with devices available to their wealthier peers." It's easy for you and me to assume that every m…

If you want to level the playing field then giving out devices that are effectively only useful for consuming content is not the way to go.

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#23

Post by roel_v » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 10:37 AM UTC

chaostheory wrote: post #16

zaroth wrote: post #2

More like seeks refund from Pearson? The body of the article directly contradicts the headline. I'm hope that FBI investigation turns up some dirt, Pearson is a name that comes up too often in public education, and seems like universally negative reactions. How do such shit companies manage to gain such a stranglehold, particularly when it comes to government contracts? Across 50 states and the innumerable local gove…

The misleading title involving Apple is really just to get more eyeballs.

The article says clearly that Pearson was a subcontractor to Apple. Seems that Apple was leading the deal. Not sure how the schools would even take this up with Pearson. If Pearson really is a subcontractor, the real party to have a beef with is Apple.

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#24

Post by WalterBright » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 10:49 AM UTC

I've always been skeptical that computers would make learning effortless. It's like expecting that driving a car would make one better at running marathons. Learning requires effort, one way or another, just like exercise.

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#25

Post by wtbob » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 11:04 AM UTC

threatofrain wrote: post #10

Aside from how Pearson performed, I'm rather surprised that they choose to buy so many iPads. What does the iPad offer to the pedagogical process? Are they teaching kids about programming or computer skills? Probably not. Did they expect Pearson to produce an entire curriculum just for the iPad? Why not a website instead, which is so much more easily accessed and maintained? Did these schools want to be "technologica…

> What does the iPad offer to the pedagogical process?

Ego boosts and PR opportunities for board members.

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#26

Post by Shivetya » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 11:05 AM UTC

threatofrain wrote: post #10

Aside from how Pearson performed, I'm rather surprised that they choose to buy so many iPads. What does the iPad offer to the pedagogical process? Are they teaching kids about programming or computer skills? Probably not. Did they expect Pearson to produce an entire curriculum just for the iPad? Why not a website instead, which is so much more easily accessed and maintained? Did these schools want to be "technologica…

Fads can have expensive results when politicians are merely looking for face time. The face time opportunities that would be available stating "we are giving all our students low priced Android tablets with awesome educational software" pales in comparison than to align oneself with a major in fashion brand, Apple.

that and Apple's marketing moves were pushing pretty hard, they were doing their best to get some local counties to spend a thousand or more per student to give high school kids macbooks

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#27

Post by granfalloon » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 11:09 AM UTC

threatofrain wrote: post #10

Aside from how Pearson performed, I'm rather surprised that they choose to buy so many iPads. What does the iPad offer to the pedagogical process? Are they teaching kids about programming or computer skills? Probably not. Did they expect Pearson to produce an entire curriculum just for the iPad? Why not a website instead, which is so much more easily accessed and maintained? Did these schools want to be "technologica…

"Are they teaching kids about programming or computer skills?"

I had a friend tell me recently how her young child "loved computers and was really good with them," but clarified by saying he was "always playing with his iPad."

I'm not a professional programmer, but I did develop my strong interest in computers while playing around with (and often breaking) my parents' PC as a kid, and I've heard the same from many engineers. I wonder how a kid is supposed to develop that kind of curiosity if their only exposure to computers is the sandboxed, sterile environment of a iPhone/tablet?

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#28

Post by skywhopper » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 11:11 AM UTC

I don't know the history of this deal, but I'm entirely unsurprised that this didn't work out. Digital tools are just not up to snuff. Experiments like this are worth doing, but not with an entire school district. And jumping in when there's no actual curriculum yet is completely irresponsible. Blaming Pearson and Apple is disingenuous of the district. Of course salespeople are going to lie and overpromise. Anyone who's spent any time in any business knows this. The administrators and board members who agreed to this deal are the ones who are responsible. That $768 for each iPad and software could have bought a lot of books and classroom supplies for these kids that would have enriched their lives a lot more. The overhead of supporting all these new devices likely drained a lot of operational money from other areas as well. And there's absolutely zero evidence that tablets or computers are better ways to teach kids than traditional methods. Turning over all the responsibility for educating our children to a corporation with a magic solution sounds like a brilliant plan because we want to believe there's an easy way to solve the problem, but there's not one, and this is so much snake oil, and the people in charge should be wise to this stuff by now.

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#29

Post by S4M » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 11:30 AM UTC

threatofrain wrote: post #10

Aside from how Pearson performed, I'm rather surprised that they choose to buy so many iPads. What does the iPad offer to the pedagogical process? Are they teaching kids about programming or computer skills? Probably not. Did they expect Pearson to produce an entire curriculum just for the iPad? Why not a website instead, which is so much more easily accessed and maintained? Did these schools want to be "technologica…

I am currently developing an education website. One of a big advantage of a tablet app over a website is that the app is available offline.

Re: L.A. school district ditches iPad curriculum

#30

Post by smoyer » Thu, Apr 16, 2015, 12:02 PM UTC

"Pearson defended its product."

This is a company whose business model is being disrupted and whose life will be getting a lot worse if they don't recognize that students (particularly college students) will no longer be cash cows they can milk via textbook/curriculum sales.