iSean

Apple, Detroit schools team up

The Detroit Public Schools and Apple Computer Inc. have inked an up to $1.2 million, four-year deal in which the district will lease computer equipment for a new small technology-focused school inside Crockett High School.

Apple in turn will give the district more than 100 days worth of technology and teaching support, including on-site help in classrooms as teachers and students learn to use the laptops, said the district’s Chief Academic Officer Juanita Clay Chambers. Detroit is using federal dollars to pay for the lease.

The district will get about 780 laptops, as well as iPods, digital cameras and computer software. About 240 of the computers will go to the freshman class of the new Detroit Digital Learning Community High School at Crockett. And another 14 Detroit middle schools will get the remaining laptops, in hopes that many of those students go on to enroll in the new school once they get older.

Chambers said this new high school will be a wireless environment where students do everything from take notes to create multimedia book reports with their computer equipment.

personally, i like the idea of providing laptop computers to students. i also like that apple computer is going to provide more than 100 days of technology and teaching support. apple has sponsored much research in the past in educational settings and they have a history of valuing the successful implementation and integration of technology into the curriculum. however, i can already see the results of this program — or, let me rephrase, i can already see how this program is going to be evaluated. michigan has a big state test like every state as required by NCLB and our test is called the MEAP test. this technology initiative is going to be evaluated based on scores on the MEAP test. i am one of the biggest ‘technology in education’ rah-rah guys around, but i don’t pretend to believe that teaching technology literacy skills is most beneficial to stuff that gets tested on the MEAP. that’s not to say that i don’t think technology can help — it clearly can, but i think the benefit of having and using technology is far more important.

our society has entered into the information age. sure, much that was taught in the previous century is still very relevant and still crucial to the future success of our students — the 3 Rs aren’t going away. on the other hand, the information age has brought with it a new paradigm that goes beyond what we previously stressed. we have a new way of doing business and far more ways communicating with each other. the MEAP test does not assess how well students are going to enter the information age. the MEAP test does not assess how well students can find accurate information using a search engine. the MEAP test does not assess how well students can determine the validity of the information they find online. yet, these skills are crucial for students who are entering the world of work and technology initiatives (like the one in Detroit) are going to be key steps towards actually trying to educate our students for the world in which they will encounter.