EDvancenet

Responses

Post Response

Message Board

FAQ

Message

Subject: Re: Timing is everything
Posted By: William L. Rukeyser
Date: February 22, 1999 at 13:45:54
In Response to: Re: Timing is everything - posted by Dr. Jack Christie on February 22, 1999 at 12:58:54

> > Technology advances and the laws of economics combine to determine when the time is right for widespread acceptance of technology "solutions".

> > Consider 2 frontpage articles in today's Money section of the USA Today:

> > "New IBM chip packs power; memory": IBM's new chip is a breakthrough system-on-a-chip that they say in about 3 years will put power of five of today's desktop computers into a cellular phone.

> > "Flying high on the future" details Five college buddies started Internet search company Excite in a garage six years ago and sold it for $7 billion.

> > Jack's right, the timing and the economics are both combining to make not laptops as we know them today, but electronic "devices" that can replace very expensive, always out-of-date, static information, error prone, incomplete (thus requirement for supplemental texts) textbooks...history. Yes, we'll still have them, but watch how fast they collect dust when today's students get their hands on the key to their futures!

> > The time is almost right. So, it's time to get ready.
> The time is right. Thanks!

>
>

All the factors mentioned underscore the point that even if the laptops in question were Pentium IIIs (and they wouldn't be)... they would be obsolete by the time today's fifth graders got their first jobs.
K-12 is a very complex environment... there are many reasons to distrust one-size-fits-all solutions.
There are also tons of reasons to be less that satisfied with the status quo and skepticism of the laptop proposal should not be taken as a defense of textbooks as we currently know them.

Responses Posted

Post A Response

* Denotes required field

* Name:
Your e-mail (optional):
* Subject
Link URL:
Link Title:
Image URL:
* Comments: > > > Technology advances and the laws of economics combine to determine when the time is right for widespread acceptance of technology "solutions". > > > Consider 2 frontpage articles in today's Money section of the USA Today: > > > "New IBM chip packs power; memory": IBM's new chip is a breakthrough system-on-a-chip that they say in about 3 years will put power of five of today's desktop computers into a cellular phone. > > > "Flying high on the future" details Five college buddies started Internet search company Excite in a garage six years ago and sold it for $7 billion. > > > Jack's right, the timing and the economics are both combining to make not laptops as we know them today, but electronic "devices" that can replace very expensive, always out-of-date, static information, error prone, incomplete (thus requirement for supplemental texts) textbooks...history. Yes, we'll still have them, but watch how fast they collect dust when today's students get their hands on the key to their futures! > > > The time is almost right. So, it's time to get ready. > > The time is right. Thanks! > > > > > > All the factors mentioned underscore the point that even if the laptops in question were Pentium IIIs (and they wouldn't be)... they would be obsolete by the time today's fifth graders got their first jobs. > K-12 is a very complex environment... there are many reasons to distrust one-size-fits-all solutions. > There are also tons of reasons to be less that satisfied with the status quo and skepticism of the laptop proposal should not be taken as a defense of textbooks as we currently know them.