LA's $1.5b iPads in schools experiment hits trouble

An ambitious US$1.3 billion (A$1.46 billion) program to provide a tablet to every Los Angeles public school student has been slowed by technical challenges, with curriculum that was supposed to be built into the technology often incomplete, an independent report has found.

The report marked a potential setback for a program that Superintendent John Deasy last year heralded as a civil rights innovation to help his district's largely disadvantaged students.

The Los Angeles Unified School District launched the country's largest technology rollout of its kind in 2013 by vowing to equip each of its roughly 650,000 students with an iPad by the end of this year.

But the rollout encountered problems, such as students bypassing security measures to access prohibited content. Critics also complained about the process used to select Apple to provide iPads and Pearson to provide its built-in curriculum.

In the latest setback, the American Institutes for Research, hired by the school district to evaluate the iPad rollout, found a number of problems with the program in a report released on Wednesday.

"At nearly all schools, staff stated that the Pearson curriculum that was promised during initial ... trainings was not available during the school year," the report said.

In only one classroom out of 245 was a teacher observed by researchers to use the Pearson curriculum application on the iPad, the report found.

The district last month suspended its contract with Apple, as Deasy announced other companies would be invited to potentially step in to provide devices.

Officials have no current timeline for when the rollout would be completed. Spokeswoman Shannon Haber said the district has spent US$61 million on 109,000 iPads and related equipment.


Read more: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/392354,las-15b-ipads-in-schools-experiment-hits-trouble.aspx#ixzz3E5EmTSxe

This is of professional Interest to me as I am part of the team that has done similar here, unfortunately I'm not allowed to go to much into what I do and exactly who I work for (which is a shame because I am proud of what team I'm part of has achieved and Actually think my employer does a really good work, considering the limitations of resources)

All I can say is Obviously they were doomed to failure because I can tell you right now they had some fool that is taken in by Apples "it's Magic" advertisement (which is false advertising as None of it is Magic) instead of an actual Technical person as.. Apple does not make systems large enough to support a single school let a lone a state wide education system.

the LA system in larger than ours 650,000 compared with 250,000 and knowing the difficulties of scale in our system (that is quite successful, but could always be better with more money) they had no hope as soon as an idiot (apparently Superintendent John Deasy is 'that guy') signed an agreement with Apple.

Should never have gone with Apple, particularly iPads, in the first place. That's basically the most expensive and least sustainable tablet they could have chosen; I suspect it was only chosen because of the name ...

that's exactly right, dumb bureaucrat or as I call 'em 'Rubber Stamps' listening to advertising instead of professionals probably the sort of fool that surrounds them self with yes men

veya_victaous wrote:that's exactly right, dumb bureaucrat or as I call 'em 'Rubber Stamps' listening to advertising instead of professionals probably the sort of fool that surrounds them self with yes men
 

I have to admit, I fell victim to the same thing -- my first smartphone (now I have to use that term loosely) was an iPhone, and I basically got it because of the name and the hype.

Should I now throw away my chalk and slate?

nicko wrote:Should I now throw away my chalk chisel and slate?

That Why I say Apple Suck they don't really work with other things like Smart-boards, Which are like a overhead projector/whiteboard/touch screen all in one, teachers and students interact with it with 'markers' that look like normal white board makers with a couple of buttons but have functionality like a Wii remote

The better Digital education solution are a lot more than just giving them a iPad, most people would be amazed at some of the awesome learning technology that is available. Most of which is changing/adapting the technology to suit 'organic' learning as opposed to forcing education to adapt to use a consumer device.

Excuse me Veya, it was CHALK when I was at School, I can't remember using a chisel!!