Post by @AAKL@infosec.exchange

This is what education looks like in a Big Tech world that only cares about money.

"Schools are weighing the cost of maintaining Chromebooks versus leasing MacBook Neos."

"In Texas, Beaumont Independent School District estimated they completed more than 6,600 laptop repairs in a single school year, across a fleet of devices an average of five years old. Support costs reached $469,576, covering $212,574 in repairs since January 2025, $220,040 in IT staff time for the 2025-26 year, and $36,962 in overtime."

Inc: Apple and Google Both Want to Rule the Classroom. The Tide Is Turning for 1 of Them https://www.inc.com/connor-jewiss/apple-and-google-both-want-to-rule-the-classroom-the-tide-is-turning-for-1-of-them/91413960 @IncMagazine #Google #Apple #education

@mttaggart

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#apple #google #education

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wgrav

@wgrav@fosstodon.org 3 hr. ago

@AAKL @IncMagazine @mttaggart

Just give them all a #ThinkPad already, damnit

Taggart :ifin:

@mttaggart@infosec.exchange 3 hr. ago

@wgrav @AAKL @IncMagazine I think you will find that is prohibitively expensive.

wgrav

@wgrav@fosstodon.org 2 hr. ago

@mttaggart @AAKL @IncMagazine if the school can cheap out with a 2015 macbook air (I know that's how my local public school system does it, though they might have changed it recently), they can cheap out on a t440.

mike805

@mike805@noc.social yesterday

@AAKL @IncMagazine @mttaggart They are both bad for the same reason. Both companies took an open source operating system and built a proprietary layer on top of it. Neither would exist without open source but neither is open source.

That being said, MacOS will at least teach the more techie kids Unix and programming. Assuming the schools allow the kids such access.

Epic Null

@Epic_Null@infosec.exchange 5 hr. ago

@mike805 @AAKL @IncMagazine @mttaggart I understand why schools are giving every student a laptop. I do.

but I'm starting to think the "Computerlab" setup was best? Computer use should be intentional. Calculaor use sure is, even if it's super common in math.

AAKL

@AAKL@infosec.exchange 5 hr. ago

@Epic_Null @mike805 @IncMagazine @mttaggart It might be just that - a computer lab. But I question all these costs that schools have to pay as a result.

Taggart :ifin:

@mttaggart@infosec.exchange 5 hr. ago

@AAKL @Epic_Null @mike805 @IncMagazine The lab is good, but the idea that computing skill lived only with a handful of teachers was problematic. Also availability and scheduling were challenges. The laptop cart where devices can be shared amongst a smaller set of students (and not be with the kids all the time) is the best model IMO.

~16 more replies

mike805

@mike805@noc.social 3 hr. ago

@mttaggart @AAKL @Epic_Null @IncMagazine Now the counter argument is, people in the real world do spend all day in front of a laptop, and have to look for a pen when they need one.

So while kids ought to be able to write, they should also learn how to work the way the real world works.

There needs to be some distraction control built into these machines when they are being used during class.

Taggart :ifin:

@mttaggart@infosec.exchange 3 hr. ago

@mike805 @AAKL @Epic_Null @IncMagazine No. In this regard, school need not reflect the workplace. In early education especially, we must cultivate attention, fine motor skills, and a host of other cognitive traits not really aided by constant screen.

Source: my career as an educational technologist who made many mistakes I now regret.

mike805

@mike805@noc.social 2 hr. ago

@mttaggart @AAKL @Epic_Null @IncMagazine Ok if you worked in the field... what went wrong with ed tech?

The Xerox PARC people wanted to improve education with better tools. They brought kids in to play with Altos and Dynabook prototypes to see how the kids interacted and improve the devices.

Somehow we got from there to kids doing demonstrably better with paper and pencil, and elite schools going back to that.

Was this just commercial greed or do we not know how to do ed tech right?

Epic Null

@Epic_Null@infosec.exchange 2 hr. ago

@mike805 @mttaggart @AAKL @IncMagazine

Was this just commercial greed or do we not know how to do ed tech right?

Honestly I think it's completely broken inscentives.

Most of Ed Tech seems, from an outsider's perspective, based on how the state can cut costs while getting reasonable tech. How can the state cut costs? Well... big tech is HAPPY to oblige if itmeans making future customers, and cutting out competition!

Taggart :ifin:

@mttaggart@infosec.exchange 2 hr. ago

@Epic_Null

"Ed Tech" as an industry is a racket. The appification of schools was a mistake. Things started going south when schools started removing dedicated Computer classes and instead "integrated" tech skills in all curricula. Most teachers, although I love them, did not/do not have the requisite tech skills to support embedded 1:1 device usage, to say nothing of making relevant use of software. It was often rammed into lessons that didn't need or benefit from it. And the "integrationists" tasked with providing both technical expertise and curriculum guidance were set up for failure.

Things worsened with age of the iPad, followed closely by the Chromebook and Google Apps and largely, the golden era of big tech. Everyone was so ensorcelled by the idea that everyone had to code—not for its intellectual value, but because all jobs would require it (lol). And of course with Google stuff in particular, schools were getting this stuff for such a low price, it was a no-brainer. Your elementary school, powered by Google Apps.

And in the midst of this you had the "maker" craze. 3D printers and Arduinos are cool, but basically nobody had useful lesson plans for these expensive toys. But they looked great on the website for the STE(A)M program.

At some point we started turning all K-12 into a STEM job conveyor belt, and everything suffered because of it.

@mike805 @AAKL @IncMagazine

Epic Null

@Epic_Null@infosec.exchange 1 hr. ago

@mttaggart @mike805 @AAKL @IncMagazine Honestly, even if we DID want to integrate coomputer literacy into every class where it would make sense... wouldn't you want to at least make sure your teachers had the minimum educaton for it? Which many don't because they didn't grow up on computers in this way? And even if they did, a lot of the computer safety lessons were still new enough tha tmost of them may have missed it/not had time to actually internalize it?

Taggart :ifin:

@mttaggart@infosec.exchange 1 hr. ago

@Epic_Null @mike805 @AAKL @IncMagazine I can't overstate how pernicious the myth of the "digital native" has been. The conventional wisdom was that since kids grew up around technology, they'll understand it fine even if the teachers don't.

That's nonsense
Even if it were true, and in limited senses it was, you can imagine the power dynamic that sets up in a classroom.

Josh “Space Phrasing” Cubert

@josh@hactivedirectory.com 59 min. ago

@mttaggart @Epic_Null @mike805 @AAKL @IncMagazine They understand *less* about it by default. They may be able to get the desired result or do the objective they’ve set out to do with technology, but ask them to describe the physical pieces, the mechanics. The physics. The math. Sometimes *I* can barely do that.

I am awesome with theory. I know how cars work. Even the physics. Ask my neighbors how many curse words I yelled and for how long when I set out to change my headlight. Literally a 💡.

Taggart :ifin:

@mttaggart@infosec.exchange yesterday

@AAKL @IncMagazine I have deployed both and the Neo is the obvious choice. I don't think anything should be 1:1 anymore, but if you want to teach computing to a new generation, a proper OS with the ability to be somewhat customized beyond what Google permits is the long-term winner. Also, cheapo Chromebooks create a huge repair headache during the school year.

I literally had to open every CB I deployed and tape the battery connector in place so it wouldn't wriggle free during normal movement.

AAKL

@AAKL@infosec.exchange yesterday

@mttaggart @IncMagazine No one should have to do this. Also, these are high costs for schools, especially for repairs.

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