The teacher from next door came in this morning before school. He looked at the back of the room, and said “You guys got another computer? It’s like every time I come in here you’ve got another one!”

This led into a conversation about technology in our school and schools in general. It always seems like a tremendous effort to get a decent quantity of use-able computers in a school, and those efforts usually aren’t as fruitful as we’d like.

Our tech coordinator at school had a plan for the school, and with her budget approved (after fighting tooth and nail with the board) she got a ton of new desktops for the school. These were much needed – every classroom had an old Mac with OS 9.1. But this plan only got us one computer per room. What do we do with that?

Of course one computer is better than none. But it really limits the technological possibilities to teacher-directed instruction. It’s a great boon for using Power Point, incorporating music/video, etc… but it falls flat when I want the students to be able to use a computer for something.  It’s kind of hard to cycle 28 students through one computer.

We eventually ended up at the question – Why is it so hard to get a decent amount of working computers in a school? You wouldn’t walk into an office and see a 15 : 1 ratio of employees to computers.  So why is that the norm (or maybe better than the norm) in schools?

Reliance on Proprietary Technology

One place I think we fall short is the reliance on proprietary technology. Windows PCs and Macs are the norm. I don’t know that I’ve ever walked into a school and seen a set of computers running Linux.

Why?

Every computer that is placed in a school with Microsoft Windows and MS Office costs money. Microsoft doesn’t give its Operating System or Office Suite away – it charges for licensing.

There are many open source Linux distros available that are comparable to Windows. Ubuntu is one user-friendly example. Open Office is more than a replacement for MS Office.

I’d like to see some numbers on how much schools nationwide spend on licensing fees to Microsoft for Windows and Office. In my opinion, that’s wasted money. Money that could be spent on hardware to bring in more computers per student – and actually provide students with access to the computers.

In a report to the state of Wisconsin, it was reported that a school with $250 per pupil to spend on technology spent $50 on “operating systems, productivity and other non-instructional software.” That’s 20%. I’d like to have that 20% back to spend on something else.

Macs are kind of in a different world here. You don’t just buy the Mac OS – you buy the Apple experience. This includes a lot of applications (Guitar Band anyone?) that you don’t get standard with WIndows. However, I don’t think these additions really justify the extra cost when there are free, open source alternatives to most of those bonuses.

But what really angers me… is when I see Microsoft Office on a Macintosh. Eugh. You purchased an Apple computer, paid for the Apple operating system and office suite, and then paid extra to install an extra proprietary office suite?

Open Office is available for Mac, by the way.

Ordering Computers that Are Too Expensive

Unless you’re teaching an animation or video-editing course, you don’t need a top of the line computer.

I hate to break it to you, but they created a computer that could do everything you want your students to do… five years ago.  Computer manufacturers keep pushing the envelope with faster and faster processors, but those extra gigahertz don’t mean much in the scheme of things.

Unless your crunching complex images/videos or playing the latest games (which I don’t think is happening in your classroom), that extra processor speed and RAM is going to waste.

I’d like to see some data on the average cost of a computer purchased for high schools. If I had to guess, I’d say that the new ones we just received cost $1,000 or so. Dell has improved recently to include some pretty cheap computers (baseline, $279 w/o monitor), but that’s not as cheap as you can get nor is it what schools are buying.

The same Wisconsin report (written about 3 years ago, in Jan. 06) estimated $1,200 per computer. When I get back to school Monday, I think I’m going to check exactly what type of Dell computers we got and how much they probably cost.

Cheaper Alternatives?

I’d be willing to bet that there are much cheaper, more effective alternatives out there.

Many of these will come without monitors.  To estimate the entire cost then, we’ll assume you spend $100 on a basic LCD monitor, $20 on a keyboard/mouse kit, and $20 on a speaker set.  Speakers may be unnecessary, but for the sake of simplicity that rounds to $140.00 for accessories.

One option is to buy this barebones kit for $159.99. With a 3.2 gHz processor and 3gb of RAM, it’s more than enough for classroom use.  For the average classroom, I would never think of buying anything “better.”

There is a slightly cheaper kit for $124.99. An AMD processor clocked at 2.4 gHz and 2gb of RAM.  This is probably about right for your normal classroom’s needs.  If I had a set of these in my classroom, I’d have thought that I died and went to heaven.

Now these kits assume that your tech coordinator knows how to assemble a computer. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. But if your tech coordinator can’t assemble a computer from scratch, there are other alternatives.

You can get a recertified desktop at Egghead for $159.99. It’s a 1.5ghz processor with 1gb of RAM.  Not optimal, but certainly strong enough to deal with the normal classroom load.

You can get a recertified desktop at TigerDirect for $169.99. It has a much better processor (3 gHz), but still only 1gb of RAM. I’d rather have the barebones kit above. But I’d still be happy with it.

If all else fails, you can get a brand new computer at Egghead for $199.99. It comes with Ubuntu Linux installed, in case your tech coordinator can’t figure it out. With a 2.0 gHz processor and 1gb of RAM it’s enough for the classroom without being excessive. It wouldn’t be my top choice, but it’s a great value for a brand new machine with an OS installed on it.

Bottom line? That’s five computers for under $199.99 that would be a great addition to your classroom. Add in a monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers, and you’re talking $300-350. That’s about 25-30% of what the Wisconsin report estimated a school should spend on a computer. I’d be willing to bet it’s also 50% or less of what your school spent on its last computer purchase.

A Moment of Zen

If you watch the Daily Show, you know what the moment of zen is.  If you don’t, you should.

For those of you not in the know, it’s the quote or video clip that is best suited for inducing a mind-blowing aneurism.  When you see it, you can’t help but think that the entire world of logic and reality has drifted away with the tide.

Here’s a moment of zen, quoting the Wisconsin report I mentioned earlier.

Further, because the student to computer ratio is meant also to provide computers for administrators, “power users” in the school office, such as the individual who processes student data, may require a three-year replacement.

I once went to the Rutgers financial aid office.  My roommate had to go talk to someone about loans and such.

He walked up to the counter and talked to a nice lady with a new computer.  I happened to peak over the counter at said computer.

It had a shiny new flat panel monitor – 19″ or so.  I expect the processor was brand new, and mighty expensive.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the database program she was accessing.  She asked for his information so she could bring up his school records.

As she did so, she was interacting with a text-based program.  This text-based program was so old that it had opened in a command-prompt Window within Windows XP.

This “super user” certainly needed that brand new, top of the line computer to run a program that had been written at least a decade before for an operating system that quickly became obsolete (MS DOS).  Yes, that power user certainly needs a new computer every three years.