I see that the cloud is a flattener for education in many ways. I believe that all students, poor or rich, deserve the same quality of education and deserve to use the same tools. The playing field should be level. The most promising sign of this level playing field is in the offerings of the cloud: Google Apps for Ed, drop.io, schooltube.com, edu20.org, wikipedia.org- all of these online apps and tools are free (right now, anyway). Take into account the netbook and in a very, very short time- technology education will be more accessible to everyone, granted there are qualified teachers to shape it.
So I've been pretty optimistic about all of this- and then two things happened:
I saw this (via the Crunchpad blog):
and I read this tweet on twitter:
Let me just say - wow! Score 100 points for Digital Equity.
I'm already in line. The CrunchPad, a netbook/tablet device that Andy Ihnatko of the Sun Times describes too well:
"It’s an 18mm thick tablet computer built like a S’More. At the bottom, there’s a crisp layer of a netbook-class computer. Then, a marshmallow-sweet software layer consisting of a WebKit-based web browser. They top the whole thing off with a full-sized 12” color touchscreen display."
Now... wait for it. Andy- what kind of apps does it run?
"The browser. Period."
How much will it cost?
"$299." (ACK! Jumping for joy!)
Item II: Google Chrome OS
On further reading of the Google Blog one sentence sticks out:
"Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks."
Netbooks. Google has it sights targeted straight at education and soccer moms with this. I previously talked up netbooks as the Tipping Point for cloud computing. And as I just came back from the National Educational Computing Conference, I saw many conference goers holding these quaint little computers. I even saw one patron with a Dell Mini Hackintosh.
It doesn't take a tea leaf reader to see that in the next couple years, with the onset of Google Wave, the Crunchpad, and Google Chrome OS, in Doc Brown's immortal edited for TV words, we're "going to see some serious...stuff" about to happen in tech education and it's implication on digital equity. So I've listed what I think, at this point, are the +s and -s of this possible new device revolution.
How can these two items positively impact equity and education?
1. The cost of this technology will flatten the playing field. School districts from lower economies now will be able to afford them.
2. 1-1 computing initiatives will abound.
3. Inner city public schools would (and already should) be wifi hot spots for the neighborhoods.
4. Take-home media will become passe- students will be expected to take home their devices, and the fear of losing equipment to theft will significantly decrease. The responsibility to completing work at home on the device also becomes more integrated.
5. The need for quality professional development is about to skyrocket.
How can these two items negatively impact equity and education?
1. Districts will now begin to see a way to save money by lowering their tech budgets. As a consequence, they will forgo cash for the amount of maintenance that will be needed for netbooks and wireless upkeep.
2. Quality teachers with experience in 1-1 computing, as well as project based learning, will be difficult to find. Students may not see progress because teachers will have a heavy learning curve.
3. The need for quality professional development is about to skyrocket- this could also be a bad thing. Not only are districts going to be shorthanded with experienced teachers, they are also going to misjudge the amount of necessary PD needed for these devices, or they'll ignore it all together. Netbooks could very well be the Pandora's box of poor schools.
4. Where to store student personal information? While this may not be considered negative, per se, it's still controversial to store student information off site. Will this become a misnomer?
5. Mostly what this comes down to is, again, $$, not being prepared- what's new?
A Final Word
I never felt more inclined to say that a Google Chrome OS, with the combination of a $299 Crunchpad could absolutely streamline technology equity across the board (note the word "could"). The question about affordability of just the devices makes a compelling argument come budget time. There will definitely be more decisions to make as more schools adopt Apple's iTouch and other netbooks in the classroom. The debate over storing student information in the cloud or on a school server also becomes less or more controversial (you decide). And undoubtedly, Apple will unveil its iTablet, which will cost probably twice as much. Already, iPhone loyalists are on the defensive:
Chris Rice, Apple loyalist, says, "while CruchTablet will be great for what it does, a $600 iTablet would be much more valuable in a higher ed setting, IMHO. An iTablet could run full Office suite, integrate w/iTunesU, allow students to take notes/record lectures in class, AND read texts."
Liz Kolb, proponent of cell phones in the classroom, also writer of cellphonesinlearning.com, says, "I think [the Crunchpad] might not have a big impact because Apple was first with the iTouch/iPhone. Look at Microsoft---there OS is not nearly as good as MAC OS, but MS allowed others to copy and use, thus they got there first. Usually first wins out (even when others are better) I don't think that many will switch over to the Crunch...they will just wait for Apple to make their iTouch's larger."
So, will these cloud computing products be a game-changer? I'll sum this all up from a quote from Google's own blog (via this Miguel Guhlin post). They state:
CrunchPad Demo
Google Wave Demo
