In the corner of his desk a word appeared and began
marching around the perimeter of the desk. It was upside
down and backward at first, but Ender knew what it said
long before it reached the bottom of the desk and turned
right side up.
THIRD
Ender smiled. He was the one who had figured out how
to send messages and make them march - even as his
secret enemy called him names, the method of delivery
praised him.
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
There have been desktop computers in schools for over 20
years, but very few personal computers. They were
always school computers, usually in a computer lab or on the
side of the classroom. Rarely on the student's desk.
Card foresees a future where the computer will be
the desk: a work surface with a keyboard, stylus input, a
messaging system, and more. The desk is networked, so
students can send files to home computers. And sometimes the
desk is portable, something to work with anywhere.
That's still more science fiction than reality, but
laptop computers are starting to bridge the gap between
impersonal, shared desktop computers and the idea of one
student, one computer.
Survey Says
A couple articles in the past year speak directly to
laptops being used both in and out of the classroom.
The most recent, Study: Laptops Improve Learning on
MacCentral, discusses a study by Microsoft and Toshiba where
450 students had 24-hour-a-day access to portable computers,
and computers were fully integrated with classroom work.
Findings included:
Seventh-graders with laptops spent ten times as
much time using computers outside of school as did
seventh-graders who had desktop computers at home. Ten
times!
Laptops led to an improvement in work quality,
especially writing skills.
Students with laptops developed better
problem-solving and critical thinking skills. They also
tend to use more resources in their research.
Students with laptops developed a more positive
attitude about learning.
Teachers spend more time interacting with students
individually and less time lecturing.
As MacCentral notes, Apple had a great computer for this
very market. The eMate combined Newton technology with a
more traditional laptop-style design for under $800. But the
eMate died when Apple pulled the plug on Newton.
The second article, eMates
Still Popular in Schools, (MacCentral), shares the
experience of the Fairfax (VA) Mantua Elementary School,
where each fifth-grader was issued an eMate. As in the more
recent Microsoft/Toshiba report, teachers found use of the
laptop improved the teacher's ability to cover a broad range
of topics and the student's ability to report on what they
learned.
The article also discusses eMate use in Arkansas and
Tennessee.
Students Need Handheld Computers
Students learn better and learn more when they have a
computer they can use in the classroom, at home, in the
library, or in the field. The best computer for students
will be rugged, compact, affordable, and accept both
keyboard and stylus input. A color screen would be nice, but
isn't essential, if that's a key to keeping the price
down.
At nearly $800, the eMate hit the high end of the price
scale for a student portable. Although rugged, compact, and
able to work with both a keyboard and a stylus, the price
was probably the main reason it didn't take off.
But the eMate was designed a few years ago. What could
Apple do today to prepare a portable our sons and daughters
could use during the 1999-2000 school year?
First, stick with what worked on the eMate: infrared
networking, a tough clamshell case, and a good size for
kids. But instead of using the Newton OS, make it a Power
Mac inside, using either the inexpensive 603e processor or
the potent G3. Then give it a lot of flash memory for
storing programs and files.
One improvement would be a 640 x 480 pixel screen capable
of displaying thousands of colors. This is the same size as
the monitors we've used for years, so software will
comfortably fit the screen. (800 x 600 would be even nicer,
but only if the price is right.)
With the Mac OS and infrared networking, the ClassMate
would be a perfect partner for the iMac or PowerBook G3.
With file sharing enabled on the bigger Macs, the ClassMate
could easily upload and download programs. In fact, each
classroom might have a central file server for students to
download assignments and upload projects.
But Apple has to miss the $800 mark by a wide margin,
coming short by at least $200, if it wants to penetrate the
education market. At $500-600, not only would schools
consider it a good investment, but parents would also see it
as an investment in their son's and daughter's
education.
But Is It Realistic?
I don't know component prices, so I don't know how
realistic this is. This would make the ClassMate cheaper
than the Palm VII - and probably a good deal more capable.
It would also be direct competition for the Windows CE
handhelds, which use a sibling of Windows 95 and Windows
98.
But as far as I know, none of the portables is designed
for the education market - a market Apple has dominated for
two decades.
The competition: full-sized, relatively fragile Wintel
notebooks with CD-ROMs and hard drives at $1,200 and up;
small but overpriced machines like the $3,000 Toshiba
Portege; lightweight Windows machines like the tiny Toshiba
Libretto; and the less capable Windows CE computers.
None offer the rugged design of the eMate, which is
essential for survival in the backpack. The smallest ones
don't run a major OS, but instead use a lite version of
Microsoft Windows - and have tiny keyboards the prevent
touch typing.
I'm hoping Apple will announce a worthy successor to the
eMate, something marrying the Newton eMate features with the
PowerPC and Mac OS. The work done on the consumer portable
would pay extra dividends if Apple could create a true
student portable at a family-friendly price.
Gone fishing for the summer, 6/13/00.
"Even on the Macintosh, where things are generally considered to be
easier, Murphy's Law seems to work overtime."
Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work
for all. Computers are like that. Please report errors to
Dan Knight
.
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