The
technology plan presentation specifies purchasing Macintosh for the
classrooms because it is the base the Urbana School District already
has installed in the elementary and middle schools. The High School
will be given more freedom on which platform the individual teachers
prefer.
I use multiple platforms. I have an NT Server beside my desk, I have to regularly telnet onto the Unix web server, my laptop runs both Windows 98 and Mac OS, and my workhorse desktop is a Mac. I don't have the luxury of playing favorites or limiting my options by prejudiced preconceptions. I have to pick the best machine that will enable the school district to provide the most with limited funds and limited support, be reliable, last a relatively long time, be utilized to its potential, and minimize stress and anxiety of technology-novice teachers. In short, I have to consider Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) (see Total Cost of Ownership links below for more information). Statistics clearly support Macintosh as having the lowest TCO.
The questions I have to ask myself are:
The answer for the Urbana School District is Macintosh.
Regardless of which platform is chosen, there is also a significant issue regarding whether the School District supports a single platform or multiple platforms. Gartner Group estimates that even elementary measures such as hardware and software standardization and remote management of desktops and servers can cut overall desktop costs by 25%. We are trying to offer a full range of computing and network services to faculty, staff and students with a very lean staff. One of the reasons we can do so much with so few is that we can focus much of our support-training, documentation, consulting, network services, software, etc.-on one dominant platform. The time and money spent on repairs of our Macintosh is only a fraction of what is spent on the PCs in the District; and since our district computer technician is an Apple Certified Technician, we have access to the most current tools and resources. Having dual platforms would also hinder collaborative work among students and between students and faculty, although file translation and incompatibility problems are diminishing.
The argument that a visit to Best Buy reveals the popularity of PCs and the scarcity of Macs is a perfect example of what is called "increasing returns" in economics and "strange attractors" in a branch of mathematics called "chaos theory".
"An alternative economic viewpoint has been
developed by Stanford Professor W. Brian Arthur (now at the Sante Fe
Institute), who developed the theory of "increasing" returns to
explain a phenomenon that takes hold in industries characterized by
congealed knowledge with little physical content. ...
Professor Arthur mentions other examples of increased returns:
Computer operating systems, for example. In the early to mid 1980's
three operating systems were in use: CP/M, DOS, and Apple's
Macintosh. One of these (DOS) was clearly inferior, yet it became the
standard. Why? Because it was adopted by IBM (and the clone
manufacturers). Once a slight lead was established, software
developers had an incentive to support the front runner. This caused
more people to gravitate toward that platform, thus further
incentivizing software developers. The resulting positive feedback
loop caused DOS (and now Windows) to assume a lead position, EVEN
THOUGH THEY ARE CLEARLY INFERIOR TO OTHER CHOICES (emphasis
added)." Thornburg, D. D., 1998.
The computer world changes at an incredible pace, and it is anyone's guess as to what the future will bring. It is getting easier to work across the dual platforms of Macintosh and Windows: hybrid systems exist which allow you to run software for either system, and most major applications have virtually identical versions for both platforms which have identical file formats. Some predict that in the future the operating system will cease to matter. It does not make sense to change platforms based on what "industry" is using, especially since what is used today may not even resemble what will be used in the future when our elementary and middle school students enter the workforce.
To become fixated on the popularity or dominance of a platform in counterproductive. The SKILLS necessary to be productive in the information society are universal regardless of platform. In fact there are more similarities to the systems than the cosmetic differences.
I had taught both undergraduate and gradate computer course for years (both on Macs and Windows) prior to taking this position. I had always tried to teach the courses universally. For example: Under the File menu you find New, Open, Save, Print and Exit/Quit. The fact is, when you save a document there are 3 things you need to be aware of regardless of platform: name of document, location saving to, and format of file. The concept of using directories or folders requires organizational skills, NOT some deep program knowledge. Edit is always second and contains the infamous Cut, Copy, Paste, Select All and the all important Undo. The Trash Can and the more ecologically named Recycle Bin work the same. The theories are the same regardless if you find it in the Start menu in Windows or if you find it under the Apple menu on a Mac.
Would you not agree that once you learn how to search the Internet that you could use either Netscape or Explorer and accomplish your assignment (I'm not saying that you won't have a preference, only that you could adjust)? Or if you learn the basics of word processing, would you not agree that you could create a basic document in MS Word or WordPerfect or even ClarisWorks (now AppleWorks) with minimal difficulties?
These are some of the terms we would like to use to describe our students. Notice that none of them refer to actual computer programs or platforms. That is because none of these skills rely on any particular type of machine.
Macintosh has long been recognized as the easiest to use computer system. While Windows 95/98 makes PCs "more Mac-like," the Mac still has the edge.
The Mac's ease of use compared to IBM compatibles may be open to debate; the Mac's comparative ease of networking is not. According to surveys the average time to connect a Macintosh to a network is 10 minutes; the average time to connect an IBM compatible is 45 minutes, with some installations taking more than 10 hours. In an academic environment, networking is crucial: printing, email, library catalog access, Internet access all assume a connection to the network. Preferring Macs makes networking easier.
Apple has long been recognized as a leader in supporting education. There are more educational software titles for the Macintosh than for any other platform.
Apple also appears to be on the rebound: the iMac is the fastest selling computer of all time. Wall Street seems to have regained confidence, as Apple's stock has more than doubled in value [see Barron's 500 list ranks best U.S. investment bets (http://www.maccentral.com/news/9903/21.barron.shtml, http://www.barrons.com) - Apple is one of the top five].
As far as Macintosh only being used in Education, ask yourself if you have your prejudicial blinders on. There is no argument that for small businesses (which makes up the vast majority of industry) and home use that the PC dominates (until recently it has been less expensive than the superiorly engineered Macintosh). But when NASA proposed to standardize to Windows, they had engineers in a revolt. The engineers won and to this day you will find Macintosh on some NASA engineers' desks. Macintosh dominates the graphic arts fields, including all those computer animated special effects out of Hollywood. Macintosh servers were for a long time only second to Sun Spark stations (Unix OS) as Web Servers.
It is very difficult to compare education to business. In the business arena, a company the size of the Urbana School District (with comparable number of employees and computers) would have as many as seven to ten times the number of technicians. Machines would be replaced and remain current. In the schools we have Macintosh machines in use that are over 10 years old. PCs from ten years ago have long since been removed and are no longer supported. A 10 year old PC would be the equivalent of an 8088 or at most a 286, and unable to run any version of Windows, let alone current Web browsers or word processors.
Another common argument for placing PCs in the schools is PCs are what people have in their homes. In a recent parent survey (taken during the 1998-99 registration, with over 680 replies), 61% replied that they had a computer at home (these reportedly included Apple IIe, Commodore and Tandy machines). 24% reported owning a Macintosh computer. A large portion of those responding owning a PC reported owning a 286 or older machine without Windows or Internet access. If we based the platform supported in the schools by what is reported in the homes, we would still be using DOS.
I firmly believe that the focus for using technology in the schools should NOT be on the machines themselves, but that the machines be used as tools to support an engaged learning environment. The only way this will happen is if the teachers are trained and comfortable in the use of these powerful tools. As Apple is the most dominant platform in education today, and as Macintosh is what our teachers have in their rooms and have experience using, we can enlist the support of more experienced teachers in the schools to answer questions and even offer training on what they are currently doing in their classroom.
After this narration on the reason we support Macintosh in the School District, let me add that we do have an installed base of PCs in the High School and will continue to support those labs. In fact, the proposed additions for the High School will most likely be PC based (including a new course specific lab and science stations).
Ironically, after all the debate, students generally have no trouble transferring skills between platforms and are not intimidated when using different machines (if only adults were so flexible!).
Reference:
Thornburg, D. D. (1998). Brainstorms and Lightning Bolts: Thinking Skills for the 21st Century. San Carlos, CA: Thornburg Center and Starsong Publications.
For more information:
Total Cost of Ownership Links:
Macintosh TCO links:
Total
Cost of Ownership
Last updated: 7/17/01