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Editorial: Future of WBCSD tech
Op-Ed · April 03, 2014


What should West Branch Community Schools do next with technology?


The fact that this question arose at a school board meeting in only the second year of the 1-to-1 laptop initiative is interesting. When the school district bought the laptops, the discussion at the time was that after four years, the Macbooks could be turned in to Apple for newer versions.

That is fine, but now the school board wonders if it can get a better deal with only a slight drop in features. Some new laptops are going for $250 and can do much of what the $800 Macbooks offer.

And with more and more reliance on “the cloud” — pulling data and programs down from the Internet rather than letting them take up memory on a hard drive — it is entirely possible that the extra bells and whistles Macbooks offer could come from another source.

Of course, relying on the Internet is not entirely feasible, as Monday night’s brief power outage reminds us. And even when the power is on, WiFi or data cables may not be at hand for all of the nearly 500 laptops the school spread between teachers and pupils. This is true right now.

So where is a good balance? What features do the laptops need to make sure the majority of the work can get done under reasonable conditions?

Some cities are trying to make WiFi part of their infrastructure, like roads and water and sewer, making it accessible to anyone inside the city limits. West Branch is not seriously considering such a move, but even if it were, the school district borders extend far beyond the city. The laptops must carry some fundamental pieces of software.

Perhaps the laptops will not return at all. Perhaps tablets will replace them. They are more mobile and easier to use while on the move, making them better for West Branch’s push towards more hands-on curriculum. And they are significantly less expensive.

And there may even be a move away from one-size-fits-all devices if the school district decides that the decreasing costs of technology soon ought to be borne by the families. Like pencils and notebooks, laptops or tablets, so long as they meet certain requirements, could be among the required school supplies families purchase.

The positive side of such a move is that the families can choose to keep the device as long as they wish and the pupil can personalize it. And since the school will likely continue to provide Internet access on campus, the school can continue to filter inappropriate content.

The downsides include, first and foremost, families bearing the cost of the devices, which will hit larger families harder. No doubt there would likely be some financial assistance for low-income families, but it would not be available for all. And even if the school continues to offer tech support, a wide range of devices could make it difficult for staff to keep up with a wide array of problems that could arise.

Of course it is only half joking to say that technology becomes obsolete soon after removing it from the box. It is hard to say how much it will evolve before the four-year lease agreement runs out on these Macbooks.

Thankfully the school district’s technology committee is and has been working on these questions already, though there are plenty of uncertainties still out there.

Providing 1-to-1 technology to children is a considerable expense, but the opportunities for knowledge and skills and discipline are considerably more valuable. We are eager and excited to see where the school will go from here.