MacBooks for all-kind of: Ninth graders will get laptops next year
Monday, February 13, 2012 By Mollie Berg.
In September, among pencils, pens, notebooks and paper, a shiny new MacBook will be in each freshman's backpack, as SCDS becomes the first school in Sacramento to implement a 1:1 laptop program.
Additionally, the school will purchase two mobile iPad labs for the lower school.
The laptop decision results from the success of the middle school iPad program and months of decision-making, headmaster Stephen Repsher said.
Assisted by technology director Tom Wroten, Repsher made a formal presentation to the Board of Trustees in early December about the laptop plan.
So in January, when the board voted to approve the school's 2012-13 budget, the cost of new laptops for the freshmen and new iPad stations for the lower school were included. As a result, they "tacitly approved the technology initiative," Repsher said.
While Repsher and Wroten have not decided what type of MacBook will be given to the freshmen, they are considering the 11-inch MacBook Air or 13-inch MacBook Pro and are leaning towards the MacBook Air.
The MacBook Air is $999 and the MacBook Pro is $1,199 (not including the 10 percent educational discount the school receives). Both prices don't include software, which will be installed in students' laptops.
However, the laptops will not cause a spike in tuition, according to Repsher. He pointed out that tuition has increased approximately 3.3 percent annually for the past few years, and the increase will be about the same this year.
"Many people are worried about the cost, but we have addressed that adequately," Repsher said.
"This is just a tiny part of our total (technology) budget."
There is technology funding available every year, Wroten said.
Giving laptops to freshmen is an example of taking advantage of this funding—just as the school would use the funding to update school technology like the library computers.
Steve Edwards, vice president of the Board of Trustees, said in an email that the board is "really excited about the program and (feels) the money spent is well worth it."
Although Repsher said that most parents are delighted with the new technology, some parents of next year's sophomores, juniors and seniors are disappointed that their children will not have laptops.
But providing laptops to all 135 high-school students would be too expensive, Repsher said.
Transition period
Wroten acknowledged that there will be a transition period when some students have MacBooks and some don't--just as there was in the middle school, when only the sixth grade received iPads.
"There's going to be an evolution," Wroten said.
The computers will be leased to the school, and at the end of the lease, the school will own them. The computers will likely be given to students when they graduate, Wroten said.
Throughout the lease period, the laptops will officially be owned by Country Day although students will retain "full control," Wroten said.
And full control means full control—the school will have no power to stop students from downloading illegal music and copies of textbooks.
"We can't restrict music specifically and we don't want to. However, it is illegal," Wroten said.
"I want students to take ownership of their machine—I don't plan on having a lot of restrictions. We (had restrictions) for the middle school because of how the iPad is designed and because they're younger," he said.
Nevertheless the school's "Acceptable Use Policy" ought to deter potential illegal downloaders.
Sue Nellis, head of high school, said that if illegal material is downloaded in a school computer, the school could get into serious legal trouble.
Legal issues aside, students like eighth grader Aidan Galati, who already has a MacBook of her own, are wondering what will become of their laptops.
According to Repsher, students like Galati will be given Macbooks, and will be expected to use their school laptops for the high-school curriculum.
But Repsher expects parents not to buy their high-school children laptops in the future.
Eighth grader Leslie Young, who will attend SCDS next year, doesn't have a laptop. Her parents, were "seriously thinking" about buying her one with the start of high school, and now her parents don't have to pay the extra expense, she said.
Eighth grader Manson Tung, who is not planning on attending high school at Country Day, said the laptop decision has increased his interest in SCDS.
"It's becoming a first-class education. My mom was really excited about it," he said.
Moreover, Repsher said, the school is planning on taking advantage of Apple's new iBook program, which allows students to download textbooks for about $15 apiece. The downloaded books not only cost less, but also provide interactive access to videos and links.
However, because many textbooks aren't in the iBook store, not all teachers will move to an electronic curriculum.
"We're not telling the teachers they have to change textbooks because it has to be online," Wroten said.
"If it arises that there are textbooks that are cheaper, more interactive, better all around and computer based, we hope they will move in that direction."
According to Repsher, another concern in the months of deliberation was creating a "steep learning curve" for teachers.
"We want (the laptops) to be something that enhances teaching—not something that reinvents it. Teachers are busy as it is," Repsher said.
So, on Feb. 8, the faculty started training on how to use the computers and their software.
Led by Cindy Kendall, a Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University, via webcast, an hour-long Webinar taught teachers how to integrate technology.
Laptop distraction
In addition to not being "laptop savvy," some teachers worry that they won't be able to see what their students are doing.
"It's up to the teachers to instruct the students on how they want to use the laptops in class," Repsher said.
Although math teacher Patricia Dias expects to take advantage of Geometer's Sketchpad and Google ToolBar in class, she worries that "math is most easily done with pencil and paper.
"It is (almost) impossible to take notes in a math class on a computer—I could teach them how to do it, but the fact of the matter is it's faster to do it with pencil and paper," she said.
"And if it's in paper I can see all the way back to the room and see if they're really doing math."
However, Dias said that it will be convenient to have the laptops on days she schedules projects.
Although history teacher Daniel Neukom doesn't plan on incorporating laptops into his class regularly, he does think that his curriculum will somewhat change.
Neukom also believes that the laptops will force teachers to be more vigilant. He said that he's already witnessed students using their laptops in a non-educational way during class with their private laptops.
Wroten is looking into turning the Internet off in certain classrooms to prevent students getting distracted while taking notes or testing.
Dias is also concerned about students being responsible for their own equipment.
Now, Dias said, students lose their Ti89 calculators or get them stolen.
"You put your bag down for 45 minutes while you're eating lunch and someone's messed with it because they can't find their own stuff," she said.
Also, she fears that strangers will come onto campus because they've heard that everyone has computers and know that teenagers aren't responsible.
Wroten, however, said that in the two years the middle-school iPad program has been in place, "somebody hasn't walked onto campus and stolen 30 iPads."
When a student inevitably does lose their laptop, their family will be left with the bill.
Middle-school students sign an agreement that says that if their iPads are lost or stolen, they must pay for them. The same program will be implemented in the high school, Wroten said.
The school is also considering purchasing an accidental damage warranty.
What's ahead
Wroten is unsure what to expect for the future.
"Three years ago we would talk in our technology meetings about what we were going to do. No one said anything about iPads," he said.
"Ten years from now technologically will be totally different."
But Neukom is a little more skeptical, perhaps because he's "seen other ‘miracles' of education in 40 years."
"(There were) new trends and new ideas that people thought would make big differences, but it doesn't happen very often," Neukom said.
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