As tipster, I was also at the apple seminar, and a Macfan boy from way back. I have worked duel platform most of my professional life–I learned how to program on a Apple II-e in Grade 10 Computer Science class, but when I bought my first computer it was a used NEC laptop with WordPerfect saving my life. And this is typed on my Dell Desktop.

I both agree and disagree with your sentiment: You are absolutely right that without address the pedagogy the boxes make no difference. But to say it’s just hardware misleads the uniformed. Before the pencil, there was chalk and slate which limited the students to a particular type of activity and length of response. With the advent of Pencil and paper in the classroom (and the switch from fountain pen to ballpoint), different activities were now possible. For the old slate teachers, some still delivered in the one slate at a time.

Take a look at the two platforms our teachers have to choose from:
Moodle
Edline
Both allow for class webpages.
Both allow email contact with students.
Both allow for posting of content and assignments.
But only one does it well. And it has many features built right in, like discussion boards, that are transforming the experience of some of our students and teachers.

PCs, and here specifically, I would say Dell, HP Lenovo etc. that rely on the Windows interface are like edline. They can do the job. And with some tinker it does most of what the other one, Moodle, just does. Years ago some one wrote a book called the MAC is not a typewriter because people kept up their “good” typing habits (my mom taught typing for many years) such as inserting 2 spaces after a period. This has to do with the size of a particular character on a page and allowing for the extra space to differentiate when a full stop has occurred. When Apple introduced the mac, one market they aimed to own was the desktop publishing. A computer could be clever and actually figure out the kerning needed (the space between letters). But everyone’s old habits died hard.

A Mac is not a PC. Yet it is. It is one that just does it. I almost wrote “right” at the end there but that just makes me sound like more of a fanboy than I am. Apple is willing to not only tackle the issue to make better, easier to use software and hardware, but they provide training as part of the package. Who else does that? Who else tackles the pedagogy?

In closing, let me leave you a story about how useless macs are when the pedagogy is not addressed: A school received a beautiful imac 15 inch flat panel screen…and it sat in a box. In the IT director’s office, who did not have enough time to open it up because he was too busy chasing virus, and fixing laptops from Dell.

First, I want to say thank you for speaking at our technology conference a few weeks ago. Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach skyped you during her keynote address. One of the teachers in my school who is most reluctant to try anything different or to embrace technology became very excited over the possibility of finding people around the world for her 7th grade geography students to talk to.

Second, I appreciate the comment you made about your conversation with Dr. Tyson. You referred to the fact that the students at Mabry do not move into a high school that is as rich in technology as Mabry is. I am struggling with the same concern in my situation. I am a middle school principal who is working to integrate technology more fully into instruction. Any time I mention doing something differently, someone usually brings up what may or may not continue at the next level. If I had a dime for every time I have said, “We can’t worry about the next step for our kids. We can only do everything we can possibly do for the students when we have them in our buildingl.”

But you know, change is tough for administrators and headteachers of schools. I know. I have asked the question – can we use a Google Calendar instead of a written diary, but that change will be a long time in coming.

Maybe I am a renegade I don’t know – but I suppose I embrace change and react quickly to this sort of thing. All I can do in my position when fundemental, administrative changes take time – is to prove, prove, prove the technology works; change is good and that life is great “come and join the party”.

Tom