[K12OSN] Re: Schools and the OPM Addiction

[James P. Kinney III]

On Mon, 2007-12-03 at 20:46 -0500, Todd O'Bryan wrote:
> About $3k for the SmartBoard, if I remember correctly. There are other
> brands that do similar things for less, but I think a tablet PC with a
> projector is more flexible and gives you about the same functionality.

Or a room full of Linux thin clients with graphics tablets at
teachertool!
> 
> Todd
> 
> On Dec 3, 2007 7:35 PM, Peter Scheie <peter at scheie.homedns.org> wrote:
> > BTW, what do Smart Boards cost?  I've heard that a few will be going into my
> > son's elementary school, while the district is looking at a $1 million shortfall
> > next year.  I'd rather the money used for SBs went to teachers & assistants,
> > especially since I've heard of people largely replicating SBs by using K12LTSP
> > and TeacherTool.
> >
> > Peter
> >
> >
> > Jim Kronebusch wrote:
> > > On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:07:19 -1000, R. Scott Belford wrote
> > >> I fear that far too often good-willed and well-intending education
> > >> advocates fail to fully understand the extent of OPM addiction in the
> > >> American education system.  More successful advocates have learned to
> > >> enable the use of OPM within the schools.  They fund this addiction with
> > >> enticing technology trinkets and strong-armed contractual agreements.
> > >
> > > Funny, but sadly true.  I find that like with any addiction, the problem starts with the
> > > dealers.  They make this stuff sound too fun to not try.  A quick example of how this
> > > hurts schools.
> > >
> > > We just had 3M give the school a grant to buy some technology.  The teachers involved
> > > went to a seminar about cool new products in schools.  The teachers decided the best way
> > > the money could be spent is with EBeam projection systems.  They thought this could be
> > > as useful as SMART Boards but for a third of the cost.  They ordered them.  The teachers
> > > use OSX as their operating system this year.  As part of my schools second wave of Linux
> > > integration we were going to move all teachers to Linux next year.  EBeam is OSX/Windows
> > > only.  So now thanks to this grant (OPM), and the flashy presentation by the dealers, we
> > > now have a huge obstacle to overcome with making these EBeam systems useful while still
> > > trying to switch to Linux.  So our $5,000 grant (OPM) is putting our $60,000 savings and
> > > all the other benefits of switching to Linux in jeopardy.
> > >
> > > Other cases are where the dealers of the OPM provide the stuff the first time for free,
> > > but in doing so give us new addictions that we cannot afford.  Sure we get new
> > > projectors, but can't afford to replace the bulbs or the system when it fails.  We get
> > > software, but can't afford the upgrade cycle.  This list could go on.
> > >
> > > Used wisely, there is no problem with OPM.  However I believe the dealers are the first
> > > in the chain who need to wise up, then the users will follow.
> > >
> > > Jim
> > >
> >
> >
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> >
> 
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-- 
James P. Kinney III          
CEO & Director of Engineering 
Local Net Solutions,LLC        
770-493-8244                    
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
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