More on Chromebook: Education

[Rob Lister]

The headline:
Chromebooks: 1 Million Sold in 3 Months

Isn't very impressive. Unless you consider who bought them.

iPads are still the apple of educators' eyes, but Google Chromebooks are becoming increasingly popular in the classroom.

Schools purchased more than 1 million Chromebooks — budget laptops that run Chrome OS — in the second quarter of 2014, Google announced on Monday.

The announcement reflects a larger trend among educators looking to bring low-cost laptops into schools to help facilitate learning.

http://mashable.com/2014/07/21/chromebooks-schools/

Microsoft can't have that. Let's make some calls ...

HP also recently announced it would bring to market a budget Windows laptop for $199, and $249 laptops from Acer and Toshiba were announced, giving Microsoft Windows machines direct competitors to Chromebooks.

But smarter schools will consider the life cycle costs ...

Schools are looking for low-cost devices, and Google's cloud-based services such as Google Docs and Drive are free and cut down on software upkeep.

The reporter says 'devices' but refers to the real issue, life cycle management. So while this is true ...

Chromebooks could undergo wear and tear from students, too; schools don't have to worry about repairs for the most part, considering the low price tag.

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/20 ... ooses.html

The more attractive truth is ...

The affordability and easy maintenance of Chromebooks clinched the deal — we could buy three Chromebooks for the price of a single desktop computer and the district’s small IT team wouldn’t have to struggle to keep up with the repairs and updates on aging PCs," Andrade wrote. "We would also save on support time and costs since Chromebooks update automatically."

The school district uses Google Apps for Education so students have an email address, as well as Google Drive to move student documents off of its internal file storage system.

From a home user's perspective, these attributes spell Limitations. And I'm not a big fan (nor a huge critic). But from an educational perspective, it has great utility. You can't really fuck-up a Chromebook the way you can a windows machine. And any hack done is stupid-easy to undo. Far less things to break. Nothing to back-up or maintain. All you need is a gmail account and you have access to a full office suite. The most the IT side has to worry about is maintaining the net-nanny at the firewall side of the school's internet connection.

From google's perspective, they should be giving them away. They should create an education program to get a million a month in as many schools as possible, complete with various curricula.

It is a chew-toy for young mind-teeth. Get these kids to cut their teeth on Chrome, and you'll always have a place in their home.

There may still be a place for 'high order' machines for some things. For example, I can't really see much a programming course taught on a chromebook but I'm sure there are apps that could accommodate some of the introductory stuff.

[Doctor X]

. . . and then they will want a MacBook/PC that can do things.

--J.D.

[Rob Lister]

. . . and then they will want a MacBook/PC that can do things.

--J.D.

Some will want a mac maybe. I'm not certain about a windows pc. But they'll keep a chrome as a couch surfer.

[Doctor X]

Well, if they become educated they will not want a PC. . . .

--J.D.

[Rob Lister]

Reanimating this thread

Happened across another article on how Microsoft is losing [big time] the battle of the schools to both Chrome and IOs.

http://www.ubmfuturecities.com/author.a ... _id=526893

Here's the biggest reason why

But Microsoft has not solved the issue of having to purchase a license for each user. When I asked Craig Ashley about that, he answered, "Each user that logs into a device will use a license, so that license will be taken down and it wouldn't go back dynamically." That could ramp up a heavy bill of license fees for schools with limited number of computers and hundreds of students using them.

Add to that the mind-numbing complexity (and legal risks!) of just managing a Microsoft group license package, and Chrome just makes good sense.

Google, OTHO ...

Schools can easily provision each Chromebook with specific educational apps, remotely wipe the entire device in seconds, and reuse the laptop for a new class without purchasing any more licenses. There is no manual setup for different users and the machines are administered throughout the school, no matter how many Chrome devices they have, or where they're being used. Google claims that there is no manual maintenance, security patching, or time-consuming support.

It used to be said that no IT administrator ever got fired for choosing an all Microsoft solution. I'm not sure that can be said anymore. The advantages of an all Chrome solution for schools are overwhelming.

[Rob Lister]

New York just threw its hat into the chomebook ring.

1 million more chromebooks to the mix.

[video][/video]

[DrMatt]

In the rain.

[Rob Lister]

And inaccurate. A chromebook yields far, far less to bullshit special political favorites than a stack of heavy books that barely get peeked out, are out of date before the kids get them, all lost the day after.

At least a software 'book' can be modified and corrected.

[Rob Lister]

More on this for anyone here that cares about our children. :)

https://arstechnica.com/information-tec ... tion-push/

The Windows S machines are more or less tailored to classroom use. It makes many improvements in ease of use and administration. Not mentioned is licensing which was a huge drawback. But having read [most of] the article, I think they'll still find it hard to get in the classroom.