Chalk it Up

Last night my wife called my attention to a local school board meeting that was being aired on television.  The topic of discussion was the possible purchase of the three and four year-old iBooks from the State at a cost of $48 each.  My wife quickly wished she had not told me about the broadcast meeting because it was about 9:30 PM and she realized that I would get all rilied(sp?) up and might lose some sleep. 

Watching these kind of meetings is a lesson in frustration for me for a number or reasons ranging from the lack of planning and forethought by the technology coordinator in preparing for this meeting to the lack of publicity within the school department that this meeting was even taking place so that all stake-holders in the topic could take part and voice ther opinion or provide data that would be helpful to the school board.  But the thing that struck me that made me want to pull my hair out was when a school board member implied that the only reason we have the iBooks was because former Governor King was “legacy shopping” and that MLTI was all political.  My response is, political or not, SO WHAT?!

MLTI has not been perfectly unleashed, I think partly because nowhere in the history of the world has there been such a large deployment of computers and network infrastructure placed into middle schools.  For all its imperfections though, it has produced a tremendous amount of good.  Attendance is up in Maine middle schools.  There has been a decrease in the discipline problems as well.  But most importantly, students are more highly motivated in finding, learning, and displaying content when using technology than when using a textbook.  Teachers are improving their delivery of content and are able to manage their classroom data more efficiently.  Now, I am very passionate when it comes to educational technology and not all people see it the way I do, but to that school board member who is concerned about Governor King having a “legacy” I say, “Why is that a problem?”  MLTI did not turn out the way he originally wanted it to but there are many more positives that came out of it.  Students are not only more computer literate than they were before but they are happier about school and their education than ever before.  How can you put a price on that?  Just because a possible opportunity is politically motivated does not decrease the value of the opportunity.  Take advantage of the opportunity at hand and extract all the positive learning that can take place from it.  If someone gets political fame an fortune because of it, I say, “The more power to him/her.”  Why dig in your heals and say no because of the politics involved?  Is that what is motivating you to deprive students from such a positive tool that can be used to enhance their learning?

For more information about MLTI, click here.