Is Educational Technology Really Worth the Costs

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Is Educational Technology Really Worth the Costs?

• Lets Prepare Students with the Basic Skills
  Needed for the Workplace

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The High Costs of Technology

• Financial Cost of Ownership
• Student Achievement Loss
• Health Risks and Interpersonal Relationships

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Total Cost of Ownership

• Costs far exceed the 1000 per workstation.
• Software Costs
• Training Costs
• Infrastructure Costs
• Maintenance Costs

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Software Costs

• Purchase Price
• Range from 10-200 per workstation for academic
  pricing per application
• Annual License Fees
• Required to continue use of software
• Allows phone support and upgrades
• Can be as much as the original purchase price.

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OS Windows

• Introduced 1983
• In 1994 2 editions were released inside 7 months
  (Workgroups 3.11 and NT 3.5)
• In 1996 2 editions were released inside of 3
  months (NT 4.0 and CE 1.0)
• Windows 98 released in 1999 and then Windows 2000
  released in 2000.

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OS- Windows

• In 2000, 2 editions were released within 5 months
  of each other (2000 and ME)
• 19 editions by 2000 with the release of Windows
  ME.

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The Real Costs of Personal Computers

• Paul A. Strassmann writes in Computerworld
  (January 13, 1997)
• The average costs of ownership range from 7,138
  to 13,000, according to a study by the Gartner
  Group, 1997.
• Influences on PC Ownership
• Workload How much the work is dependent upon
  the computer
• Management practices Both are shaped by the
  customers, technology and applications.
• Employee turnover retraining costs

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Training Costs

• Schools use bond issues for equipment, but cannot
  use those dollars for training.
• Software is frequently upgraded, features are
  added, without the training to integrate into the
  curriculum.
• A day of technology training from professional
  trainers costs over 200.

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Infrastructure Costs

• Cabling
• Copper Category 5 wiring
• Though relatively cheap, the cost of
  installation, cable management and concealment
  can skyrocket the costs.
• Cost of cabling for a typical computer lab of 30
  PCs ranges from 1200-3000, depending upon
  layout.
• Fiber Optic Cabling
• Very expensive, requiring speciaized skills for
  installation.
• For education, this is used to connect switching
  locations within or between buildings.

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Infrastructure Costs

• Network Hardware
• Hubs
• Switches -
• Routers
• Servers
• Power Management

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Maintenance Costs

• Network support
• PC maintenance
• Printer supplies
• Replacement parts
• DOWNTIME
• Does that help children learn?

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Where Does Outdated Equipment Go?
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Helping Students?
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Is This Good for Learning?

• Hands-on learning with one computer?
• Time on task in a computer lab (10 min. attention
  span)?
• Is a simulation hands-on experience?

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Concerns for classrooms

• Stanford University Persuasive Technology Lab
  showed that website credibility and
  trustworthiness diminished significantly with
  what it called "amateurism".

http//www.swepa.com/public/337.cfm
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Amateur Website Concerns

• the site is rarely updated with new content.
• the site links to a site you think is not
  credible.
• the site has a link that doesn't work.
• the site is sometimes unexpectedly unavailable.
• the site has a typographical error.
• the site's domain name does not match the
  company's name.

http//www.swepa.com/public/337.cfm
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Test Scores

• Research from two U. of Chicago economists show
  student scores on mathematics, reading, and
  science on the Stanford Achievement Test-9th
  Edition show no evidence that Internet investment
  had any measurable effect on student achievement.
  

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Is This Good for Learning?

• Is this only visual?
• Physical concerns?
• Are interpersonal skills being taught (eye
  contact, body language)?

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More than just Visual

• Multiple Intelligence theory considers learners
  as individuals and therefore lessons should be
  presented in a wide variety of ways including
  music, cooperative learning, art activities, role
  play, multimedia, field trips, inner reflection,
  and much more beyond the visual.

http//www.thomasarmstrong.com/multiple_intelligen
ces.htm
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Technology Human Toll

• 60 of American are overweight and 25 are obese.
  
• Weight gain due to the lack of exercise rather
  than an increase in calories

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Human Toll Physical

• Research shows that computers and technology have
  changed the work place by removing physical
  demands which until recently have helped control
  weight.

www.vnunet.com/news/1132390 D. Kakdawalla of Rand
Corp T. Philipson of U of Chicago
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Social Impact
Recent brain research confirms the academic
importance of such strong emotional bonds between
children and live, caring adults. This bond is
severely damaged when technology takes the role
of teacher.
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Communication Skills

• Technology has almost given individuals instant
  gratification through email, phone, Fax, etc.
• Delaying gratification increases and maintain
  endorphin levels.

• http//www.edweek.org/ew/vol-16/34cuban.h16http//
  www.edweek.org/ew/vol-16/34cuban.h16

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Skills

• Where are the analytical skills? Interpretation?
  
• Do technology presentations with sound, video,
  and color mean content is learned?

http//www.elliterate.com/proxy.htm
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Skills

• Our current system of education still has many
  students who can not read or complete simple
  math.
• Many educators ascribe the decline in these basic
  skills due to time allotted to technology

http//www.educause.edu/pub/er/review/reviewArticl
es/29211.html
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Messages to Students

• Emphasizing the intensive use of computers in
  kindergarten and grade school sends children a
  debilitating message they are incapable of
  learning such basic skills as arithmetic,
  reading, and writing without expensive and
  sophisticated machines.

http//allianceforchildhood.org/news/technology_li
teracy.htm
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Messages Continued

• In fact, students who use computers intensively
  from early childhood are far more likely to be at
  a later disadvantage in the job market. They will
  have more obsolete "computer skills" to unlearn.
• And they will bring fewer of the fresh
  perspectives and bold innovations that companies
  traditionally look for from young workers.

http//allianceforchildhood.org/news/technology_li
teracy.htm
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Changes in Technology

• As we know from the 19 versions of Windows in the
  last 13 years, technology that is considered new
  now will not only be outdated but obsolete by the
  time students are seniors.

http//allianceforchildhood.org/news/technology_li
teracy.htm
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Changes that effect students

• The high-school graduates of such changing system
  may themselves feel that they need to be trained,
  as not to have their knowledge be labeled
  outdated

http//allianceforchildhood.org/news/technology_li
teracy.htm
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A Technology Goal?

• To enable young people to develop their own
  creative and critical capacities in relating to
  technology, not to train them to be machine
  operators.

http//allianceforchildhood.org/news/technology_li
teracy.htm
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Goal Continued

• Technology literate students should be morally
  responsible and active in creating the nation's
  technological future.
• Students should learn actively rather than have
  technology thrust upon them.

http//allianceforchildhood.org/news/technology_li
teracy.htm
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Conclusion

• All technologies have social impacts and many
  have had profound moral and political
  repercussions as well.

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