[Year 12 IT Apps] What Schools Must Learn From LA’s iPad Debacle

[Mark]

"WHEN LOS ANGELES schools began handing out iPads in the fall of 2013, it
looked like one of the country’s most ambitious rollouts of technology in
the classroom. The city’s school district planned to spend $1.3 billion
putting iPads, preloaded with the Pearson curriculum, in the hands of every
student in every school.

"Less than two years later, that ambitious plan now looks like a
spectacularly foolish one. In August, the Los Angeles Unified School
District halted its contract with Apple, as rumors swirled that Apple and
Pearson may have received preferential treatment in the district’s
procurement process, something the FBI is investigating. Then, this spring,
the district sent a letter to Apple seeking a refund, citing crippling
technical issues with the Pearson platform and incomplete curriculum that
made it nearly impossible for teachers to teach. If a deal can’t be
reached, the district could take legal action...

"But while the the parties involved continue pointing the finger and
picking up the pieces, the important question to ask now is what this
fiasco means for the future of technology in the classroom. If one of the
country’s largest school districts, one of the world’s largest tech
companies, and one of the most established brands in education can’t make
it work, can anyone?"

Read more at http://www.wired.com/2015/05/los-angeles-edtech/

-- 

Real_men_don't_need_spacebars.

Mark Kelly
mark AT vceit DOT com
http://vceit.com
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