Advice for Tom Luna (that he never asked for)

As part of the Utah Association of Public Charter Schools annual conference, I enjoyed the thoughful remarks of Idaho Superintendant of Schools, Tom Luna. And in spite of a few not so complimentary observations of my family who live in the gem state (and are educators), I found his comments to be spot on, with one small exception...

To avoid being political, I will simply observe that the challenges he addresses are real, the solutions are a little painful and scary for those so tenured, and his vision of the future for our kids is genuine. But his push for the state to buy an endpoint (laptop, tablet, digital device, etc.) for each student is misguided on two fronts.

First of all it will dramatically increase the cost of providing an education without a commensurate return on education outcomes. Second it's not about endpoints, Mr. Kuna, its about the infrastructure connecting the endpoints.

Let's look at the cost side first. Just how long will a laptop, tablet, or digital device (hereinafter "endpoint") last in the hands of a typical student? I can envision all kinds of funny explanations of the endpoints demise... dropped it in the toilet, used it for my food tray, left it on the bus, forgot to bring it in from the pool during a rainstorm, let it slip out of my hands, let my kid brother use it, took it to the beach..... you get the picture.

If the student had to do 40 hours of community service to earn the endpoint, then I would be all in. But with no skin in the game these endpoints will have no perceived value and will treated accordingly. Then the administration of those endpoints will become an enormous burden for the IT staff who are tasked with managing them.

Is an entitlement program for computers fundamentally different than other government entitlement programs. I think not, enough already!

Besides, just how many kids do you know today that don't have an Internet based phone, a PC (or two) at home, a dozen computers available at any time in the school, or an endpoint already of their own. Require students to manage their own endpoints outside of the school, it will help them be responsible for their own stuff. And manage school owned endpoints inside the school, where it can be done efficiently and with reasonable oversight.

Now let's turn to the infrastructure connecting our endpoints, which I can tell you is a bigger problem in rural Idaho than most places. All the endpoints in the world are of little value in transmitting knowledge if there is no connectivity. And even where there is connectivity, that in and of itself does not create the infrastructure needed to store, share, and collaborate on creative work. And Facebook is probably not the solution!

You need a system to transport, store, share, and account for information that is managed by the institutions who are guiding students in the learning process. You need reliable, SPAM free, and compliant email. You need shared resources, with permission based access control. And you need communication tools that engage students and connect them with instructional resources.

Happily, for the entire state of Idaho and Utah as well, Microsoft just announced a free version of Office 365 for Academic institutions. This is an amazing solution and really needs serious consideration. For a typical charter school with 25 staff and 400 kids, it is the equivalent of a $15,000 technology grant, combined with an administrative benefit  of a similar amount.

With Office 365 deployed (at little cost) into each school, you would then have all the infrastructure needed to deliver a 21st Century education. And you can do it on pretty much any endpoint you can think of inside or outside of the school. Office 365 works on almost any device, at any internet connected location, and at any time of day or night.

Vote No - for free endpoints, and Yes for Office 365!

That, Mr. Kuna, in all due respect, is how to fix your ambitious plan.