On Friday 03 April 2009 17:10:00 Tony Sceats wrote:
> > The lack of attention to detail, and it has been published for two
> > days now, doesn't give one any confidence that the Premier's
> > Department understands how to effectively communicate using the
> > intarwebs.
(intarwebs??? notwithstanding...
The digital education revolution is here (A little sensational for a state
government anouncement, but anyway..)
1 April 2009
The Premier, the Honourable Mr Nathan Rees today announced that a $150 million
contract to build up to 267,000 laptops has been awarded to Lenovo (Australia
and New Zealand) Pty Ltd.
"Production of the new laptops for the State's 200,000 senior secondary school
students and 25,000 secondary teachers will begin immediately," Mr Rees said.
said Mr Rees. (There also seems to be a slight discrepancy of 42,000 laptops
here?)
"I want them in classrooms as soon as possible. ("!)
"NSW public schools lead the nation in providing computer resources, giving our
teachers and our young people the vital skills they need to help them succeed
in our IT savvy world.("!)
(It is hoped that some will even survive the NSW education system, go on to
higher learning and may even, with a bit of luck and fortune, find out how to
match quotation marks.)
"Agreements have also been signed with Microsoft and Adobe, giving students and
teachers access to the largest and most comprehensive roll-out of software in
any education system worldwide. ("! However, it still seems to be a rather
sweeping statement. I tend to think there are a couple of EU nations that may
contend the issue and several FOSS inititiaves in developing nations may just
eclipse this. )
"The combination of the laptops and the software contracts we have signed will
open our classrooms up to the world." (Oh goodey? How about the students of
NSW?)
Mr Rees said that the NSW Government will invest a further $25.5 million in the
provision of software, on top of Federal Government funding. (Aha! So you
didn't spend $150M of NSW tax payers money after all, thank goodness, you only
spent $25.5M of the possible health expenditure on .. nah hang on .. nah .. on
what? Oh software. Oh. OK)
"Part of this includes a $20 million agreement with Adobe - $12 million from
the NSW Government and $8 million from the Federal Government. ("! Oh, so it's
not $25.5, it's actually only $12M?)
"Using this software, students will be able to create videos, edit photos and
make presentations for class assignments and projects. ("! Just what we need,
an entire generation of "visual arts" qualified unemployed.)
"Students and teachers will also be able to set up video conferencing and
collaborate on assignments using the built-in web cameras and software within
the department's secure network. ("! Nathan, I'm getting a bit tired of
correcting your quotations here, please see me tomorrow at recess.)
"The Adobe software will be available not only for laptops but for all
computers in NSW public schools and TAFE colleges. ("! Tech note: Nathan I
think you'd better check how many of these are still running Windows '97. (Like
the police and fire brigade, most of the state's infrastructure is sorely
lacking in the ability to run current bloatware department.))
"NSW Government will also finance the agreement with Microsoft to include
Office Professional on all the new laptops." (Fine, but what about all the
"OLD" gear you are forcing the teachers, administrators, librarians and support
staff to use?)
Mr Rees said that this means students will have their own access to all the
programs commonly found in the modern office workplace, including Word, Excel
and Power Point PowerPoint(TM). (Nathan, would you also see Mr Brown in the
commerce department tomorrow and ask him to explain to you what the term
"trademark" means.)
"The deal with Microsoft is a world-first in student licensing, based on a per
student approach rather than licensing per device. ("!)
"We are putting software that would cost more than $5,500 if purchased in a
store on each laptop at no cost to the student or teacher. ("! Nathan, please
explain where you got this quotation from. As far as I know, Microsoft (TM)
have been offering student licences of Office Professional(TM) for less than
$300 for some years now. It does not help your argument to profer unqualified
statements such as this.)
"The Rudd Government's digital education revolution coupled with further
financial investment from NSW will transform teaching and learning. (How?
Please explain your arguments in a way that will help in understanding them.)
"I want kids more engaged in the classroom, turning up to school enthusiastic
and ready to learn." (Personally, I'd like to see more teachers turning up to
school "enthusiastic and ready to" teach. However, I don't suppose that comes
into this plan.)
The announcement comes at the end of an extremely competitive tender process,
which started last December just days after the funding package for the program
was finalised. (Nathan, by definition, tenders are competitive. I am having
trouble visualising (with or without the benefit of PowerPoint(TM)) just
exactly how one tender could be "extremely" competitive.)
Mr Rees said that the Rudd Government was providing $386 million for the
roll-out of laptops for NSW public senior secondary school students.
"In May we will begin wirelessly connecting high schools and recruiting more
than 400 full-time technical support officers to assist staff and students in
secondary schools across the State with IT issues," Mr Rees said. (225,000
users supported by 400 techs. Hmm, seems to equal about 562.5 users per support
staff. Hmm, Nathan, unless you're paying piece rates I think I'll stick to
shearing mate, they only want about 250 a day.)
(Oh, I'm too tired to go on. Nathan, your essay is really only worth a C but
I'm marking it down to a D- because you obviously have not done your research
well enough, your arguments are specious at best and you are showing absolutely
no attention to detail. Further, without directly accusing you, I do get the
feeling that this entire piece was fabricated by some other student. Rest
assured, I will keep this in mind when you submit your next assignment.)
"Secondary teachers will begin receiving laptops during Term 2, 2009, to
coincide with their professional learning programs.
"Students and teachers will be using the same technology, and we are giving our
teachers a head start to familiarise themselves with the technology before it
hits the classroom.
"The roll-out of laptops to students will begin in Term Three to Year 9
students."
Minister for Education and Training Verity Firth said the laptops had been
designed specifically to meet the needs of the State's students.
"The new laptops will be safe and secure, with filters to block inappropriate
material and encoding to ensure they aren't a target of theft.
"The new laptops are highly specified with 10.2" screens, large 160gb hard
disks, 2gb memory and extended battery life.
"Year 9 students will be able to personalise their laptop making it easy to
identify and creating a sense of ownership.
"This is an exciting time for NSW public schools.
Parliamentary Secretary Maxine McKew said that the National Secondary School
Computer Fund is a partnership between the Commonwealth and NSW Government and
all educational jurisdictions.
"These initiatives will improve our secondary school students' access to
information, and take us further towards a world-class education system."
Each student and teacher laptop will include:
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Adobe Premier Elements
Adobe Acrobat Professional Extended
Adobe Flash CS4 Professional
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
Adobe Fireworks CS4
Adobe Contribute CS4
Adobe Presenter
Adobe Captivate CS4*
(and direct from the Adobe website we have...)
*This product may allow you to access certain features that are hosted online
("online services"), provided you have a high-speed Internet connection. The
online services, and some features thereof, may not be available in all
countries, languages, and/or currencies and may be discontinued in whole or in
part without notice. Use of the online services is governed by separate terms
of use and by the Adobe Online Privacy Policy, and access to these services may
require user registration. Some online services, including services that are
initially offered at no charge, may be subject to additional fees.
Microsoft Windows XP Professional and utilities
(ah finally a moment of sanity, at least they're not trying to infest Vista(TM)
on the poor little buggers.. oh no, hang on I just went back and looked at the
"spec's" for the laptops - 10.5 inch screens. No way, Jose!)
Microsoft Word 2007
Microsoft Excel 2007
Microsoft Publisher 2007
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
Microsoft OneNote 2007
Microsoft Access 2007
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
