wraggster
June 29th, 2013, 22:43
The Los Angeles Unified School District will spend $30 million over the next two years on iPads for 30,000 students (http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_23489311/lausd-spending-30-million-buy-30-000-ipads). Coverage of the announcement has focused on Apple winning over other tablets, but that is not the key point. The top three proposals each included an app to deliver Pearson's K-12 Common Core System of Courses (http://commoncore.pearsoned.com/index.cfm?locator=PS1uM9) along with other third-party educational apps. The Common Core curriculum is not yet established, but many states are committed to it, starting next year (http://cis471.blogspot.com/2013/06/common-core-meets-mooc-fortuitous.html). The new tablets and the new commitment to the Common Core curriculum will arrive around the same time, and busy faculty (and those hired to train them) will adopt the Pearson material. The tablets will be obsolete in a few years and the hardware platform may change, but lock-in to Pearson's default curriculum may last for generations (http://cis471.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-los-angeles-unified-school-district.html)."
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/06/28/2351233/la-school-districts-30000-ipads-may-come-with-free-lock-in
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/06/28/2351233/la-school-districts-30000-ipads-may-come-with-free-lock-in