Kim Fitzer :: Blog

I've been thinking of updating my blog for months now, but couldn't think of anything noteworthy to talk about. That's not to say I don't have anything important to say, c'mon ... I'm an ultra-opinionated doctoral student at a major research university ... but blather is, well ... just blather. But today, friends ... instead of reading the article that I must read for class today ... I am blogging about the exciting developments in the mini-PC front that I just have to comment about and encourage, urge, push all of you in educational technology and education in general to watch very, very closely. I am talking about the frenzied race for PC companies to market a low-cost, lightweight, durable, uber-portable PC that will, in years to come, absolutely revolutionize education the world over. Putting these little machines in the hands of millions of schoolchildren, from kindergarten to high school, will put in motion a zeitgeist of technological breakthroughs that will make the space-race look like the stone-age. This is the time we have been waiting for.

Nicholas Negroponte started the whole thing rolling with his OLPC development, and it still is a very attractive option for developing third-world countries. Critics are quick to point out that what these countries need are not computers, but better sanitation, infrastructure, food production, access to potable water, and an overall improved standard of living. No one would argue that these are not desperately needed. However, I am always reminded of the saying ... "if you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, he will eat for the rest of his life and be able to feed his family." Education is what will bring these countries out of poverty. Access to the Internet, which is now the single most important resource for education there is, will give the people of these countries the ability to educate themselves, and it all starts with the kids. In twenty years, as these kids become adults, there will be vast differences in the cultural, financial and political fabric of these countries.

Intel introduced its Classmate PC last year, and claims it has sold "tens of thousands" of these units since then. This little guy has many features that the OLPC has (flash storage, carrying handle, small screen), but is more targeted for the U.S. K-8 market, and comes equipped with some very nice tools for classroom communication and management. The price tag is around $225-350, which is still affordable for U.S. institutions. However, good luck buying one for your own use ... Intel is holding the marketing rights for these and they are not available to consumers. However, the technology is likely to "trickle down" to the consumer market.

If you want a small affordable PC, then the Asustek eeePC is the way to go right now. It has all of the clever features of the OLPC and the Classmate, retails for $299-500 and comes equipped with Linux Xandros OS. It also comes in colors, including a very nice Pearl White edition with an 8GB Flash drive, video camera and 1GB of RAM (look out Apple). I have test-driven this baby, and I am strongly considering purchasing one for myself. It will be great for travel, school, work ... and not having an optical drive is no big deal because I throw everything these days on a bootable 2GB flash drive. Plus it weighs about 2 lbs. Now, I can leave my hefty 7 lb. 15" screen laptop at home and just schlep this little guy around.

Not to be left out, HP just unveiled its plans recently to market a small PC called the "Mini-Note." It appears to be trying to compete with the Asus machine, but has some optional features that will push the price-tag well above that of the little eeePC. It has a larger screen (8.9 as opposed to 7") and will run Vista ... which means a larger flash drive and more memory. Still, for adults looking for a lightweight laptop for travel and business, this might be a better option. It will remain to be seen whether this device will be attractive to schools.

And now Dell has jumped into the fray, and has announced that it too will begin marketing a small PC with an 8.9" screen for under $499.

I have to wonder, with Apple just launching the Air, which will be attractive to well-heeled hipster-techies, if it plans to get into the mini-PC game as well? Apple has always led the pack in keeping the tech-savvy world happy with ever-more clever and useful devices, but marketing more expensive, albeit sexier, machines will appeal to an ever narrowing market, while the mini-PC market has a vastly higher potential for sales. Could Apple market a ultra-thin lightweight low-cost machine for under $500? Would Steve Jobs even consider positioning his company in this market, considering he has not done so already? Hmmm ... could it be that Apple has misinterpreted the trend, or do they know something the rest of us do not? One thing is for sure, if Apple were to jump in the market, they might be able to use the iPhone touchscreen technology and combine it with the low-cost clamshell design of the mini-PCs and really have a little machine worth drooling over. But then, thats just my take on it. What's yours?

Here's some links for this article:

Dell PC

ASUSTEK eeePC

Classmate PC

HP News

One of my summer "jobs" this year is underway in New York, and as I sit here this evening in a hotel in Queens, contemplating the day's work, I am struck with how lucky I am to have this opportunity.  I am conducting curriculum-reporting surveys in the schools here, and today I had the pleasure of seeing the "boots on the ground" gritty yet undeniably extraordinary reality of urban education.  I visited a school in the Bronx, a science and health care academy, that is a small school within a larger school.  Like many New York schools I have visited, this school, with its central staircase which led up to a fifth floor micro-school comprised of middle and high school classrooms, its windows were covered with thick wire, and its plain exterior with the rather unpretentious and solemn bronze name plaque, seemed safe and somehow fortress-like for the 400-odd students who travel its hallways every day.   "They are doing their finals," the contact person explained, and in a week or so they will take the Regents, the New York State assessment which determines whether the school will be granted AYP status or not.  Its a nervous time for schools, as they prepare students to take the standardized test, that, if the students do well, will allow the school's faculty and staff to breathe a sigh of relief for another year.  On the other hand, if the students do poorly, they will be subjected to round after round of unsubsidized professional development, audits, curriculum planning meetings, data-driven decision-making workshops and new initiatives galore.  AYP is the foremost concern these days in schools and districts around the country, and New York is being especially proactive in conducting these audits, hoping that by discovering what works and doesn't work, can make informed choices for the future and ensure that accountability will be met.

All day I met with caring, dedicated professionals, whose primary concerns, like those in other schools I have visited, are the kids they teach and how best to teach them.  They are undeniably doing the best job they can, given the resources and support allocated to inner-city schools these days.  The kids obviously see their schools as havens, safe places to learn and succeed, and there is a feeling of pride in the student body – that these schools hold the promises for their future.

For the next few weeks, I will have a privileged glimpse of how teachers navigate some of the roughest waters in the country – school districts in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn, New York – and how they best meet the challenges facing the kids and the communities.  These are vibrant places to live and work, extraordinarily diverse neighborhoods that support a rich ecosystem of commerce and community, where natives and immigrants work together to make the schools and businesses thrive.  It will be an exciting journey for me, and I will do my best to report out on my experiences.