Slash LaneAs part of the deal, the Maine Department of Education announced it has placed an order for more than 64,000 MacBooks for students and faculty in grades 7 through 12, and will place an additional order for up to 7,000 more notebooks in the coming weeks.
The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), so it's called, has provided Apple notebook computers to all Maine middle school students since 2002 – making Maine the first and only state with a statewide implementation of notebooks for every student. The high school expansion will see the initiative become the world's largest educational technology program of its kind.
"We have seen incredible success with our middle schools showing increased student engagement and achievement with MLTI in place and we want to bring this same opportunity to our high schools," said Maine Education Commissioner Sue Gendron. "Apple has been a great partner and consistently demonstrates that it understands the need to provide a complete solution that puts education first. We're very excited about the new school year."
The notebook package provided by Apple includes a wide array of educational software, professional development, repair and replacement and technical support. In addition to learning how to use technology, students do research, write and edit, conduct online simulations, and take online tutorials.
The high school expansion is an extension of an existing contract with Apple, which competed for and won both MLTI contracts to date, the Maine Department of Education said.
“This expansion is helping Maine close the digital divide,†added Jeff Mao, director of learning technology for the Maine Department of Education. "About 2,000 public high school students in Maine attended high schools with laptops for all students this year. Next fall, the number will be 22,000 to 28,000."
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58 Comments
This is a great way to spend tax money in schools. I wish NY wasn't so bad at spending our money, we could have something this great as well.
Buying in bulk is cheaper...Anyone have an idea of what they would pay per Macbook? $800 maybe? Great PR for Apple.
Buying in bulk is cheaper...Anyone have an idea of what they would pay per Macbook? $800 maybe? Great PR for Apple.
I don't know, but even if were at cost it would mean that their PC purchase would be more likely a Mac and there may be plenty of parents and friends and younger sibling below grade 7 that would likely move to the Mac because of this. I think in a few years Maine may easily have the highest per capita Mac use in the country. I could be wrong, but this seems like a long term seed for Mac adoption.
I think this is a terrible use of tax dollars. I personally never learned anything on a computer in school that I couldn't have learned from a book. This is needlessly wasteful. Computers are not educational, they dumb you down like TV.
Here is a State that understands what is important. In most states, especially in California, they spend the school money for the Prisons Industrial Complex. Shame on you Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Nazi!
Way to go, State of Maine! You have shown that children is the future.