Wisconsin Uses Microsoft Settlement Funds to Buy iPads

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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The state of Wisconsin won a large settlement against Microsoft from a 1998 price-gouging lawsuit and will be using a part of the proceeds to purchase 1400 iPads for use in school classrooms. This is turning out to be a classic example of irony. :D

Wisconsin's iPads are being paid for through $3.4 million of the nearly $80 million settlement Microsoft agreed to pay the state to settle claims that it has systematically cheated consumers into paying too much for its software.
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News for 1/27/2018

Wisconsin's WinTablets are being paid for through $1.2 million of the nearly $80 million settlement Apple grudgingly agreed to pay the state to settle claims that it has systematically cheated consumers into paying too much for its hardware.
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Sounds smart to me. They bought something they'd never be able to budget normally and I'm assuming they'll be used in an educational manner.
 
You get money from a settlement for allegedly paying for overpriced software, to buy overpriced hardware. That's some logic.

I've been using tablets for well over a year now, and i still don't see the practicality of it in an educational setting. Is this a "first-world-problem" thing?
 
Hey, you screwed us on something useful so we are going to take the money you screwed us with and spend it on something with zero educational value!

Idiots..

iPads are really great in a home environment for some education purposes, but in a school environment that is just plain stupidity. The people on this school board need to be fired for being complete morons.
 
I have to wonder about decisions that schools like this make. If they want tablets that would replace textbooks would it not be better to get a cheaper alternative than an IPad?
I'm sure that if they went to another tablet competitor and stated they wanted to buy 1400 tablets that they would have been able to get then cheaper than they just paid for the IPads.
While $479 is a good price for an IPad, I'm sure a competitor would have gave them an even better price.
 
iPads? What a waste of money. If the state of Wisconsin truly wanted tablets in the classroom, they should have purchased cheaper Android-based tablets instead. They would have saved much more money.

I assume they'll be used for reading books and textbooks, which cheaper Android tablets (like the Kindle or Nook) can do just fine. Kids don't need a full-blown $499 iPad. :rolleyes:
 
Peteman100 said:
Android doesn't have a textbook ecosystem yet. It's as simple as that.
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Yes, they do.

Chrome cloud apps is already in place for some schools. I guess you missed the news on the chromebooks posted yesterday. It isnt much of a stretch to say an Android tablet can fill the role of a chromebook using the same backend. Google actually beat Apple to the punch on this one.
 
The "students are more engaged" line is such bullshit. It's all a front by shitty people who don't know shit about technology trying to apply it to the classroom. In return, technology doesn't it get used the way it should and down the line this school will have cabinets full of useless learning technology as the same shitty people try to sell them the next big thing..
 
What better way to get a return on your settlement than to setup yourself up for another settlement.
 
I hope that good low cost Windows 8 ARM devices with digital pens end up on the market with a slick Metro version of OneNote. Digital pen tablets have a lot more usefulness than touch only devices for educational purposes especially when combined with the fantastic ink technology in Windows.
 
My cousin goes to a school that got a grant from Microsoft, and then went out and bought older Mac laptops, and also some Ipads. Evidently the grant didn't have any stipulations.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Hey, you screwed us on something useful so we are going to take the money you screwed us with and spend it on something with zero educational value!

Idiots..

iPads are really great in a home environment for some education purposes, but in a school environment that is just plain stupidity. The people on this school board need to be fired for being complete morons.
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03grandam said:
I have to wonder about decisions that schools like this make. If they want tablets that would replace textbooks would it not be better to get a cheaper alternative than an IPad?
I'm sure that if they went to another tablet competitor and stated they wanted to buy 1400 tablets that they would have been able to get then cheaper than they just paid for the IPads.
While $479 is a good price for an IPad, I'm sure a competitor would have gave them an even better price.
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CKTurbo128 said:
iPads? What a waste of money. If the state of Wisconsin truly wanted tablets in the classroom, they should have purchased cheaper Android-based tablets instead. They would have saved much more money.

I assume they'll be used for reading books and textbooks, which cheaper Android tablets (like the Kindle or Nook) can do just fine. Kids don't need a full-blown $499 iPad. :rolleyes:
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Obviously you guys have never worked in a school setting before. Do you have any idea the amount of time and effort Apple is making for education? The reason these school districts purchased Apple products is because they are involved with curriculum.

Sure, they could have purchased cheaper devices, but would they have gotten the support?
 
BBA said:
Yes, they do.

Chrome cloud apps is already in place for some schools. I guess you missed the news on the chromebooks posted yesterday. It isnt much of a stretch to say an Android tablet can fill the role of a chromebook using the same backend. Google actually beat Apple to the punch on this one.
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That may be, but Android device manufacturer's track record of not supporting recently launched devices are abysmal. Going iPad would be cheaper in the long run, not to mention Apple has been working with schools long before many of us were even born.
 
I hate iPad's like any normal person, but I'm glad they bought iPads. The irony is just too good.
 
Clumsydenial said:
Obviously you guys have never worked in a school setting before. Do you have any idea the amount of time and effort Apple is making for education? The reason these school districts purchased Apple products is because they are involved with curriculum.

Sure, they could have purchased cheaper devices, but would they have gotten the support?
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#1 Buying iPads is in no way a learning tool. Nothing. Zero. NADA! Unless you wanna teach children how to buy shovelware off a app market.

#2 It's not about cheaper devices, it's about buying something that's relevant to what you need. It's like me wanting to buy a computer for word processing, but I come back home with a Xbox 360.

#3 Apple may have been big into schools, but that was done with iMacs and Mac Pro's. My school had lots of Apple IIe's. The iPad is designed to be a consumption device, and not a device for creating. What are you going to teach kids, how to log into facebook and check their mail?
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Hey, you screwed us on something useful so we are going to take the money you screwed us with and spend it on something with zero educational value!

Idiots..

iPads are really great in a home environment for some education purposes, but in a school environment that is just plain stupidity. The people on this school board need to be fired for being complete morons.
Click to expand...

I don't know about you guys, but i'll bet $10 that the school system probably had better uses for that money. Most school systems these days have problems with crumbling and undermaintained facilities, or underfunding of some crucial departments that might actually help contribute to a child's learning. WTF is wrong with school systems these days.
 
amdgamer said:
I don't know about you guys, but i'll bet $10 that the school system probably had better uses for that money. Most school systems these days have problems with crumbling and undermaintained facilities, or underfunding of some crucial departments that might actually help contribute to a child's learning. WTF is wrong with school systems these days.
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Of course they have more pressing needs but the iPad is the new cool thing, the most advanced and magical piece of technology on the planet, got to get the kids exposed to it so they'll he prepared for the future in a global economy. How will they ever know how to buy apps if we don't teach them while they're young?
 
At least Wisconsin is using the money to invest in schools, whether or not iPads end up being a good choice or not. The same can't be said of a lot of other states.
 
Wisconsin already had some big problems and I don't see how this helps. They could have done something better with that money like spending it on keeping good teachers in the classrooms.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Educat...n-droves-after-union-loss-in-bargaining-fight

"Teachers across Wisconsin are retiring or quitting at higher rates than usual, due in part to a new law that cuts benefits and curtails collective bargaining rights."
 
Uh, wouldn't the irony have been if they bought a windows based tablet instead?
 
Ashbringer said:
#1 Buying iPads is in no way a learning tool. Nothing. Zero. NADA! Unless you wanna teach children how to buy shovelware off a app market.

#2 It's not about cheaper devices, it's about buying something that's relevant to what you need. It's like me wanting to buy a computer for word processing, but I come back home with a Xbox 360.

#3 Apple may have been big into schools, but that was done with iMacs and Mac Pro's. My school had lots of Apple IIe's. The iPad is designed to be a consumption device, and not a device for creating. What are you going to teach kids, how to log into facebook and check their mail?
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#4 half of these iPads will be broken, stolen or hocked withing a year.
 
Lmao. So they buy overpriced apple stuff?? Only educators could justify that line of thinking with a straight face.

Next headline: Wisconsin schools broke, demand tax hikes to cover pension shortfall.
 
What a fucking waste of money. The school district I used to go just purchased 700 of them.

Makes me sick with the amount of money they wasted.
 
Clumsydenial said:
Obviously you guys have never worked in a school setting before. Do you have any idea the amount of time and effort Apple is making for education? The reason these school districts purchased Apple products is because they are involved with curriculum.

Sure, they could have purchased cheaper devices, but would they have gotten the support?
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What does that have to do with the fact that the iPad has absolutely Zero educational value whatsoever?

Had they used the money and purchased a bunch of Mac desktop systems, I wouldn't utter a single complaint. My argument is not against apple, it is against the complete waste of money.
 
Is there any reasonble proof other than crack studies that show that an iPad boosts long term educational performance?
 
Dekoth-E- said:
What does that have to do with the fact that the iPad has absolutely Zero educational value whatsoever?
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"Zero educational value" means that they would literally have no use in the process of education. Clearly this is not the case because you can do things like use the internet, take notes, etc.
 
jimmyb said:
"Zero educational value" means that they would literally have no use in the process of education. Clearly this is not the case because you can do things like use the internet, take notes, etc.
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You are correct, the ipad does have have educational value, it is just a poor value.
What can it do, education wise, that a $200 Kindle Fire could not?
 
(Also, I'm not a big fan of Apple, but I can see why iPads were chosen. Apple has a long history of working with school systems and universities, whereas Google has very little, for one thing.)
 
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