Teachermate PC – Part Two

Well, remember when I ‘reviewed’ the Teachermate PC a few posts ago? Basically I slammed it for three reasons: 1) It’s not a PC if it can only run proprietary software 2) It doesn’t cost $50 if you HAVE to buy their software to make it even worthwhile to own and 3) Their website is wonky, and that’s putting it kindly.

After writing that post, I was contact via email by Seth Weinberger, the Executive Director of Innovations for Learning. He thought that if we had a chance to talk and see it firsthand, I might revise my opinion of the Teachermate.

I gotta admit, he was right about two of those three items.

The one thing he was wrong about is the website. It’s slow and clunky, but even worse, it’s incredibly misleading. Part of the reason I blasted the device is because they’re calling it a Handheld Computer. It is NOT a handheld computer. At least, not by the colloquial definition. Rather, it’s a custom built platform designed to run their reading and math software.

What’s the difference there? Quite a bit. As Seth shared with me, they’ve spent 15 years developing reading and math software for students grades K-3. A serious amount of time and research has been put in to make it integrate tightly into the core curriculum (textbook), and really target students at their exact ability level. The software is the breakthrough. The hardware is a means for putting that software in students hands.

You’re probably thinking, why not just box it up and sell it? Seems as though they’ve been doing that. Trouble is, most classrooms don’t have a 1:1 environment. In a typical early elementary classroom, there are 1-5 computers, and 3-4 of them are sometimes working, sometimes not. T he one computer that DOES work… is on the teachers desk, not to be touched by student hands. Yes, they do visit the computer lab, but not to learn reading skills, rather to learn computer skills.

So what they did was they built a custom hardware platform SPECIFICALLY to run their software. That puts an entirely different spin on things. So perhaps the issue isn’t so much a matter of deceptive practice (billing it as a $50 PC), rather misguided marketing combined with sensationalized reporting.

Gotta share a few other tidbits that I learned while talking to Seth. I loved the idea of the Sync and Store case for its simplicity, but I didn’t realize how critical it was to use these devices effectively. The idea is, once per week the teacher goes into the classroom management software and marks off where each student is for reading and math, at a class, group, or individual level. Then, the device will load up lessons that are specific to that students’ level! The device won’t have the entire year stored on it. Heck, it won’t even have the entire unit. It will have just the lessons that the individual student would need for that week. VERY targeted. Of course, the flip side is that students’ answers/responses are recorded and uploaded to the teachers’ computer at next sync so they have a solid idea how the student is doing.

Another tidbit that almost blew me off my chair was how they’re using the microphone. The example he showed me was the Teachermate displaying an image along with a sentence below it. Then, using the built in speaker, you would hear a person read the phrase aloud. After hearing it read aloud (highlighting the words along the way), the student would repeat it back. The microphone would record the student reading it. Then, it would play the original voice reading it, the student reading it and the original once again. So the student had the ability to compare their own reading and inflection to the original! Not only that, but those recordings? They also get transfered over to the teachers computer so he or she can HEAR how the student is doing. Just think how powerful that would be to be able to break out during conferences and share with parents.

But wait, that’s not all! After reading a story (or watching an animated story), students can even choose characters from the story, stamp them on the screen, type out their own story via the onscreen keyboard (yucky, but kids are doing it anyway on their video game systems all the time), and then NARRATE IT using the microphone. The whole thing is saved and can be transfered over to the teachers computer. I know what you’re going to ask next, and no, there is no way to publish those just yet, but it’s on the list for 2.0.

Starting to get the idea why I’ve changed my opinion of the device on the whole? This is not a PC. Calling it one just confuses things. Rather it’s an incredibly powerful 1:1 deployment of the Innovations for Learning Reading and Math programs.

Of course, the big giant unanswered question is whether it’s worth the roughly $100 per student it will cost to deploy throughout your K-3 classrooms. To be honest, I don’t know. We’ll have to see what the research says once it comes in. My gut feeling says students will wind up with positive results. Could those results have come about another way without spending the money? Probably. But at the same time, this is such a no-brainer to deploy that substitutes could use it easily with little to no training. In an era where teaching quality has really come into question, this would certainly be a pretty powerful asset to any reading or math program.

Personally, I think they’re on to something here, and I’ll be watching them careful for future releases.

9 Comments

Kyle Brumbaugh
3/22/2008

Steve:

What do you think of the Eee PC from ASUS? $400 for 1GB of RAM and 8GB Flash storage. Three USB 2.0 ports, built in WiFi, internal web cam and speakers and 7″ diagonal screen. It runs a version of Linux, but I have also seen people that have taken them and loaded a stripped down version of WinXP on them. Been looking at having a small portable lab set up with them to do PD or trainings with a class. For $5,000 I could have a lab of 12 computers.

Teachermate: $50 PC? Hardly - Teach42
3/26/2008

[...] discussing the Teachermate with its creator and doing a hands on demonstration, I have posted a follow up to this post. Please be sure to read that as [...]

Bob Myers
3/31/2008

Steve,

Good work. Yours is the only post I’ve seen about this thingie that shows any thought or research deeper than the press release.

I’ve got to admit I’m _real_ skeptical about this thing though.

1) if they’ve been developing and making this wonderful sw for 15 years where is it?

2) as you say, the website is truly awful. It certainly doesn’t give me confidence as to a real org behind it.

3) How are teachers going to control rather fragile devices that are about the size of a pack of cards with your typical urban k-2s?

4) ‘Teachermate’? shows how kid-centric the idea is.

5) Closed, real closed.

6) what can the kids see on the screen? Third grade (they say that for next year) reading curriculum on a 2.5″, no rez specified screen?

I could go on, but time and patience have their limits.

Jason Goodman
1/22/2009

Hey Steve,

I was about to write a post of my own about the Teachermate. Unfortunately our blog is temporarily down for “repairs”.

In any case: I started doing some more research on it, and came across your 2 entries. I thought your first one made a lot of sense. I think you should stick to your guns about the device regardless of what the Executive Director fed you.

I have a background in education, psychology & design and I can tell you quite confidently that innovation in education will come with new tools and systemic changes in how we teach & measure learning. What we don’t need are new tools that support outdated teaching methods and assessment practices.

Because its mission statement is noble I’m sure they’ll secure funding to stay in business, but I can’t see them making any significant amount of money on this product that belongs in 1998.

Glad I found your blog! I’ll keep reading!

Steve
1/26/2009

Not really a matter of sticking to my guns, it’s a matter of clarifying my original post, which was based solely on speculation, with facts based on my own hands on experience.

My original point stands; it’s not a PC. Marketing it as one is deceptive and wrong. But as a learning device it looks like it has potential. And I love the idea of building a custom device for specific educational applications. However, I’m just not sure the cost justifies the benefit.

Catherine
4/21/2009

I hate the website it is so uninformative.

While I wopuld love to see changes in education, with two seven year olds who have not yet learned to read and literally start to yawn within two minutes of sitting down with a book I needed a device they could use on their own but I could keep track of their progress.

This looks like the solution for me. Especially since they and their parent is very destructive. Bicycles last about two weeks, footballs, and scooters don’t usually make it through a weekend without someone sticking an ice pick in them.

So I am going to pick up two of these and see if they will last. And if they can help the children learn.

Cathy

Judith Grace
10/21/2009

I loved the device, and so did my students, but after three times using it, it would not accept a charge. I contacted IFL and was promised months ago, that I would get a different unit, and then I will pay to return the faulty unit to them. I will post here, when the replacement unit arrives. I am not holding my breath, nor are my students and the classroom teachers, who wanted to order a learning center. All I can tell them, is that IFL has not sent me a workable unit, after many promises. I liked the unit, when it worked. It is a waste of $100 for me now, and I do not recommend, that they make me take this to my lawyer, or the press. I am a loyal customer, but do not cross me. Judith Grace
nice1024805@aol.com

Judith Grace
10/23/2009

I promised that I would return here, when IFL sent the device. It arrived today (10-23-09), and it is charging now. I will report on how this unit holds up. I love to be fair, especially to new products.
I will return the faulty unit in the same package tomorrow.
nice1024805@aol.com
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