Apple donates devices to schools under the ConnectED Initiative

Apple's report on how President Obama’s ConnectED Initiative and their pledge of $100 million for teaching and learning solutions to 114 undeserved schools across the country is doing.

During the just concluded Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus launch event that took center stage in San Francisco last week Apple's CEO Timothy "Tim" Cook took the task in beautifully unleashing Apple's latest smartphones and the new updates plus devices. He also talked of how Apple has joined President Obama’s ConnectED initiative and is donating an iPad to every student, a Mac and iPad to every teacher, and an Apple TV to every classroom. Through this awesome Initiative, Apple is implementing a process that provides planning, professional learning, and ongoing guidance so every school can experience the transformational power of technology. Kenya's laptop project under the Jubilee Government of President Uhuru is really not doing well. I think he should talk with President Obama on how he is making it work in the U.S.

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ConnectEd Initiative was announced in June 2013 by President Obama an Initiative designed to enrich K-12 education for every student in America. Later on at a State of the Union address different Companies namely Apple, AT&T, Autodesk, Microsoft, O'Reilly Media, Sprint, and Verizon were all named and they all agreed to came in to make it a dream come true for U.S education system. $750 million coming from all of them except Microsoft. Big Redmond pledged $1 million to cover testing in the the roughly 2000 at-risk designated schools in the U.S., and also promised to offer discounts on Microsoft products.

"In a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, why shouldn’t we have it in our schools?" President Obama said when he announced ConnectED.

Part of ConnectED Initiative is providing High speed Broadband connectivity to schools. It is realized that in preparing America's students with the skills they need to get good jobs and compete with other countries in the world relies increasingly on interactive, personalized learning experiences driven by new technology. To make this happen, ConnectED Initiative will make it possible for 99% of students to have access to next-generation broadband connectivity in schools by 2017. That connectivity will help transform the classroom experience for all students, regardless of income. So far 760,320 feet of Internet cable has been installed in Apple ConnectED schools within the first year, with 87 of them already having received upgrades to their wireless networks and 20 team members, on average, who are involved in installing each school's wireless infrastructure. 29 States across U.S are represented among the recipients of Apple ConnectED grants and 96% of the students are eligible for the free or reduced-price lunch program. This is how first world countries make it, investing in children and the youths. I see a big difference with Kenya.

Under Tim Cook's reign as Apple CEO, the company has really changed in terms of going out and helping people more so donating devices. Apple is now an official partner of the White House's ConnectED Initiative.

Apple's grant of $100 million in iPads, MacBooks, and other products along with content and professional development tools include:

• An iPad for every student. (50,000 students)
• A Mac and iPad for every teacher and administrator. (4,500 teachers and administrators)
• Apple software to support creativity and productivity. ("Everyone can code" App which we'll talk about later on in the next post)
• An Apple TV for each classroom
• A Mac mini for app deployment
• Professional management and services
• Professional development
• Third-party applications and components
Beyond providing devices, Apple has a professional development team that is working closely with the school to ensure teachers are prepared to successfully implement the 1:1 initiative in their classrooms. Imagine if this was implemented in Kenya, how many job seekers will get jobs???

"The ConnectED grant has meant a complete transformation. The students are having fun. They're more engaged. Most importantly, we're seeing a real love of learning."

Trina Siegfried, Crane Elementary School in the U.S

Apart from Apple which was our topic today, other companies offered an array of products and services:

• AT&T - Pledged over $100 million to provide middle-school students free internet connectivity for educational devices over their wireless network for three years.
• Autodesk - Pledged to expand the company's "Design the Future" program to be available to every secondary school in the country - offering for free over $250 million in value.
• Microsoft - Committed to launch a substantial affordability program open to all U.S public schools by deeply discounting the price of its Windows operating system, which will substantially bring down the cost of Windows-based devices.
• O'Reilly Media - Partnering with Safari Books Online to make over $100 million in educational content and tools available, for free, to every school in America.
• Sprint - Committed to offer free wireless service for up tp 50,000 low-income high school students over the next four years, valued at $100 million.
• Verizon - Announced a multi-year program to support the ConnectED vision through up to $100 million in cash and in-kind commitments.

I think for President Uhuru to really make it on his Laptop Project to schools and children in Kenya he has to go the way U.S has gone, make it a CSR project for named companies and this companies should split the job between each other and the Government to concentrate in upgrading most of the schools. One of the biggest move towards achieving this project is by the Kenya Power and Lightening Company (KPLC) under the Rural and Urban Electrification Project which has provided power to many schools and homes in Kenya. Liquid Telecom, Jamii Telecom, Safaricom and other companies have connected several Counties with Fiber Optic cables and connections Liquid Telecom being the first to offer free WiFi in Counties CBD which started with Nakuru County CBD. Different Tech hubs have come up around Kenya namely LakeHub in Kisumu and Narcet Hub in Nakuru have started projects including teaching coding to children and doing training and workshop on different issues among others. The Kenya's laptop project, 3 public primary Schools in each of the 47 counties and 9 schools for children with special needs have been picked for the Proof of Concept phase of the Ksh 19 billion project targeting all Standard 1 pupils in public schools. The Ministry of Education officials recently held a day-long workshop with headteachers from the 150 schools to benefit from the project at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi where the teachers were trained on how to handle the 12,000 devices—laptops and tablets—that will be given to them. BBC News earlier this year asked in an article, "Are laptops more important than desks in Kenya's schools?"

Lets engage, what do you think?

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