Obsolete or obsolescent?

The adjective obsolescent refers to the process of passing out of use or usefulness -- becoming obsolete. The adjective obsolete means no longer in use--outmoded in design, style, or construction. (about.com)

A study in contrasts:

• This month hundreds of people lined up to purchase the latest iPhone. It allows people to place cell phone calls. Just like the phone they already own.
  
• This month with the retirement of one of our kindergarten teachers, the Mankato Schools got rid of its last Apple IIe computer. It was still used as a word processor, spreadsheet, keyboarding tutor, and skills tutor (via MECC games.) Just like the ones we are buying new this year.
  

When should we label a technology obsolete and when should it be called obsolescent? Is this differentiation merely annoying pedantry of interest and importance only to English teachers? Or do we all need to be more thoughtful about how we use these two adjectives - and be aware of their subtle influence on our views and actions?

Miguel Guhlin mentioned a couple times in his SecondLife talk last Tuesday evening that his district has a high percentage of obsolete computers - a factor that impedes the successful integration of technology into common pedagogical practice. (Miguel, correct me please if I misunderstood.) I suspect many district technology specialists make the same complaint about obsolete computers.

Yet I often wonder if this not often an easy excuse for many educators. Our district holds on to its computers and other technologies for a very long time  as my example above illustrates. But at the same time we have always practiced a form of "sustainable" technology implementation.  Our mission-critical computers are replaced on a regular rotation schedule of not more than five year and the older machines are moved to less critical areas or where we can establish a good deal of redundancy. We do not pretend we can support more computers than we can replace on an established basis. The theory that is it better to have one computer that works all the time than two computers that only work half the time.

We find that while computers suffer from obsolescence for a very long time, they rarely become truly obsolete. To be categorized as obsolete, computers in our district must be more than five years old and:

• Need repairs that cost money - in terms of parts or extensive tech time or need expert repairs.
• No longer run any software that supports either administrative or curricular purposes.
• Are sufficiently unreliable or slow that neither staff nor students are willing to use them.
  
• Can't find a home in a classroom, lab or mini-lab.

I'm seeing a paradox in our schools. The functional lives of the computers we buy seem to be getting longer. (When is the last time you could really tell your new computer had a faster processor? How many of your apps are now web-based and require little computer power?) Yet educators are demanding shorter replacement cycles. I am not sure why.

Are your computers really obsolete...or just obsolescent?

Your not yet obsolete, I hope, author...

Comments

[VWB]

I remember the day the science teacher retired. I remember that the next day I took the drawers full of filmstrips and dumped them in the trash.

[Carl Anderson]

I suspect that one of the biggest reasons teachers demand technology upgrades so often has less to do with obsolescence and more to do with turf. "Why does [insert teacher name] get a new SMARTboard and I only get a projector?" or "How come [insert teacher name] gets three new computers in her room but none of us get any?" or "Why did the teachers who just got new laptops get better ones than the rest of us got last fall?"

I have seen teachers more effectively integrate technology to improve learning with 10 year old equipment than most teachers do with brand new stuff. I truly believe that the upgrade most teachers need in their classroom is pedagogical, not mechanical.

[Doug Johnson]

@ VWB,

Ah, I had thought all our filmstrip projectors were gone. And then I glanced in an auto shop classroom and there one was! Still in use, I believe. At least we no longer have filmstrips in the district collection (or 16mm films or film loops). I don't think are ordering any replacement lamps either.

All the best,

Doug

@ Carl,

Your last statement about the needed upgrades needing to be pedagogical rather than technological rings so true.

I've often felt it was in some ways easier to write on an old Apple IIe without today's distracting bells and whistles on current computers.

Thanks for the comment,

Doug

[Lazygal]

Hee. My father still uses his Commodore PET to run basic (or is that BASIC?) computations for his research - plug in the formula, let it go, pick random results and voila! Yes, he has current computers but this is an easy way for him to get the info he needs.