Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Senate will donate computers no longer in use to five rural schools in Arkansas.
• The computers were donated under the Computers for Schools program, which gives computers that aren't being used to schools across the nation. 
• Included with the HP 7900 computers are monitors, mice, and keyboards.

Dive Insight:

Getting technology and computers into classrooms has been a major national goal, especially with President Obama's ConnectEd initiative, which aims to provide WiFi access to 99% of K-12 schools by 2017 and get more software and devices (like computers) into classrooms. Recently, Apple announced that it will award a total of $100 million in grants to 114 schools in 29 states to help them use technology to meet educational goals in conjunction with ConnectED. Through the grants, every student at each school will get an iPad, every teacher and administrator will get an iPad and a Mac, and every classroom will be outfitted with an Apple TV. While that level of tech saturation is great, it's important to remember that many schools are happy just to have functioning computers.