I find it fascinating that an apparent "technical" issue like charging a
battery is perhaps more complex and linked to "teachable moments". But I
suppose all school situations should be considered opportunities to teach
and learn.
Alex,
Getting back to a practical matter, are you saying that it's basically a
"free for all" with regard to battery charging at Whitfield or do you have
a policy that is monitored?
Thanks,
Dave
A forum for independent school educators <ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> writes:
>Hi Jim,
>
>I agree with the idea of quality over quantity and I certainly like the
>idea of reducing our carbon footprint. However, teachers need to be able
>to explore and experiment to discover quality ways to use the technology
>well in the classroom. Creating a standard that keeps laptop use reduced
>to 3 hours per day seems to be an excessive limitation on the exploratory
>creativity of classroom teachers and would require a significant degree
>of planning among the teaching team. A policy of this nature could also
>have a "chilling effect" of seeking to find and capture that "teachable
>moment." Doing so is to jeopardize the reliability of that battery being
>able to make it through the day. I absolutely applaud the effort to find
>ways to manage a 1:1 program on batteries but after doing this for 9
>years in two different schools I haver personally given up on the fight.
>(I know...so defeatist!) :-) Good education is messy. So are laptop
>cords.
>
>Take care,
>Alex
>
>Whitfield School
>St. Louis, MO
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: A forum for independent school educators on behalf of Jim
>Heynderickx
>Sent: Sat 2/9/2008 3:16 AM
>To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
>Subject: Re: Battery "best practices" in an 1:1 environment
>
>Hi, Dave
>
>I've been sharing an idea on this topic that I've seen work successfully
>at two schools. First, a school should determine how many hours during
>the school day a laptop really should be used for academic work. Is it
>2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours during the school day (8-3?).
>
>A new Macbook battery can carry a charge for about 3.5 hours. It may
>only be able to do that for about 18 months of use, but typically they
>can run that long if the use of the laptop is managed well.
>
>So, consider this idea. If the goal of a laptop program is quality of
>use and not quantity of use, what if students didn't have AC adapters at
>school? What if the challenge for students was to manage their laptop
>and battery use to make one full charge last for the school day?
>
>Of course, there would be exceptions. A student could be loaned an
>adapter if the battery is out by the last period (but not every day).
>In science, there may need to be adapters for hours of probe data
>collection. Batteries that begin to fail will need to be replaced.
>
>The benefit, however, is that the use of the laptops could be more
>focused. Additionally, most of the electrical cable clutter in
>classrooms is removed. The laptops weigh less being transferred from
>home to school and back again. The laptop cases can be narrower because
>there doesn't need to be an outside pocket for the adapter. Finally,
>the laptops will likely last longer if their use was more focused during
>the day, and their use as "big iPods" just before and after school was
>reduced.
>
>So, just an idea. I have seen it work successfully, but obviously it's
>not a fit for all laptop programs.
>
>
>Jim Heynderickx
>Director of Technology
>American School in London
>
>
>Dave Candelario wrote:
>> We're in the process of developing our 1:1 implementation plans.
>> I'm very interested to hear from 1:1 schools that have a good solution
>to
>> keeping student laptop batteries charged.
>
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