written. Most of my concurrences and dissents have already been written.
However, Christina's question was about approaches to 1:1. I've had the
pleasure of working with a ton of 1:1 schools and have been particularly
intrigued with approaches being deployed in the last year.
In the interest of time here is a underdeveloped list of approaches. Feel
free to ask about any, if you are interested in more detail.
Device: Laptop vs. Tablet vs. Netbook vs. Any Device
Hardware: Single hardware platform vs. Varied hardware platforms
OS: Windows vs. Mac vs. Linux vs. OS Agnostic
Acquisition: School owned vs Family/Student owned
Finance: Lease vs. Purchase
Software: What blend of local versus web based would be used
Storage: How much, where is it stored and how it is synchronized and
backed-up
Policies: How do they relate to other policies relative to character
development
PD: expectation of whole school culture versus classroom
Environment: client device vs. terminal server vs virtual desktop
I think 1:1 is a big deal. I really do. It isn't just an increase in
computers that leads to increased logistical issues. It is an opportunity
to vastly empower students by shifting the locus of control from the teacher
to an individual student. This can have a tremendous impact on school
culture, positive or negative. Schools that deal with the hardware and
software and leave the rest to chance often suffer negative and expensive
consequences.
Peter's comment about not getting bogged down in the logistics is a wise one
but it is because he has people focused on outcomes, rather than inputs.
His school is known for having great clarity and focus in its purpose as
well. This should NOT be understated.
Your approach should begin with purpose and goals. Know your desired
outcomes and then plan backwards. Focusing on purpose, rather than
logistics, can make many of the controversies of those very necessary
logistics conversations go away.
Good luck! Enjoys the tremendous journey of launching 1:1!
Take care,
Alex
--------------------------------------------
Alex Inman
Director of Technology
Whitfield School
St. Louis, MO
314-434-5141 phone
314-434-6193 fax
On Mon, Oct 12, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Jason Hyams <jhyams@st-agnes.org> wrote:
> Christina,
>
> We are a 1:1 tablet school. Our students own the tablets but they are
> purchased through the school. As a tablet school we do not worry about
> "platform wars" since Microsoft is the currently the only widely
> accepted tablet OS. There are few tablet options available in retail
> stores so our parents do not have issues with our tablet selection.
>
> We operate in a semi-cloud environment by streaming our applications and
> eBooks to the tablet computers. This allows us to provide more
> applications (Adobe CS3, Accounting etc...) while maintaining license
> compliance. Many of our school board and tech committee members are
> business owners and use MS Office applications in their businesses and
> recommended the same for our students so we do not use open source or
> Google apps. If you are looking to hold down cost I would recommend
> Google apps.
>
> I do not recommend allowing students to provide their own computer
> unless you have plenty of loaner computers available. Local computer
> service centers will not provide loaners for free and your students will
> need a computer while the computer is out. As a Lenovo and Fujitsu self
> maintainer we can track the repair process and make sure the machine is
> getting repaired and not sitting at home while the student uses a school
> loaner.
>
> Good Luck with your 1:1 program!
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> Jason Hyams
> Director of Technology
> St. Agnes Academy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: A forum for independent school educators
> [mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Christina Devitt
> Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2009 1:54 AM
> To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Approaches to 1:1
>
> Dear ISED folks,
>
> I am writing from Jakarta International School where I am the new
> Director
> of Technology this year. Here at JIS we are the process of developing a
> plan for 1:1 implementation in our Middle and High Schools over the next
> two
> years. One of the biggest questions we are grappling with right now is
> whether to go with an approach where all students buy the same machine
> (or
> perhaps at most 2 different kinds, one being Mac and one Windows to
> defuse
> platform wars) in order to provide some consistency and equity in the
> classroom, or whether to allow "open-choice with minimal software
> expectations," meaning students can bring pretty much whatever they want
> as
> long as it can perform certain functions we define. The latter approach
> is
> definitely more appealing to folks with strong platform/brand/model
> preferences and to those who have already purchased mobile computing
> devices. The move of more and more applications to the cloud gives
> further
> weight to the "open choice" approach, but unfortunately, our access to
> the
> cloud is much more limited than in developed countries.
>
>
>
> I realize there is no one-size-fits-all approach to 1:1 and that each
> school
> is different, but I'd value insight from members of this group as we
> wrestle
> with this decision. I'm especially interested to know if any of you
> currently have an "open choice" 1:1 model. Hope to hear from some of
> you.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Christina Devitt
>
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