Independent School Educators' List (ISED-L): Re: "Mobile Computing?"

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Re: "Mobile Computing?"

Hi,

Our model and direction....
- Laptops in the library. We have a few netbooks in the library so =
students can borrow them at anytime. One of the benefits of being a =
netbook is having the 6 hr battery life where as most typical notebooks =
last about 2-3 hours. A lot of times, all of the netbooks are being =
borrowed throughout the day.
- Laptop cart for each dept. While we have increased the number of =
laptop carts (8) over the past several years, the nature of the computer =
lab has changed (we have 3). Students are now using our lab for =
homework and socializing during breaks.
-- 2nd grade (netbooks using Ubuntu Linux)
-- 3rd/4th grade (Macbooks)
-- English / History (Macbooks)
-- Math (Macbooks)
-- Science (Macbooks)
-- 5th Grade (iPads) *new*
-- 6th grade (Macbooks)
-- World Languages (Macbooks)

Reasons why we don't have Netbooks throughout the school:
- Our kids can do create podcasts, videos, and other CPU intensive =
projects. We have seen are depts start to expand the creativity of the =
students by allowing them to use multimedia for their classwork.

Why I love Netbooks:
- Small keyboard are great for small children
- Large keyboards are available if you pick the right netbook model
- Inexpensive
- Long battery life (6 cell battery =3D 9+ hours)

About the 2nd grade netbooks:
- Learning how to type
- Linux: Trouble free throughout the year
- I had to manually update printers, but that was because I didn't get =
"bcfg2" setup to push the configurations
- Linux: Don't need to worry about MS Office licenses, Antivirus =
licenses, or students infecting computers with viruses

It looks like you are going the way of the laptop cart model if you want =
to provide laptops to 1/3 of your population. The biggest problem you =
will probably find is that everyone wants to use the cart at the same =
time. Hence, we went with a cart per dept.

I hope this information helps you out.

Brian Lee

-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators on behalf of John P. =
Charney
Sent: Tue 6/29/2010 11:12 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: "Mobile Computing?"
=20
Our urban, private school (PK-12 -- 640 students) recently spent a day
discussing our technology vision amongst the technology department
members. The result is moving in the direction of netbooks as the
primary device for students. Our goal would be to have enough netbooks
to support at least one third (1/3) of the student body at any given
moment. We would move away from traditional desktop equipped labs in
favor of using the "tool" (netbook) wherever it is needed.

1. Anyone using this model and what are the successes and
challenges?

2. Anyone seriously considering this direction?

=20

Would love to open up a dialog with someone in either of the above
situations.

=20

John

=20

***************************

John P. Charney

Director of Technology

charneyj@winchesterthurston.org

412.578.3757