1:1 Laptops

[Nancy Fortman]

What are your thoughts? We are thinking about requiring are middle school students to bring a Mac laptop to school next year. We would require Microsoft Office and iLIfe suite. We need to think about storage, charging, safety when students are not in class. Any ideas?

What type of technical support do you think should be provided? We were thinking that tech support could provide a five minute "check it out" evaluation of any problems, but beyond that the families would have to deal with repairs.

We would have loaners for emergencies.

Would welcome some recommendations especially from those who have lived through a laptop transition.

[Jim Heynderickx]

A couple of suggestions:

-- a good case will reduce the number of broken screens. We use Mobilius:

http://www.mobiliscase.com/products/protectis/optimum/optimum_noteb...

-- you may worry about hardware failures, but software failures are more likely if middle schoolers are local admins on the Macbooks. It doesn't take much of a GUI enhancer to take down an operating system, or a MFP printer software install to dis-able other printers from working. You may want to put some thought into whether or not students are allowed to install software at will.

-- last, if the machines are home-owned, then you won't be imaging them with software. If kids bring in a scrambled OS, they will need to take it home and have restore disks ready (unless you had a different plan). On this score, one thing I rather liked about some netbooks was a simple key combination to restore the original disk image by the user from a hidden partition on the disk.

That's all for now. Good luck with your research and planning!

Jim

[arvind s grover]

Nancy, we've been a 1:1 school for 10 years now, but definitely use a school-chosen laptop, all our own software with the ability to restore to basics in minutes using imaging.

But let's backtrack for a second: why are you thinking of requiring students to have laptops? What's the rationale? I have found that if schools can articulate that point, then thinking about how to implement is much easier.

[Brendan Perreault]

http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp
and
http://www.apple.com/remotedesktop/

I'm curious what the average K-5 Apple environment is in schools on my little island,... Manhattan.

[Brendan Perreault]

By the way Nancy,... if you know anyone,... or know someone that knows someone in the town of Cupertino, I'd like to talk with them too. I have a call and email in to Jason Pace,... again this year.

[Laurie Bartels]

Hi Nancy,
For the past 11 years our 7th through 12th graders have brought their own laptops to school. What started out as about 95% Windows has become about 98% Macs. The kids store their laptops in their lockers and charge them overnight at home (though can plug in during the day if necessary).

We have two people who are full time tech support staff and both are Apple certified to make repairs. Loaners are provided as needed. Students who do not purchase one of the two recommended models (one Mac model and one Lenovo model) are responsible for getting their own repairs, and can get a loaner if they provide us with a case number as proof that they're getting their laptop repaired.

I have taught at schools where the school owned the laptops (though the quantity of laptops was closer to 20 or 30, far fewer than multiple grade levels). What I learned in those instances is that someone besides the tech/computer department needs to take ownership for the care of the computers, especially if multiple students wind up using multiple computers, i.e. if students are not assigned to specific computers.

We strongly suggest laptop carrying cases, and will not give out a loaner laptop unless the student has a carrying case. In addition, we strongly suggest families purchase additional insurance that covers the laptop, as well as extended warranties.

Cheers, Laurie

[Nancy Fortman]

Laurie,
Many thanks for your comments. They are very helpful. Questions: Do you own and load the software or are the families responsible for that purchase? Any issues with different software versions? Are you saying that although the families own their machines, the school provides repair service? We were thinking of having a "five minute - check it out" where we would repair if it can be done in a short amount of time. Did you do any special or additional training with faculty or have conversations beforehand. Just wondering what if any issues they might have. Thanks, Nancy

[Laurie Bartels]

Hi Nancy,

The families own the software but we provide and install it. The letter regarding laptop choices is sent out in early June and folks purchase their laptops during the summer. People then bring their laptops to our Tech Center over the summer, with a few stragglers coming the week school reopens. Most of the time, the kids do the installations while in the Tech Center, using a CD that the Tech folks have put together to facilitate the process; otherwise they leave their laptop and pick it up within an hour or two.

The school purchases the laptops for financial aid students but there is nothing that distinguishes those laptops (or those kids) from any others in terms of look or use or rules, other than the laptops get returned to us at the end of the 3 year usage period.

While the families own the software, we choose the programs that are installed, so everyone has the same versions. By using the system described above, if a laptop has a problem that cannot easily be repaired, a technician will simply reimage the laptop.

We did provide faculty training the summer before students received their laptops, but the single biggest factor was the change in my role. Way back when the initial committee suggested going the route of laptops, the suggestion was included for a laptop curricular support person. That suggestion became reality about three years into having laptops, as it became apparent that teachers most wanted and needed support in the form of on time learning; essentially a facilitator who could assist with planning lessons, teach how to use programs, be a second set of hands in the classroom, team teach or model how to teach, and provide ongoing professional development in whatever format was needed. That model has worked very well for us, and that has been my role for the past seven years.

Over the years faculty have become more skilled, creative and informed in utilizing the laptops, and new hires need less (much less!) training during the new faculty orientation sessions. As people became more proficient and took greater ownership, it has been stimulating and enjoyable to move from providing "tech" to the pedagogical and creative. While it would have been nice to start with the latter, faculty needed time to develop their own comfort levels, both with learning the necessary tech to be informed laptop users, and also with deciding/understanding/learning how they wanted to incorporate the laptops into the teaching and learning process.

Cheers, Laurie

[Nancy Fortman]

Thank you Laurie for your comments. They are extremely helpful.
Nancy

[Laurie Bartels]

Nancy,
Glad the info is useful. If you'd like to chat further, am happy to talk via phone. My office number is 914-925-4562.
Cheers, Laurie

[Stacy Nockowitz]

I just went to a conference where one of the presenters was from a 1:1 school. My suggestion is that you get in touch with him. His name is Howard Levin and he works at The Urban School in San Francisco. I have more information and a link to Mr. Levin's website from my blog: http://www.somenovelideas.typepad.com. Good luck!

[Tami Brass]

If anyone involved in a 1:1 is interested, I started a Twitter list specifically for 1:1 educators. If you'd like to join, please DM me at @brasst.

To see the list, go to:
http://twitter.com/brasst/educators-in-1-1-programs

There's a nice balance of Mac to PC schools and Independent to Public schools. It's been really helpful to view the list and see what 1:1 educators are doing. It would also be a way to connect via Twitter with folks in 1:1 schools.