[Year 12 IT Apps] OT: Computer rollover

[Cameron Bell]

In the development of new curricula we are finding that the line between 
personal/private use and "educational' use is getting so blurred as to 
be hopeless to distinguish between them. Sometimes, even what many 
consider the most obvious transgression turns out to be justified. Kids 
playing computer games was a big big issue for some staff in our library 
until we pointed out that they had actually created the games and were 
testing them on mates. To appease them we opened up a lab for testing 
games to leave the library free for "traditional" study.  ;)
If kids can't use school computers for *occasional* private use, then I 
would feel an absolute hypocrite telling them to do school work at home 
on the home computer. Wasting personal download time on study-related 
materials - goodness me.

Cheers
Cameron

Stephen Digby wrote:
> The rationale for internet/ printing charges is also that the purposes of use are not necessarily curriculum
> related and thus to allow open slather is to allow some students to use scarce resources for private use
> rather than educational use.
> There is even an equity argument to be made for educational use..
> ====================================================
> Stephen Digby, Learning Technology Manager
> mailto: admin at cheltsec.vic.edu.au 
> Cheltenham Secondary College www.cheltsec.vic.edu.au
> Ph: 613 955 55 955  Fx: 9555 8617 Mb: 0431-701-028
> ====================================================
> I took a course in speed waiting. Now I can wait an hour in only ten minutes.  NOT a Steven Wright joke   Rod
> Schmidt 
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Cameron Bell
> Sent: Wednesday, 8 August 2007 9:51 PM
> To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] OT: Computer rollover
>
> Most schools do actually levy charges for other "addons", particularly for practical / elective subjects, so
> user-pays isn't limited to Internet access.
> Many of us do now view net access as an essential and indispensable part of available educational resources,
> however this isn't always appreciated by those who haven't taught in the net age and now administer. They
> often only see it as a cost.
> I / we decided not to charge students for it when it became obvious that charging for access was hampering the
> delivery of the curriculum.
> Cameron
>
>
> Russell Edwards wrote:
>   
>> On 08/08/2007, at 5:51 PM, Brendyn Hancock wrote:
>>     
>>> My experience has been that recovering $$$ from student internet 
>>> users has only ever been token. Its more that you are teaching them 
>>> responsible use of costly resources than it is a significant income.
>>>       
>> I can see the reasoning behind the above... but on the other hand I 
>> don't see why schools are so fussed about their internet bills, nor 
>> why they advocate a user-pays system for the internet but nothing 
>> else. The internet is more useful than the library in most subjects 
>> other than, perhaps, English. How much does the library cost to run 
>> per year? And, how much does IT support cost per year? People seem to 
>> stress out about internet bills < $10k/year. I would have thought in 
>> consideration of the amount spent on library and IT staff, the 
>> Internet would be worth having even at $100k/year. (And no, the 
>> Education Channel doesn't count as "the Internet" in my view.) When 
>> you consider that the staffing costs overall for a school of 1000 
>> pupils must be in the millions of dollars per year, 10k is peanuts!!
>>
>> Am I missing something?
>>
>> Russell
>> Whittlesea SC
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