[Year 12 IT Apps] [OT] 'Ruddy' Computers

[ken price]

Good question Mark,

What about the possibility of using smaller sub-notebook computers (eg
Asus eePC ) and handing them over to students 24/7/365?

This raises all sorts of cultural issues, but in effect it shifts the
responsibility from the school to the student/family. Perhaps analogous to
the move years ago from schools providing students with calculators to
students being expected to bring their own.

I was told at one of the briefing sessions that this is the approach being
taken by one jurisdiction.

With the best part of a million extra computers ($1.2 billion dollar
initiative) being released into Australian communities by this initiative,
the day can't be too far off when there is no point in schools thinking they
have to provide computers, because everyone will already have them.

Ken Price.
(President, TASITE. www.tasite.tas.edu.au )


On 7/22/08, Mark Kelly <kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au> wrote:
>
> Hi all.  This is OT, but I just wanted to air this.  If the thread
> develops, we can move it to the OffTopic list.
>
> I wanted to get people's ideas about the money we are being given to get us
> to a 1:2 computer/student ratio.
>
> Yesterday I found we were entitled to apply for funding for 257 computers,
> which is wonderful except for the fact that we have nowhere to put them.
>
> I could perhaps use about 45 of them, but 257?  Not unless we also get
> funding for new buildings, cabling, tech support, software licences etc.
>
> If we applied for the maximum amount of money we are entitled to, the only
> only option would be for use to stack the computers five-deep in shipping
> containers on the oval.
>
> At $1000 per PC (assuming about $650 for the hardware the the rest for
> associated expenses) I can't see it working.  And we can't just use the
> money to replace existing computers - we have to add to the existing fleet.
>
> It's starting to look like a white elephant: the gift you'd give to someone
> you really didn't like  :-)
>
> Is anyone else in the same boat?
>
> Cheers
> Mark
>
> --
> Mark Kelly
> Manager - Information Systems
> McKinnon Secondary College
> McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
> Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085
> School Phone +613 8520 9000
> School Fax +613 95789253
> kel AT mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
>
> Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
> IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com
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>
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