[Offtopic] School laptop policy

[Cameron Bell]

Can I please just get a clarification? Jim are you a teacher or a 
technician? The slant I am getting from your reply is certainly not one 
from an educational point of view, rather a technical and administrative 
view.
Cheers
Cameron

Jim Maunder wrote:
> At 12:06 PM 15/05/2008, you wrote:
>
> Oh dear, where to start?
>
> Firstly, uniformity.
> The girls use their own laptops/tablets (from Grade 5) in nearly every 
> class (don't ask me what they do, I don't know exactly), and in many 
> classes teachers use EWBs to demonstrate how to do a particular task. 
> In the junior classes the girls learn basic operations (cut, paste, 
> copy etc) as well as the use of office apps (WP, spreadsheet etc). The 
> junior clases make good use of MS OneNote, particularly the 
> collaboration feature. It makes the teacher's life a lot easier if 
> everyone is the same or at least similar.
>
> Aside - the kids can adapt to just about anything - for our French 
> immersion stream a few years ago we had a lab set up with dual boot 
> PCs - Win98 and the usual stuff, and the French version of SuSe linux 
> with StarOffice, Firefox, Eudora etc all in French. The 10 year old 
> girls managed this just no problems.
>
> Further aside - senior school maths students are expected to have a 
> particular model of TI calculator, and I have heard no-one complain 
> about that. (and I prefer reverse Polish HP programmable calculators 
> myself - I still run up the old HP-45 occasionally)
>
> Yet another aside - I don't think too many organisations with as many 
> client machines as us would tolerate much in the way of user 
> individuality. (In 1995 I was working at Monash University - we heard 
> of an academic bringing in their own copy of Win95 and 'upgrading' 
> their uni provided PC. When he could not get it working on the network 
> he phoned the tech centre. The technician came around, removed the 
> network cable and left - refusing to help this 'individual'. A bit 
> rough, but I can see why.)
>
> Secondly, network access.
> We use Novell networking here - there is a freely available Novell 
> client for the various varieties of Windows, a non-free one for Mac, 
> and non-trivial clients for the various linuxes. (the one for SuSe is 
> easy enough though). Network printing goes through some sort of 
> charging system, and although a smart person could bypass the system 
> by install the printers as IP printers, it is not something we wish to 
> encourage. Users need to be able to 'log on' to get to the network 
> drives - although a user can do this from a browser if necessary, 
> again something we don't encourage.
>
> Thirdly, support.
> Laptops/tablets bought through the school come pre-imaged. Laptops 
> brought from outside are set up by me - Novell client, browser, email 
> client, MS Office if needed, and a few other school-specific apps, and 
> we charge a service fee for this. I have enough trouble keeping up 
> with Win XP and Vista.
>
> Finally, school prerogative.
> Students (and parents) should do what they are told!!
>
> Those are our reasons. I accept the gist of the 'rant', and in some 
> ways agree with what is written. But we have to manage our 
> environment, and this policy is one that works for us.
>
> Boy, that was a long reply!
>
> rgds
> non-offended Jim
>
>
>> <rant>
>>
>> Jim Maunder wrote:
>>> ... and in spite of a school policy to the contrary some
>> > recalcitrant students use MacBooks.
>>
>> Why does it matter which operating system a student chooses?
>>
>> I can't think of a single laptop operating system that can't use a
>> web browser, can't print using IPP or SMB, can can't access
>> files using WebDAV or SMB and can't edit documents, spreadsheets
>> and slides in the DOC, XLS, PPT formats.
>>
>> With respect, it seems to me that a school policy would be
>> better off specifying these common and widely-used protocols
>> rather than requiring a particular operating system, office
>> suite, etc.
>>
>> If these protocols are not supported at present, then I'd be
>> reconsidering the school infrastructure rather than the clients.
>> I'll admit to being deeply worried that any third-party client
>> software is needed to use a school network. Individualised
>> fiddling with client PCs seems to me to be a huge IT support
>> cost that is better replaced by good instructions for the
>> configuration of software which is already present on the client
>> PC.
>>
>> The alternative simply shuts out new and interesting hardware
>> and software. The Asus Eee PC 900 being a fine example of
>> hardware and software which does not meet a prescriptive
>> policy but which would otherwise be ideal.
>>
>> Of course, a school could (and should) recommend a particular
>> computer retailer, laptop manufacturer and model, operating system
>> and office suite with an estimated price for each to give guidance
>> to parents which appreciate such guidance and may otherwise
>> spend considerably more than necessary.
>>
>> </rant>
>>
>> -- 
>>  Glen Turner
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>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> We have to use this Disclaimer
>
> Views, opinions, etc. expressed reflect those of the author and not
> Ruyton Girls' School
> -----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jim Maunder
> Ruyton Girls School
> Melbourne, Australia
>
>
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