[Offtopic] School laptop policy

Thu May 15 17:40:21 EST 2008

Yes it does matter what Jim does. Read my second post and please own up 
to who you are rather than posting anon.
Cameron

ICT Support wrote:
> Does it matter what Jim does ?
>
> ICT Coords / Managers / Technicians don't set rules and restriction just for the fun of it (OK sometimes we do, but mostly not)
> Supporting one hardware/software spec is easier than support two specs and so on....
>
> When something goes (and it always does), do you want it fixed now, today, tomorrow or next week?
>
> Because if everyone has a different system one of two things is going to have to happen.
> 1. You wait - a long time to get something fixed?
> 2. You have to employee 10 times as many people to support your systems.
>
> "... educational point of view, rather a technical and administrative...."
>
>
> Would it provide a better educational outcome to have at least 2 teachers in every class  ?
>
> Sure it would, but we don't do it because of the cost.
>
> ICT is exactly the same. There are lots of great thing to do and try - just do them at home in your own time, because it's just to expensive to have everyone man, woman and dog doing their own thing in working environment...
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: offtopic-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:offtopic-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Cameron Bell
> Sent: Thursday, 15 May 2008 3:38 PM
> To: Information Technology Teachers' Offtopic Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Offtopic] School laptop policy
>
> 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
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> offtopic mailing list
>>> offtopic at edulists.com.au
>>> http://www.edulists.com.au/mailman/listinfo/offtopic
>>>       
>> -----------------------------------------------------------
>> 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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>>     
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