Archive for Laptop programs

Richard | February 7, 2011
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Catlin Gabel 1:1 Laptop Program Report

The third Upper School laptop program survey in eight years attempts to discover the uses of laptop computers in the instructional program, the effects of laptop computing on study, communication, and school culture, and levels of satisfaction with the program.

Key Findings

Laptop computers are associated with positive effects on organization, writing skills, and learning environment design.

Laptop computers are associated with negative effects on attention.

Students use computers more often for homework than during class.

Students use computers most in English, science, history, modern languages, digital arts, and computer science classes.

Teachers expressed concern more often than students about negative effects on face-to-face communication.

Teachers and students varied in opinion on the effects on school culture.

Parents are generally satisfied with the school’s laptop program.

Category: Laptop programs, No category, Teaching and Learning | Tags: , ,
Richard | January 3, 2011
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Do All Students Have Broadband Internet At Home?

One might assume that all independent school families have good Internet access at home. Most independent school populations are more heterogeneous than one may expect. Our PNAIS accreditation visiting team of 2004 recommended that we assess the ability of our upper school laptop program students to access the Internet from home. Here are the results of a recent survey on that topic.

Overall Results
High-speed: 254 (89%)
Wimax: 8
Other: 7
Neighbor’s wireless: 6
Dial-up: 3
More than one household, not all of which have Internet access: 3
A different computer, not my school laptop: 2
No Internet access: 0

Students With Limited Internet Access
10 students report that limited Internet access makes it harder for them to get work done.

“It is very difficult when I do not have internet connection.”
“It’s really hard to do research.”
“Finishing a paper at night can be difficult when the wi-fi is failing and any nearby coffee shops are closed.”

Students With High-speed Internet Access

We also assessed the effects of fast, reliable Internet access on students’ ability to do schoolwork.

102 students reported that fast, reliable home Internet access has a positive effect on their ability to get work done for school.

“I wouldn’t be able to get work done if I didn’t have high-speed internet.”
“Helps with research, downloading documents from course Moodle sites, and email which is crucial for a CG student.”
“It’s basically a must to have high-speed internet access with Catlin’s curriculum.”
“I think it’s really helpful because I can use online copies of books (like the math textbooks).”

55 students reported that good home Internet access has either no effect or a net neutral effect on their ability to get work done.

“It doesn’t really have any effect on my ability to get work done for school.”
“Instantaneous distraction/knowledge. Evil and Good live side-by-side.”

12 students reported that the negative effects of distractions outweigh the positive effects.

“Negative. Very distracting, thank you Netflix instant play.”
“Sometimes I wish my internet was still dial-up, so I wouldn’t be so distracted by Youtube.”
“It negatively affects my ability because I go on Facebook too much.”

Next Steps

We will get some adults together to determine how best to support students who are having difficulties getting work done at home due to their Internet situation. Some possible actions:

  • Raise teacher awareness about which students have home Internet challenges.
  • Speak with students and their families about the potential to upgrade their home connections.
  • Pay for home Internet for families that meet certain criteria.

An Indirect Measure Of Internet Use For Teaching and Learning

As a school IT professional, it is encouraging to see the fruits of our labor (intranet website, laptop program, teacher training) widely in use across the Upper School program. Many students mentioned Moodle, research, email communication, posted assignments, and online textbooks. At first glance, students may be using laptop computers more frequently at home than in the classroom.

Assessing the Distraction Factor

Only 12 out of 285 students reported that the negative effects of distractions outweigh the positives (Netflix, Facebook, YouTube). 55 students reported that home computer use brought positives and negatives. Most stated that they were able to keep those in balance. These figures should help address teachers and parents who express concern about laptop computers and student distractability.

Category: Laptop programs | Tags: , , ,
Richard | December 13, 2010
5 comments

iPad: Finding the Grey

Here I am at 30,000 feet, blogging on the school iPad with GoGo wireless. How far these technologies have come in such a short time! I have previously stated that the iPad is poor for content creation, but now I am beginning to see the promise. I am finding the grey space between evangelist and curmudgeon.

By far the best feature is the long battery life, able to last a cross-country plane flight or a full day of class use. No device is effective when it’s out of juice. The keyboard is just tolerable if I place the iPad in landscape orientation. I’m probably typing at 20 words a minute.

I recently read the accreditation report of a peer school that is rolling out a 1:1 iPad program. That’s one iPad for each student in the school. Last week, my reaction to this news was surprise and lack of understanding. It’s highly unlikely that we would do such a thing at our school. Having learned more about their school, I can see the rationale now.

1. They are committing to replace texts with electronic content as much as possible. The iPad is best equipped for content consumption, so this fits great. Presumably, they have strong teacher support for this.

2. They are interested in better supporting students by presenting materials in multiple media (another advantage over print).

3. They are simultaneously seeking a new learning management system platform. The iPad rollout will take place along with a new platform for delivering instructional content and working together.

4. They have a smaller budget than most laptop schools. A 1:1 laptop program is likely out of reach, so it does not make sense to speculate how much better laptops are than iPads. The real question is how much better iPads are compared with laptop carts and shared desktops.

5. Similarly, they may not want to increase tech staff. The iPad lends itself to a distributed management model. Load them up once and then let go of the management responsibility. So far at least, the iPad appears to suffer few weaknesses compared to a device with a full operating system.

6. They are seeking distinctive programs to help attract students within a competitive independent school market.

7. They are timing the rollout to coincide with iPad 2 (good move!). They should avoid the limitations of the first version, gain a camera and microphone, and perhaps lower the price, plus whatever other improvements Apple has cooked up!

I still have questions about feasibility of this program. Can students really write essays and complete assessments using the on-screen keyboard? How will the school deal with the lack of a central file storage system? Are enough teachers committed to developing sufficient electronic content? I look forward to seeing how it goes.

Category: Hardware, Laptop programs, No category | Tags: , ,
Richard | November 30, 2010
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Laptop Care Video

Hey laptop schools, you might enjoy watching this video and perhaps even sharing it with your students.

Source: Horizon Productions, via Wesley Fryer

Category: Laptop programs, No category | Tags: ,
Richard | November 29, 2010
3 comments

Just because it’s popular now …

Teachers, parents, and students often ask our IT department to support new technologies that have just gained popularity in the home consumer market. The latest darling is iOS devices, particularly the iPad.

How may we anticipate the future enterprise growth of a new, personal technology? What qualities of home electronics help predict future success in the enterprise? I would appreciate your thoughts and any resources you have encountered that address this topic.

One useful idea is the technology adoption curve. Actually, “curves” is a better word, as I have come across several different types.

Rogers Technology Adoption Lifecycle Model


Source: Wikipedia

As people adopt a technology, overall adoption increases toward the technology’s “saturation point,” the maximum penetration possible for that technology. The maximum point is usually less than 100% of the possible users in existence (more on that later).

Source: Wikipedia

Some studies have found a gap between the early adopters and early majority, suggesting that some innovations do not proceed directly from minority to mainstream adoption.

Source: Nielsen Company

For some technologies, this gap represents the end of the road. The technology never gains mainstream acceptance, either because it is ill-suited to the mainstream or because another technology supersedes it (see “Laser disc” and “Blu-Ray”).

These graphs help answer the early adopters when they come calling. Early acceptance of a new technology does not guarantee its popularity with the mainstream.

What technologies gain mainstream acceptance?

This chart shows the adoption curves for major household electronics.

Source and full-size version: Karl Hartig

Note that the chart is limited to technology innovations that succeeded in gaining a high adoption level! Also note that the early rate of increase does not necessarily predict its later rate of increase. Compare cellphone adoption to cable TV. Cell phones started slowly and then rapidly increased in adoption. Cable TV started quickly and then tapered off. The following chart describes the adoption curve of a less successful technology. The y-axis represents “visibility.”

Source: Mike Slinn

Let’s talk about organizations

The previous graphs focus primarily on consumer technologies. What about organizations such as companies and schools? Typically schoolwide implementation lies at the end of the adoption curve. The following chart proposes that adoption moves progressively from smaller to larger organizational groups.

Source: James Rait

What qualities do successful school technology innovations have?

I wonder what qualities these successful innovations share. Ease of use? Utility to the user? What can we learn to help us understand the potential future popularity of newer devices like the iPad?

Suitability for an enterprise network: Technologies that integrate well with enterprise networks have a greater chance of success in schools than those that do not. The iPad is poised on the brink of this question. Apple did a nice job with WPA2 enterprise integration for iOS. What about print and file servers?

Applicability to teaching and learning activities: It appears that major manufacturers are not seriously interested in designing technologies for the education market. We are left to choose among richly designed technologies for personal or business use and less mature technologies designed by smaller companies specifically for the education market. When a new technology arrives on the scene, we should first ask whether it is at all suitable to teaching and learning activities. I am not talking about “finding a use” for a new device, but rather identifying high compatibility between a device’s capabilities and existing principles of good teaching and learning, which make it possible to replace and/or extend existing learning environments with technology.

Potential for content creation: Learning is as much about content creation as it is about consumption. Devices like the iPad are rich with consumption capabilities but so far weak for creation. If creation represents at least half of the education process, then what use is the iPad today, compared to a $500 laptop computer?

How far along the curve will a particular technology go?

“Every school will have a 1:1 student laptop program.” One no longer hears this once-popular refrain. The adoption of student laptop programs has clearly slowed since 2000, and still only a small proportion of schools overall provide individual student laptops. High cost, disillusionment about effects, and difficult of integration have proven to be significant obstacles. Do you know of any quantitative studies of student laptop program adoption? I would like to see them.

Your turn

Are you on the “cutting edge” or a “fast follower?” How do you mediate the effects of new technology enthusiasm on your organization? Have you measured the percentage of your budget devoted to innovation? What resources have you found to be helpful in investigating these questions? I look forward to your replies.

Category: Curricular integration, Laptop programs, No category, Strategic Planning, Teaching and Learning, Tech Direction | Tags: ,
Richard | August 24, 2010
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Cases Cracked!

Apple’s flimsy cases have caused us grief again. Out of our 280 student machines, we are sending 60 to Apple for case repair. Pictured below are half of the boxes and some of the computer being prepared for mailing. You can imagine how long it takes to complete the paperwork and mail 60 boxes. Meanwhile, the students do not have their computers.

Here is an example of case cracking. It’s important to send these for repair now, because Apple covers the repair if the cracking only appears on the edge. If the crack spreads around the corner, then Apple consistently claims it was dropped and charge for the repair. Our students take the blame for normal handling of their computers in a school environment.

Is the MacBook Pro aluminum unibody case better? After one year, we have seen almost no case damage due to cracking, not surprising given that it is made of thick aluminum. However, check out this nasty crack along the flimsy plastic hinge cover!

Category: Hardware, Laptop programs, No category | Tags: , , , ,
Richard | August 24, 2010
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Firmly On the Ground

Do you run a 1:1 student laptop program? Do your teachers and students do all of their work in the cloud, without any local system configuration? I have two questions for you.

What do you do when no cloud equivalent exists for a desktop application?
How do you provision network, antivirus, and security configurations?

Our desktop applications include:

  • Fathom
  • Geometer’s Sketchpad
  • ComicLife
  • Inspiration
  • LoggerPro
  • Flip4Mac
  • iBackup
  • Microsoft Office
  • Adobe Creative Suite

System configuration includes:

  • 802.1x system profile or WEP pre-shared key
  • Custom machine name (for network identification)
  • DHCP reservation (to assist with network identity)
  • Server certificate for Global Address List lookups
  • Sophos antivirus client
  • SafeConnect (network access control) client
  • Altiris (inventory and remote control) client
  • Allow remote administration via Apple Remote Desktop
  • Local administrator account for Apple Remote Desktop access
  • Apple administrator account to facilitate Apple repairs
  • Root user for some remote tasks

Category: Laptop programs, Software/desktop | Tags: , ,
Richard | August 16, 2010
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Creeping closer …

Today, we received the first student laptops for annual maintenance, which also marks the unofficial end of summer project work within the IT department. From here on in, we fully devote ourselves to laptop maintenance and responding to user requests as teachers return to school and staff prepare for the start of term.

We finished nearly all of the faculty laptop computers last week, save those that required a trip to Apple to repair a broken or malfunctioning part. They required a lot of work. We moved all of the Windows machines to 7, since XP is now out of support. The Macs required extensive research to devise the best configuration for printers, wireless access, and network access. Attempts to automate the process were regularly foiled. It took far too much effort to reach a point of reasonable confidence that the configuration will work effectively. Hopefully, things will go more smoothly for the student machines.

Signs of the impending school year abound. Divisions heads meet this week to plan for the year. Some teachers have shown up for summer curriculum planning meetings. I’m not actually certain what all goes on next week, but August 30 brings the official start of the school year for teachers. They will attend division retreats and opening meetings. Grades 6-12 start before Labor Day weekend, whereas grades PS-5 start after. Oregon requires only 160 days of school in the year, well below the 180 in our neighboring states.

Category: Laptop programs, Software/desktop | Tags: , ,
Richard | April 16, 2009
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Laptop Program Report: Effectiveness and Impacts

In the spring of 2008, IT staff conducted a survey of students, teachers, and parents to better understand opinion about the effectiveness and impacts of the 1:1 student laptop program. The survey format followed a similar study of 2003, so that the school could compare the results over this five-year span. The school has published a 20-page report detailing findings of the study.

Major Findings

Laptop use in English and computer science classes is nearly ubiquitous. Among other subjects, students use laptop computers more often in history and modern languages classes and less often in math and art classes.

Laptop computing has increased student access to computers at home. Parents felt more strongly about this effect in 2008 than in 2003.

The survey found a small impact of the laptop program on teaching methods and curriculum. Respondents felt that the laptop program had significantly improved writing skills, improved collaboration, and increased communication overall.

Teachers feel that girls are more willing to use computers and demonstrate stronger computers skills as a result of the laptop program.

The survey suggests that the laptop program support the ability of students to learn in a way that matches their learning style.

Students and parents feel that laptop computers help students keep their academic lives more organized. Teachers feel the same way about their use of laptop computers.

Respondents expressed concern about a decrease in face-to-face communication as a result of the laptop program.

Students found great value in the ability of social network sites to overcome separation from their friends by distance or time.

Category: Laptop programs | Tags: , ,
Richard | September 26, 2008
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Cultivating Student Care For Laptops

During laptop maintenance this year, we saw an unusually high frequency of physical damage and virus infections to student laptops. We run a 1:1 student laptop program in the high school in which families own the computers and we provide the annual maintenance and ongoing support.

How does one cultivate a culture of care for one’s possessions, especially computers? This assembly presentation was a simple attempt to remind people to be mindful of these fragile devices. At times, I have opened up a computer to show the components all crammed in there together with a minimum of protection. We can also remind people of the cost of repair and replacement.

The following slide show includes the visuals that I used for the presentation, but you will have to imagine the spoken portion or fill it in yourself!

Laptop Care (for upper school students)
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: 1:1 laptop)

Category: Laptop programs | Tags:
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