Laptop schemes

[SGMitchell]

Dear all,

I hope this is the best spot to post. Apologies for straying into edugeek territory without being a true edugeek but I am hoping to gain some insight.

I am researching an article for a well-known consumer magazine looking at the merits of various schemes aimed at getting more computers in schools, and in particular those that attempt to provide a laptop for all pupils. I hope to look at both commercial schemes such as those provided by OLC and Ergo, as well as the charitable/parental contribution concepts such as the e-Learning Foundation and the now defunct Computers for Schools programme from Tesco.

Does anyone have any experiences of how well these sort of schemes work in practice, either positive or negative? I'd be happy to chat by email and can be contacted on the same user name as here but all lower case at gmail.

Once again, sorry for the imposition, but I feel if it's worth writing a piece like this I should be speaking to the people with the most direct knlowledge of the schemes, ie ICT practitioners.

Thanks in advance for any help

[elsiegee40]

I would feel more comfortable if you acknowledged your actual publication... the mods may have a view on this too

EDIT

Sorry this sounds hostile, but I'm just cautious

[SGMitchell]

Redacted copy of response to elsiegee

Thanks for the response. The piece is for XXXXX - the only reason I didn't quote this in the message is that the piece isn't due out until January, and I'd rather not alert every rival editor to the article in advance. I'm not being sneaky, just don't want to get gazumped by a website, for example, that can get something live much more quickly than a print publication.

Hope that helps

END
I am happy to supply the same information to anyone else that cares to enquire, but wouild prefer not to post in searchable forum.

[elsiegee40]

Redacted copy of response to elsiegee

Thanks for the response. The piece is for XXXXX - the only reason I didn't quote this in the message is that the piece isn't due out until January, and I'd rather not alert every rival editor to the article in advance. I'm not being sneaky, just don't want to get gazumped by a website, for example, that can get something live much more quickly than a print publication.

Hope that helps

END
I am happy to supply the same information to anyone else that cares to enquire, but wouild prefer not to post in searchable forum.

Checking it out

[elsiegee40]

Ok guys... I've seen the email from the commissioning editor... though I haven't actually spoken in person and this looks genuine. Feel free to check out for yourselves and/or PM me if you need further verification yourself.

[elsiegee40]

My view:

As I'm in the private sector, I'm afraid I have little knowledge of these schemes.

Tesco vouchers... we did collect, both at my current school and my last (state) primary. However, both are small schools (c200 pupils) and never managed to collect anything like enough to get anything significant.

[Pottsey]

Tesco vouchers not much to say apart from we never managed to get anything of real value. I think it was just some software.

[Abaddon]

Not much here either really.. we did collect the Tesco vouchers, but they were worth so little, it really was pointless. We managed to get one photo printer, and a single iMac in about 4 years. I think the parents had to spend something like £100k to even get that much. Other departments were much better off for voucher trade-ins, but for IT at least it was a complete waste of time.

[dgsmith]

I can't really say we have benefitted from getting more computer equipment in the school through the TCfS scheme, though we have managed to get a fair amount of digital cameras and "lighter" equipment over previous years. Haven't looked into laptops for pupils so couldn't comment there.

We're a ~710 intake secondary school and even with masses of vouchers, still wouldn't be able to get just 1 computer. Even then, we felt multiple gains of smaller items (cameras, headphone sets etc) would be, and certainly have been in the past, of more value than just 1 computer which would just fall into the background somewhere amongst the other equipment and be forgotton about. I know this is quite specific to our experiences with the Tesco scheme, but we haven't had any experience with any other type of scheme.

You ask if these sort of schemes have been of positive or negative impact; I wouldn't really say negative as we have been able to get enough lighter equipment to distribute between multiple students and they have had positive impact on T&L, but then these items wouldn't cost much to buy in the first place - I think it's the novelty of getting stuff for free and seeing the efforts of the school's students and community rewarded somewhat. Getting more expensive equipment like computers just isn't possible with the sizes of most schools, and I would guess a fair number of schools may opt for the multiple quantities of smaller items like we have then sink the whole lot into just 1 laptop or computer (at least, that is what we have felt over the years is best).

[SGMitchell]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you - I was travelling all day Tuesday, and recovering for much of yesterday.

The e-learning foundation seems to get a good response from many, but a lot of this seems to be because they facilitate rather than supply or sell kit directly to schools. Anyone had any experience of this scheme?