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About LinkBacksOur dell support is engineer on site next day, so that point of his is moot.With a Dell netbook or something like that, it’s all done by courier service and making lots of phone calls and tracking it, and so on
Our dell support is engineer on site next day, so that point of his is moot.With a Dell netbook or something like that, it’s all done by courier service and making lots of phone calls and tracking it, and so on
Fancy coming to our school and doing a talk on why printing everything (1st draft, 2nd draft, 3rd draft, final draft... 1 line memos, newsletters which get imediately binned) is a bad idea?Originally Posted by localzuk
iirc our printing and photocopying was in the region of 2million pages last year!!!
Last edited by j17sparky; 13th September 2010 at 12:30 PM.
How big's your school?
It's a really good blog, from someone who clearly knows what he's trying to achieve. No-one is going to win an argument in which they try to justify iPads for every school in every curriculum area, but you've got to hand it to the guy for giving it a try. For his situation it's a great idea. I particularly like his comment:
"I get a little testy with people who demand to know "What Will You Use This iPad Thing For?". I don't know what we'll use it for and that, my friends, is the beauty of the thing. When people are allowed to figure out what technology is good for the technology is used better, more often and more effectively than when you're told chapter and verse that This Computer Is For The CD-ROM" Fraser Speirs - Blog which totally turns one major objection on its head.
There is a lot of research going on around the iPad at the moment, so if it's not your bag, that's fine, but if you think it's interesting now, just wait and see where people are going with it
srochford (16th September 2010)
1150 place secondary with 100ish staff. 2,000,000 / 1250 = 1600 average pages per person!!!
We are also the lowest funded school in the borough, and are constantly moaning about not having any money.
I like this one.....It's a really good blog, from someone who clearly knows what he's trying to achieve. No-one is going to win an argument in which they try to justify iPads for every school in every curriculum area, but you've got to hand it to the guy for giving it a try. For his situation it's a great idea. I particularly like his comment:
"I get a little testy with people who demand to know "What Will You Use This iPad Thing For?". I don't know what we'll use it for and that, my friends, is the beauty of the thing. When people are allowed to figure out what technology is good for the technology is used better, more often and more effectively than when you're told chapter and verse that This Computer Is For The CD-ROM" Fraser Speirs - Blog which totally turns one major objection on its head.
There is a lot of research going on around the iPad at the moment, so if it's not your bag, that's fine, but if you think it's interesting now, just wait and see where people are going with it
I worked with an older sysadmin in my first job and the first thing he taught me was "you have to drink coffee with the people who use your systems". In his mind, that was the true test of accountability to the users in an organisation where there is no actual economic pressure to be responsive. I think it's a quite brilliant observation.
So many schools don't have that same level of responsiveness. The madness is that, even when IT technicians live in the building, they often need permission from "central IT" to take even the most trivial action - and I really mean trivial action, like moving a piece of hardware from one room to another or unblocking a URL.
That doesn't seem too bad. We're about 600 kids here and we get through about 900k per year.
But then, the vast majority is through a single mono MFD which we get charged 0.33p per copy for.
re the paper usage debate. A colleague of mine just said that at university she found that writing things down helped her to remember them. I know what she means actually. I'm not sure that typing has the same effect. My 16 year old son floored me the other day by saying he thought that the ability to remember stuff wasn't relevant to schoolchildren any more. The ability to find, organise and spot relationships between pieces of information would be the main skill for future generations. I tried to argue with him but it's more difficult that you think
That's odd, I had a similar conversation with my 18 year old stapson, he said they don't need to learn skills anymore as they can just Google everything???re the paper usage debate. A colleague of mine just said that at university she found that writing things down helped her to remember them. I know what she means actually. I'm not sure that typing has the same effect. My 16 year old son floored me the other day by saying he thought that the ability to remember stuff wasn't relevant to schoolchildren any more. The ability to find, organise and spot relationships between pieces of information would be the main skill for future generations. I tried to argue with him but it's more difficult that you think
I did say that a plumber trying to stop a leak might disagree or even a soldier in the field!
Frightening, isn't it? As an employer, we like candidates to know how to work as a team, and be able to think freely around a problem. So whilst I agree with the young that intuition, communication skills and lateral thinking are more valuable to us than parrot-fashion learning, on the other hand not having any knowledge in your head just doesn't work. Coming back to the iPad, I agree with Apple's blurb that it's a fantastic tool for web browsing, reading, watching video and collaboration, so I can see some real benefits in the classroom. Saving paper might turn out to be a great side benefit too. I'm still hoping that some of the knowledge will "stick" and in that regard I can't see that they are any better or any worse than other computer technology.
In ability to deploy apps to more than one machine, read his blog he's hitting issues with having to pay for the same app for each new user of the same device!I can't see that they are any better or any worse than other computer technology.
We've just moved to a managed print solution so this doesnt apply anymore but;
Approx half were from a photocopier @ 1p/p
Approx a quarter were from baby hp lasers @ 8p/p
Still, I think 1600 pages is rediculas. I don't think I will have printed (or had printed for me) 1600 pages in my entire life!!
I must say I think id agree with him (for the most part). Especially in a field where things change so fast that 5year old knowledge can be completely useless, the ability to learn and research is very important. For this reason I dont keep any manuals or references of any kind (same with drivers and software) as by the time i come to need them again they are usually out of date.re the paper usage debate. A colleague of mine just said that at university she found that writing things down helped her to remember them. I know what she means actually. I'm not sure that typing has the same effect. My 16 year old son floored me the other day by saying he thought that the ability to remember stuff wasn't relevant to schoolchildren any more. The ability to find, organise and spot relationships between pieces of information would be the main skill for future generations. I tried to argue with him but it's more difficult that you think
Obviously you can't work efficiantly without any knowledge but that comes from experiance. Therefore id look for experiance, ability to learn and research, and knowledge, in that order.
In regards to the question on if they will retain information with the device. We have been thinking of running a small digital classroom pilot at our middle school. One of the strong points we see with slate type computers is the social interaction that comes with the freedom of movement. While the students problem solve using the device, it’s the social interaction that’s also helping them retain the data far longer than individual students problem solving alone at a stationary computer or laptop. .
Thanks jmair. Yes I think the mobility and social flexibility is a key area where these things can provide a benefit. It's worth thinking about the user experience as well. Some of the apps are pretty powerful, yet take up relatively little space and processing power as they are narrow in functionality. So they tend to be responsive, simple and intuitive for the most part. I really like that. Applications like MS Word are fantastic, flexible and powerful to be sure, but complex and difficult to master. Sometimes simple is best in terms of speed and inclusivity. If you need someone to write four paragraphs about steam engines you really don't need a full blown page layout application. There's been a steadily growing rumble in teaching about the complexity of technology, and whether it can get in the way of teaching sometimes. For some teachers iPad and its spawn are therefore going to look very attractive and all of us in IT will benefit from being prepared for that I think. Nice thread this one. Thanks everyone!
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