Disadvantaged children across England are set to receive laptops and tablets

[dan400007]

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-major-package-to-support-online-learning

 

Anyone heard anything about this or how it may work?

[Wubbalubbadub]

A teacher just emailed me this. I don't know how you apply...

[timbo343]

So many issues come into my head straight away about this. Schools need clearer guidance on this... sounds familiar to the Covid19 outbreak. I wonder what "device" they are offering.

 

Keeping students safe whilst using the device at home. No one thought of this? That would be too sensible. I guess some schools are already doing it but would the school be in-control of the device or would it be shipped out to the student?

 

In the end, someone is going to have to pay for this.. taxes will rise once the "situation" is over.

Edited April 19, 2020 by timbo343

[dan400007]

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-with-technology-for-remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19

 

Looks like we'll be ordering via an online portal on Wednesday...

[elsiegee40]

Ordering from April 22nd. How long to get the device and to get the internet connection? Will schools be open again before this happens? Who is going to maintain these devices? Will they be school devices and locked down accordingly? So many questions.

[hardtailstar]

Ordering from April 22nd. How long to get the device and to get the internet connection? Will schools be open again before this happens? Who is going to maintain these devices? Will they be school devices and locked down accordingly? So many questions.

 

By the sounds it it we may not be back for a while.

 

Hopefully they will be just for schools to claim for but we dont have to do any work with them.

 

Although whos to say if they arent managed by the school for the student that the parent will just sell it on as food/gas/electric would be worth more than a laptop.

[Andycat]

The list is pretty exclusive. Yr 10 and 12 who are Vulnerable, recent Care Leavers or with a Social worker. That's not too many really.

[mullet_man]

It makes sense if it's an online portal schools order for the pupils and the devices are delivered straight to the pupils houses.

 

If they go to the school, then that means breaking lockdown rules for staff, pupils and parents going into schools to setup, collect devices etc?

 

I've worked long enough to remember a similar thing called Computers for Pupils scheme which provided laptops and 3G dongles to disadvantaged pupils and the device came to the school when they gave out the device. The trouble was the device was a laptop which wasn't top notch, the 3g connection was capped to I think a 1gig a month and then after a year it had to be paid for by their families. Will the broadband connections being offered be capped?

 

Like you say so many questions, will interesting to find out what the criteria is? Disadvantaged for my school in Oldham could apply to most our pupils.

[southhamster]

In some ways Chromebooks could be a good fit provided that every use case would work through chrome/android.

[mikeprice]

What about the connection - any info on what happens for kids in rural areas with naff all mobile signal

 

 

In fact 4g routers are ll well and good - but wouldn't work near me on some networks

 

and who fixes it when it won't connect??

without an IT Tech going to the kids house obviously

 

Still - we should be used to this by now - it crops up every few years with the same old problems that no-one has realised still exist

 

and,of course, everyone is going to complain that they get a Chromebook when they were 'promised' the latest shiniest biggest ipad

[timbo343]

and who fixes it when it won't connect??

without an IT Tech going to the kids house obviously

 

Their parents as they are now essentially the teacher too.

[mikeprice]

Their parents as they are now essentially the teacher too.

 

Thank you for clearing that up - my mind is now at rest:p

[mullet_man]

In some ways Chromebooks could be a good fit provided that every use case would work through chrome/android.

I've never used Chromebooks so don't know this, can you use Microsoft apps? Office 365/Teams?

 

The gov website mentions Google and Microsoft, I'd suspect you'd have a choice when you put in the order? If your a Google or Microsoft school?

[3s-gtech]

I think most of Office 365 works nicely on Chromebooks - indeed I thought Teams itself was a wrapper for Chromium?

[Andycat]

For once in my life, I'd like an option for Apple.

[DrCheese]

I think most of Office 365 works nicely on Chromebooks - indeed I thought Teams itself was a wrapper for Chromium?

 

It does, but Chromebooks are riddled with stuff pushing you to Google apps & you also need a chromebook management license to manage them properly. If you're a 365 school you really want Windows devices & manage them with autopilot/intune

[Ditto]

Yes, lots of questions, but it is better than no action at all. Of course schools could look at their own approach. My sons school is very lucky to have a highly organised and massive revenue generating 'Friends of School' who I know would gladly provide funding for a school driven solution. We are lucky in our area to have a lot of additional funding to support those who are less fortunate and I know this is not true nation wide. However, we need to work through the questions and support those we can as best possible, not just those highlighted for this scheme. Future high taxes - yes, it's likely, but I'd live with that to keep educating all regardless of personal circumstances.

[mavhc]

Chromebooks can run any website and most android apps, so that's MS 365 covered. Running those things on more devices was the reason why MS made Android and Web versions after all.

 

As for not everyone having good internet, still better to increase the percentage that do. It's more to cover people who can't afford it rather than those who can't get it after all.

[MkII]

I remember a scheme 20 years ago. The local authority purchased what the learners picked from a list of hardware options. Each order was at least £1k. A broadband deal was added. After a short period of time the LA farmed out all but purchasing to local private businesses.

I guess we just sit back and wait to see what we get.

I think our school will get a centrally built image ready to go. Run it like a lease scheme.

[RLR]

I can only imagine the amount of support this is going to require. Even in our tech school we get quite a few parents/teachers asking how to do specific stuff and 99% of the time it's user error.

[paulkerton]

In some ways Chromebooks could be a good fit provided that every use case would work through chrome/android.

They'd definitely be a good fit for Chrome schools, though they'd need to be enrolled properly first. I guess that's where Google Partners would step in to help.

The other problem is, they're as rare as rocking horse doo-doo at the moment too.

[paulkerton]

At least we're not at this point

 

Yet!

[mavhc]

I can only imagine the amount of support this is going to require. Even in our tech school we get quite a few parents/teachers asking how to do specific stuff and 99% of the time it's user error.

 

That's 99% of all support queries.

 

Anyway, that's the new reality, no one's really that busy these days anyway.

[DrCheese]

That's 99% of all support queries.

 

Anyway, that's the new reality, no one's really that busy these days anyway.

 

Semi True - If we don't have any management access to these devices I won't want to touch them with a barge pole, as at that point, they're basically Student owned devices, along with all the safeguarding risks that comes with.

We can't be expected to support home owned devices

Edited April 20, 2020 by DrCheese

[paulkerton]

Semi True - If we don't have any management access to these devices I won't want to touch them with a barge pole, as at that point, they're basically Student owned devices, along with all the safeguarding risks that comes with.

We can't be expected to support home owned devices.

 

I believe they're going to be school owned devices, technically.

 

So until this is over and they're returned to the school, I would treat them as personal devices, then get them wiped and then managed after the fact.