Stand Alone Laptops... anyone else do this?

[Sam_Brown]

One of the primary schools I've taken over had what I'd consider a strange set up...

 

All teachers have their own laptops which aren't joined to the domain and they basically keep them at home to do work.

 

Then all teaching rooms also have a domain joined laptop hooked up to the projector \ sound \ IWB permanently and these are the ones they use when they come in.

 

Teachers will bring in their work from home on memory sticks to use on the class room computers.

 

To me this confuses me immensely... each teacher basically has two laptops... one for home (non domain joined, they have full access to it, local account etc, no backups) and one for work (domain joined, domain account, computer locked down, my documents on server and backed up). Is this a common thing? It doesn't make much sense to me to basically have to support twice the number of laptops when one laptop would do.

 

The only argument I can see is that it enables support staff to be guarenteed that there will be a machine in a room at all times but it seems like this isn't the best solution to that problem!

 

Just me or is it strange?

[twin--turbo]

Having a laptop at the teadching stations is a little unusual.

 

We have all staff laptops but are lookign at going back to PC's at classdesks and possibly getting shot of the stafftops.

 

Rob

[edutech4schools]

sounds odd. At all my schools (primary) all laptops / desktops will always be on the domain, even if used at home so I have some control over them, like virus checking and updates. That can do planning on them and then bring them in and they are ready to teach without any flaffing around.

[sparkeh]

Well, all our classrooms have a PC and every teacher has a (domain) laptop for planning which is kinda similar and not that strange.

However, having laptops as fixed stations probably isn't very cost effective and having one laptop that goes home and gets plugged into the IWB every day is a major PITA (or at least it was in my old school where it caused constant problems).

[plexer]

Depends on the original cost and the power saving from a laptop compared to desktop/monitor.

 

Ben

[witch]

Ours have one laptop that is on the domain - which they hook up to the IWB when they are in (I have suggested PCs many, many times)

It does seem odd and I would at least push for them to have their home laptop on the domain for updates, antivirus etc

[hardtailstar]

At one school i work in, each classroom has a laptop connected to IWB and all staff have a laptop. The staff laptops have mapped drives that sync when back on site, so essentialy if a teacher saves work in the staff folder anyone can pick it up on any laptop in school, having a laptop attached to the IWB also means that if another teacher is in the class all the have to do is log on and can access all thier files and folders on the domain.

 

the second school each teacher has a laptop to plug into the IWB and everything is saved locally until they transfer it over in school.

[sparkeh]

Depends on the original cost and the power saving from a laptop compared to desktop/monitor.

 

Ben

Sure, but generally speaking spec wise desktops are cheaper than laptops so initial cost is lower. In my experience staff burn though laptops quicker than desktops, desktops have been cheaper to repair and upgrade and have required less maintenance. Again in my experience, desktops have proved more cost effective than laptops in money and time but YMMV of course.

[dhicks]

Just me or is it strange?

 

I can see how it could work - laptops for use with the IWBs / projectors because they make for nice compact workstations with proper dual-monitor output. Personally, I prefer all-in-one machine with dual-output graphics cards, but I can see why someone would want to go for laptops instead. If a teacher is given a laptop for home use then I'd say give them out on a you-break-it-you-fix-it kind of scheme - once it leaves the school's premisis it's the teacher's responsibility, if it needs fixing they can pay a reasonable fee per hour.

[Norphy]

Just me or is it strange?

 

A little maybe but there are a core of teachers here who have a very strong sense of entitlement. They expect, nay demand a laptop to take home and keep at home. Their reasoning is usually along the lines of "I use it for work, therefore work should pay for it". I wonder if that's why this started.

 

I use my personal computer for work too. I also have work clothes and I use my car and bike to commute to work. I don't expect my workplace to pay for any of that though.

[aaricevans]

Depends on the original cost and the power saving from a laptop compared to desktop/monitor.

[StevieM]

We have laptops connected to the domain in each classroom that staff can take home to work on locally if they wish. We do not have domain access from outside the school. That's just a whole nother level of security to consider.

[Squip]

When I first started in all of the schools I look after they ALL had laptops NOT connected to the domain and it was a nightmare (local account with their username, startup scripts to map drives), especially at the start of the school year when teachers were leaving/starting at the schools it was a real PITA changing local accounts on laptops.

 

Whenever we buy new laptops I always re-image them and put them on the domain with minimal policies applied (proxy settings, map drives, my documents redirection, printers etc) and set up offline files for the homedrive, and also give them a VPN connection into the school.

 

Not trying to hijack this thread but if anyone has any ideas to better this setup then id love to hear - I dont like the idea of laptops and I'm thinking desktops with twin VGA output would be much better in many aspects

[elsiegee40]

Interesting

 

I work in an independent prep and there are no staff laptops to take home. Never have been. Now we have gone to Google Apps and the MIS has remote login for report writing, etc there is no need.

 

My governor school, a secondary academy doesn't provide laptops either, but does have remote login.

[TheScarfedOne]

Similar when I took over at the Academy. Laptops which were an array of different setups, including some standalone. Now, all domain...bitlockered for when they take them offsite, and with offline files. That way, no faffing with different logon details etc.