Parents to confront School governors over iPads

[Garacesh]

Do we need creation devices in all instances? Or do we need a mixture of consumption and creation devices?

Yes. Yes we do (need creation devices). If we're going to supply a student with an electronic device for educational purposes, you're damn right it needs to be able to create as well as consume. Otherwise, as mentioned earlier, you're just buying a £300 web browser. And as @sted says, the majority of the time creation devices can also be used for consumption. Therefore, to me, laptops are the greater option all-round. Upgradeable and repairable frankensteinable, with the ability to create as well as consume, better integration into the infrastructure and has familiarity with all users (because all your students are already familiar with whatever OS you use, you just go ahead and use the same one.. Windows, Linux, etc.)

 

hence the question on uniform and the vountary-(but-not-really-voluntary) nature of it. How long would a school accept a child turning up in smart black trousers/white shirt - without the rest of the uniform - not because the parents can't afford, but they don't want to pay for a particular tie, blazer, pe kit combination?

I don't know. Personally I've always thought that schools should supply the uniform if it's mandatory. But that's probably a discussion for a different thread.

 

So what does that different approach look like?

Use the money to buy sets of laptops that can be wheeled between classrooms. If your school's big enough, buy a fair few and assign them to different departments. Ensure each department checks the trolley regularly, keeping a log of any damage and reporting it when they notice it arises. If this is the case, let each department sort bookings out between themselves.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Garacesh

[AMLinington]

As meny of you know I've been following these threads for a while and am a keen advocate on some aspect of BYOD/1:1 devices. We've been looking at this technology here for some time but so far serious discussions at SLT level are yet to start. Our Deputy Head is keen on 1:1 iPads and I'm just starting the process of a proper consultation with staff and reviewing our current ICT infrastructure.

 

Skim-reading this thread I'm taken (as ever) how black and white some views on the subject can be, and find my self asking - is the negativity because of a) Apple, b) Tablets, c) 1:1 devices, or d) they could be Windows 7 netbooks and still get the same negative responses?

 

Asking HoD's their views on our existing ICT Infrastructure and the number 1 concern I'm hearing is lack of computer availability. The number 1 required use of computers, Internet research. Teachers want more access to ICT for Internet research. We have 4 bookable ICT suites, two are near perminantly block booked due to ICT lessons. 800 pupils, 5 years groups, competing for 2 ICT suites. Whats the right answer to the problem?

 

Stories like that in the OP come from needing to find an answer to this, not because "iPads are cool and we want every child to have one just 'because'".

 

For my part, and what I'm begining to advocate here, I see a more mixed approach rather than a 1 device fits all solution. Some departments like music may have a mix of iMacs and iPads. We'll probably always need a couple of ICT suites. Bookable laptop trollies for each department may not be such a bad idea. Add allowing students to BYOD into the mix and I think you may get a more pratical set of solutions.

 

As I said in a previous thread recently, the real key really is getting the Internet into the hands of students when they need it - not limited to when a teacher can book a limited resource like an ICT suite. I'm amazed at anyone who thinks in this day and age that giving students unlimited access to such a vast and important research resource is not/cannot have benificial impacts on teaching and learning. In fact I think it's very closed minded.

 

EDIT: In an early discussion here, after a similar presentation from a leasing company, we talked about parent contributions and meny of the issues around "state funded", "free education", "low income", etc did come up. Although everyone else at the meeting disagreed with me, my general view is - we expect parents to purchase a school uniform, Blazer with school logo on. It's not optional. Why can't these devices be part of the school uniform?

 

You raise an interesting point and I agree that the internet as a resource is extremely valuable - PROVIDED that pupils are taught to properly evaluate the quality of the data. Everyone moans about essays written using Wikipedia - this is the same argument on a HUGE scale. If we robustly taught children how to evaluate the reliability of a source and how to navigate the data sources they find on the internet and how not to rely on one viewpoint but seek a balanced study or at least present both sides of an argument then by all means, the internet becomes the most comprehensive textbook in the world and I completely agree that the value of the internet in education is staggering. So yes, it IS 'close minded' to think that giving pupils access to the internet won't have an impact on learning, but it is also close minded to think that this would be effective without changes in the way pupils are taught to think.

 

My concern is that we are NOT teaching kids how to evaluate sources robustly enough.

 

Example: I do a Google search for 'Stem Cells'. Firstly, why Google? Are the Google search results unbiased? No, they aren't, because people with enough motivation and funds can afford to 'bump' their page up the list. So already, even at the SEARCH stage we have to bear in mind that the 'most relevant' resource may be there because someone paid for it to be. Should I run the same search across multiple search engines to 'normalise' my results?

 

So then we move onto looking at the results themselves. Top result that isn't a sponsored ad? Wikipedia. Which we ALL know is peer-moderated so the validity of the information in the article is subject to significant uncertainty.

 

Then we have government websites followed by news articles. News articles are written by journalists. Journalists have an agenda. So already, having just done a simple web search, I have to consider that the top results for the topic in question may not be the WHOLE story and I should seek multiple sources from multiple viewpoints - ethical, scientific, religious etc in order to build a more complete picture of the Stem Cell concept. If we are teaching kids this then yeah, go for it. But we're not. Sure, they learn a bit about it in GCSE History and Science teachers briefly touch on the subject here and there but if we want to implement a 1:1 internet-enabled device and actually use it appropriately and constructively then pupils are going to HAVE to learn that they can't take the internet at face value.

 

A Mixed approach is a good plan, although more economically challenged cohorts will struggle and bullying will be rife if the 'top set' is full of kids with iPadX's and the 'bottom set' is full of kids with a patched up netbook running a hooky copy of windows XP. BYOD is great until you factor in theft and mugging - would you want the world to know your child was catching a public bus with an iPad in his bag? You can't expect pupils to want to store their own devices at school overnight - it defeats the purpose of the pupil having the resource in the first place. I can't help but think that at the moment we are swinging from one extreme to another - on the one hand we are looking at 1:1 provision in-house with everyone having the same, and on the other we are looking at BYOD with a vast array of devices and no guarantee that all pupils will have a device to bring. What is our middle ground? Laptop trolleys? A cursory glance at these forums shows countless posts complaining that teachers don't return them, they aren't charged properly, the trolleys are vandalised and damaged etc etc. I wonder if perhaps the classroom of the future will be 1:1 computers/tablets embedded into desks with cloud storage. Even then there will be challenges to address - issues with vandalism and theft. I don't think there will ever be an ideal solution until we can address other fundamental issues in the classroom such as behaviour but this is not a simple matter - this would mean addressing the degradation of society and we all know that won't happen. Kids don't respect their education and take it for granted. Perhaps if they had to earn it by working and paying for it themselves then they might...

[localzuk]

Do we need creation devices in all instances? Or do we need a mixture of consumption and creation devices?

 

If the answer to this is yes, then that means that any scheme put in place should implement creation devices - as there isn't the funding or capability in most schools to maintain both sets of equipment.

 

If the 1:1 devices aren't creation devices, then you end up back in exactly the same situation you mentioned earlier - the rationing of shared IT suites or trolleys.

[spadam]

The thing with iPads is that they are very much designed as a device for use by one person, there are no user profiles etc. Anything other than 1:1 becomes a hassle in my experience.

 

This is true from what I have seen also. I am hopeful that there might be better support for shared devices with Google Play for Education but am not holding my breath. I am at least pretty confident that a 1:1 offering of Android devices will work out much cheaper than iPads.

[tmcd35]

arnt all creation devices (with a few exceptions) consumption devices though? so by having say ipads and laptops the ipads are pointless because the laptops can do all they do and more?

 

But a laptop would require more desk space. Have a shorter battery life. Maybe even want a mains connection. Not very practical in a food room being used to display a recipe (yes I know - print the recipe before the lesson and use paper )

 

The thing with iPads is that they are very much designed as a device for use by one person, there are no user profiles etc. Anything other than 1:1 becomes a hassle in my experience.

 

Only if the expectation is to use them to store personal data - e-mail accounts, etc. The device doesn't need to know whose currenlty holding it to run Safari.

[Simcfc73]

Wonder how many techies are at that school? I hope its not just 1 guy from RM expected to fix them on a Monday morning

[X-13]

So what does that different approach look like?

 

That entirely depends on what the problem you're trying to solve is.

 

But a laptop would require more desk space. Have a shorter battery life. Maybe even want a mains connection. Not very practical in a food room being used to display a recipe (yes I know - print the recipe before the lesson and use paper )

 

That's an argument for that class/room getting a set of tablets with desk mounts and not one for parents paying for expensive kit.

 

Wonder how many techies are at that school? I hope its not just 1 guy from RM expected to fix them on a Monday morning

 

...5 minutes before the lesson is supposed to start. [if my experience is anything to go by.]

[Garacesh]

But a laptop would require more desk space. Have a shorter battery life. Maybe even want a mains connection. Not very practical in a food room being used to display a recipe (yes I know - print the recipe before the lesson and use paper )

Desk space, y'got me on. But when a kid's cooking something, they tend not to have a laptop sat next to them. I hear flour is a to get out of keyboards In your situation, I'd expect the teacher to display the recipe on the whiteboard.

 

Laptops can be charged between uses. Back to our earlier point of these devices wouldn't be used every lesson. The lessons where they aren't in use, they're (ideally) in the trolley, charging. You can't charge your tablet whilst it's in your bag.

[siuko]

The thing I have never understood about all these magical technologies that will enhance/transform (add any buzz words here) teaching in schools is why leave every separate school to organize and plan there own roll out.

 

You end up with 100s of schools all doing different things, purchasing different tablets, using it in different ways etc - which all costs HUGE amounts of money - and is often badly planned at the majority of the schools.

 

If this new technology (tablets this time around - and was netbooks, interactive whiteboards etc before) truly is so completely game changing when it comes to teaching - why doesn't the government roll out the technology to 2-3 pilot schools.

 

Learn the issues, fix all the problems, build teaching plans, curriculum and even whole school plans BASED on the technology.

 

Then and only then pass all this information onto schools so they can progress with their own projects knowing the money will be well spent and will actually help teaching!

 

It all just seems to be the tail wagging the dog.

Edited January 17, 2014 by siuko

[tmcd35]

But a laptop would require more desk space. Have a shorter battery life. Maybe even want a mains connection. Not very practical in a food room being used to display a recipe (yes I know - print the recipe before the lesson and use paper )

 

That's an argument for that class/room getting a set of tablets with desk mounts and not one for parents paying for expensive kit.

 

No, that was an example of how a content only tablet device might be more suitable in a given situation than a full blown 15" laptop. It's also a problem that can be solved with either a printer, classroom specific devices or 1:1 student devices. Which is the right solution is the wider question that school need to grapple with.

 

(example of non 1:1 solutions) That entirely depends on what the problem you're trying to solve is.

To a certain extent. But in broad strokes we should be able to offer up some generic ideas, no? It's all to easy to shout 1:1 is a bad idea without having to offer up alternatives.

 

Mine isn't the only school that's grappling with these issues. Other schools have worked solutions without going down the 1:1 route. I'd be interested in hearing what they choose to do. More ICT suites? More laptop trollies? Chromebooks? Virtual Desktops?

[spadam]

It all just seems to be the tail wagging the dog.

 

The tail in this case usually being the hardware suppliers trying to carve out a new market or the SLT who want the latest tech in school to play with...

[sted]

But a laptop would require more desk space. Have a shorter battery life. Maybe even want a mains connection. Not very practical in a food room being used to display a recipe (yes I know - print the recipe before the lesson and use paper )

 

and were back to the old adage the right tool for the right job. in a kitchen id suggest no tablet or laptop is a great idea though if you really need then get cheap keyboard, mouse, screen and usb hub and shove the device itself in a cupboard. a smaller laptop should have better battery life but why not have socket sin the floor so they can be charged and used in class. granted its an expense but id suggest whatever you do all but unavoidable as some people are incapable of keeping devices charged. desk space i dont see a small laptop taking up much more room than a tablet and no more than most textbooks

[Garacesh]

But a laptop would require more desk space. Have a shorter battery life. Maybe even want a mains connection. Not very practical in a food room being used to display a recipe (yes I know - print the recipe before the lesson and use paper )

Desk space, y'got me on. But when a kid's cooking something, they tend not to have a laptop sat next to them. I hear flour is a to get out of keyboards In your situation, I'd expect the teacher to display the recipe on the whiteboard.

 

Laptops can be charged between uses. Back to our earlier point of these devices wouldn't be used every lesson. The lessons where they aren't in use, they're (ideally) in the trolley, charging. You can't charge your tablet whilst it's in your bag.

 

Expanding on this, I wonder @tmcd35, what would your proposal be regarding drained batteries? If we're going to base education around these tablets, what happens to a pupil whose battery has either discharged and not been recharged, or has failed (and to the same ends, I guess, damaged or lost/stolen devices) a multitude of different scenarios where a device is not available?

 

If it's low battery, would you propose charging pods in every classroom? Allow the kids to bring their chargers with them and plug them into wall sockets? Keep spare devices charged up to loan out? Most tablets don't have replaceable batteries like laptops do, so how would you personally provision for this?

 

What if the device has been damaged or stolen? Spare devices are again an option but you're still shelling out for more devices this way.

 

Although it's been brought up repeatedly, I can't see sharing or loaning a device as an option, due to the one-user design of tablets. There's no way $User on Device1 can access their files on Device2 if it's 1:1 devices that get to go home, not without some serious kludging and infrastructure re-work. Whilst I'm not against infrastructure moving forward when appropriate, this also should be factored into the cost and difficulty of implementation. It's not just "Buy $tablet, get smarts."

Edited January 17, 2014 by Garacesh

[GREED]

We seem to have strayed from the OP slightly, although this is just as meaningful. And I have long professed the same mantra: You don't need to buy and have a tablet because it can do the same job as pen/paper/phone/computer/. If it does it better, faster, easier, and has a proven benefit long term for the user regardless of who it is, then great, but not just get it for the sake of have them (or worse, boasting you have them).

[Oaktech]

Expanding on this, I wonder @tmcd35, what would your proposal be regarding drained batteries? If we're going to base education around these tablets, what happens to a pupil whose battery has either discharged and not been recharged, or has failed (and to the same ends, I guess, damaged or lost/stolen devices) a multitude of different scenarios where a device is not available?

 

If it's low battery, would you propose charging pods in every classroom? Allow the kids to bring their chargers with them and plug them into wall sockets? Keep spare devices charged up to loan out? Most tablets don't have replaceable batteries like laptops do, so how would you personally provision for this?

 

What if the device has been damaged or stolen? Spare devices are again an option but you're still shelling out for more devices this way.

 

Although it's been brought up repeatedly, I can't see sharing or loaning a device as an option, due to the one-user design of tablets. There's no way $User on Device1 can access their files on Device2 if it's 1:1 devices that get to go home, not without some serious kludging and infrastructure re-work. Whilst I'm not against infrastructure moving forward when appropriate, this also should be factored into the cost and difficulty of implementation. It's not just "Buy $tablet, get smarts."

 

The loan device is exactly how the scheme that presented to us would have you deal with this issue. As you have pointed out, it's not really a solution, more a different set of problems in the shape of a solution.

[tmcd35]

We seem to have strayed from the OP slightly,

 

I agree with the OP. Parents should congratulate the school on their blue sky thinking and in roads into collaborative learning

 

Expanding on this, I wonder @tmcd35, what would your proposal be regarding drained batteries? If we're going to base education around these tablets, what happens to a pupil whose battery has either discharged and not been recharged, or has failed (and to the same ends, I guess, damaged or lost/stolen devices) a multitude of different scenarios where a device is not available?

 

Why does technology have to provide the answer to every problem? Is it unreasonable to expect children to bring in their devices charged? If the school is spec'ing devices for a school day, should they not be looking at battery lifes? A 6-8hr battery will last an entire school day. Charging can't be that difficult to manage outside those hours - can it?

 

Theft/Damage? Depending on what part of the issue you are looking at it's a combination of a pastoral/head of year level problem, police problem, and insurance problem.

 

There's no way $User on Device1 can access their files on Device2 if it's 1:1 devices that get to go home, not without some serious kludging and infrastructure re-work

 

WebDav? Why are personal documents being stored on the device at all?

 

The loan device is exactly how the scheme that presented to us would have you deal with this issue. As you have pointed out, it's not really a solution, more a different set of problems in the shape of a solution.

Not really, I'd call it bad planning. Ill thought out solution rather than "a different set of problems in the shape of a solution".

Edited January 17, 2014 by tmcd35

[Marshall_IT]

Ensure each department checks the trolley regularly, keeping a log of any damage and reporting it when they notice it arises.

 

If you work at a school that can accomplish this can i come work with you please!

 

Also i've had to spend more on repairing bookable laptops than i have on the bookable iPads we have.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Marshall_IT

[Garacesh]

Why does technology have to provide the answer to every problem? Is it unreasonable to expect children to bring in their devices charged? If the school is spec'ing devices for a school day, should they not be looking at battery lifes? A 6-8hr battery will last an entire school day. Charging can't be that difficult to manage outside those hours - can it?

I wasn't talking about technology. I was talking about you, personally. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. How would you account for these situations. If you're doing 1:1 then I'd consider it completely fair to assume some staff will plan lessons based around these devices, would you agree? Assuming this happens, what about when a child doesn't have their tablet because $reason? I'm not saying the solution has to be a technical one, but there would need to be a solution nonetheless - the kid can't just sit there and not do any work, no? So what would you propose?

 

Theft/Damage? Depending on what part of the issue you are looking at it's a combination of a pastoral/head of year level problem, police problem, and insurance problem.

Nuh-uh, you misunderstand me.

 

A child comes into School. $teacher has planned a lesson based around the tablets for today. "Miss/Sir, someone tried to mug me yesterday and now my $tablet screen is smashed. I can't use it for this lesson." What do?

 

If you work at a school that can accomplish this can i come work with you please!

It isn't perfect here, but since I wrote a powershell script to pull back the last list of users and fire it off as an e-mail to head of $department (with semi-automatically generated details of the vandalism), staff have actually been a lot more prompt about reporting problems, since it can be traced now. I've suggested they operate under the mantra of "If you find it and it's broken, but you don't report it, and you use it, you're going to take the shtick for it.".. Seems to be helping. But that's for another thread

Edited January 17, 2014 by Garacesh

[abillybob]

The problem with iPads is the implementing them. I don't have a single issue with them I think they're smart, nice looking, easy to use devices! The issue being here is that it's very hard to implement 100 of them when there is no such thing as wireless management (except for MDM) but that has still a lot of limitations. Kids are freely available to delete any of the settings causing me countless amounts of problem. A lot of teachers buy them and wonder why the internet is slow (because you didn't research and invest in a system that can handle that many wireless devices). They are made to be personal devices on a personal account Apple didn't think they'd be used this much in education and now they're trying to adapt even with most of the schools running a Windows based network. They struggle to work with proxies and that's all Apple kit. They don't support NTLM authentication creating issues with systems like Smoothwall.

 

Unfortunatley it is this which is the issue, all these things it's the implementation of them into an already existing network is extremely hard and difficult. You don't have the freedom to manage them like you can with Windows based products. I visited a school in Swansea that gave all their children 1:1 iPads and he had to stop county's fibre connection and buy in standard home broadband connection so they didn't need to use a proxy, they don't do any filtering they now need to "trust their kids" he has had to get a MacBook and syncs them using Apple configurator and that's it now that all of his network been adapted to iPad use, there were a lot more things but I cba to name them all.

 

I think any new technology like this is good to be used in schools and the ipad has great potential but Apple really need to sort out management on these devices, if they were as easily managed as laptops where this debate now wouldn't be going on period.

[Hefferzzzz]

FWIW,

 

I am not going into the tablets are good/bad as that akin to getting into a vegetarianism is good/bad - everyone thinks they are right and no one really gets any benefit from the discussion.

 

SLT like the idea, I have put forward my concerns to SLT regarding such a scheme and they have been taken into consideration, it helps that I work in a place where I am seen as an important part of the machine and not just that bloke in IT.

 

We (head, me, hod ICT) have had three meetings about this with 3 different companies - Academia, Millgate, Jigsaw.

 

We have the infrastructre to cope with another 600 devices, we will be using MDM while they are connected to our network so they wont be able to do anything they couldn't on a 'school' machine. Apparently most parents are fine with the idea and the costs involved (as long as its one where they get to keep the device), the ones that genuinly cannot will be provided with a loan unit for the duration that their child is with us.

 

Each company has their own merits but the one we are going to further discussion and parental consultation on will be with Millgate. They are the only one we found to be offering a pool of a few devices for some of those that cannot afford to pay, a range of tablets - not just ipads, the parents get to keep the devices at the end of it, Millgate willl take care of all of the payment processing and chasing / insurance / faulty product issues.

 

I *just* have to get the devices here before they go out to add security/apps/mdm - this will be part of the contract with parents if we do go ahead.

 

Still early days but as long as its done right and the teachers actually use them as they should do, I cant see it being too much of a problem. Maybe.

[tmcd35]

@Garacesh, I think I did answer your question.

 

For the most part it remains a pastoral issue. What do teachers do now if a child doesn't bring in a pen, their text book or a calculator? Where does personal responsibility and school expectations fit in to the discussion. Should a teacher expect the technological answer you are looking for? - "we'll have x number of spare devices on charge just in case". Does the teacher abandon a planned lesson because of 1 twerp forgot is $device, or continue the lesson for the other 29 students and deal with $twerp seperatly? Ask to share with a friend? Pen, paper and ye-olde-fashioned text book? What do we do know if 1 computer is not working in an ICT suite? Are we always fortunate enough to have pre-built direct replacement spares on hand?

 

What do I do? Whatever is reasonable and in my power to gift at the time. If that means planning a small number of spare devices as part of the overall solution, then that needs thinking about in the overall price.

 

To my mind, if the school is wanting to implement a 1:1 policy. Then their should be an expectation on the students to arrive at the begining of the day with the device fully charged and ready. Those who don't should be dealt with through the pastoral system.

 

That said, it does highlight why a straight 1:1 scheme my not be the best overall solution. I'm still favouring advocating a mixed approach with netbook trollies for departments agumenting a BYOD solution.

[Marshall_IT]

FWIW,

 

I am not going into the tablets are good/bad as that akin to getting into a vegetarianism is good/bad - everyone thinks they are right and no one really gets any benefit from the discussion.

 

SLT like the idea, I have put forward my concerns to SLT regarding such a scheme and they have been taken into consideration, it helps that I work in a place where I am seen as an important part of the machine and not just that bloke in IT.

 

We (head, me, hod ICT) have had three meetings about this with 3 different companies - Academia, Millgate, Jigsaw.

 

We have the infrastructre to cope with another 600 devices, we will be using MDM while they are connected to our network so they wont be able to do anything they couldn't on a 'school' machine. Apparently most parents are fine with the idea and the costs involved (as long as its one where they get to keep the device), the ones that genuinly cannot will be provided with a loan unit for the duration that their child is with us.

 

Each company has their own merits but the one we are going to further discussion and parental consultation on will be with Millgate. They are the only one we found to be offering a pool of a few devices for some of those that cannot afford to pay, a range of tablets - not just ipads, the parents get to keep the devices at the end of it, Millgate willl take care of all of the payment processing and chasing / insurance / faulty product issues.

 

I *just* have to get the devices here before they go out to add security/apps/mdm - this will be part of the contract with parents if we do go ahead.

 

Still early days but as long as its done right and the teachers actually use them as they should do, I cant see it being too much of a problem. Maybe.

 

Which MDM are you looking at? Will that stop them opening certain apps or allow only certain apps to open during school times, while attached to a certain wifi? in a certain geo-fence?

[Garacesh]

What do teachers do now if a child doesn't bring in a pen, their text book or a calculator?

They loan them one - but as mentioned earlier with the one-user nature of tablets, loaning them a tablet may not offer any help if they need to actually retrieve work. If they just need it for research, that will do just fine, but this won't always be the case. I think I need to stress I'm not saying that acting on the lack of $device would be your responsibility, I was asking what you would have happen (even if it's not you that does something about it, somebody has to, right?)

 

Where does personal responsibility and school expectations fit in to the discussion. Should a teacher expect the technological answer you are looking for? - "we'll have x number of spare devices on charge just in case". Does the teacher abandon a planned lesson because of 1 twerp forgot is $device, or continue the lesson for the other 29 students and deal with $twerp seperatly?

Honestly, yes, I'd expect a teacher to ask me if there were any spares for situations like this. They do it with laptops, borrowing between sets in the same department if our angels haven't bothered to put them on charge, so it's not too much of a stretch to think they'd ask for spare tablets, too.

 

Thing is, $twerp may not actually be a twerp. We all know that different things use more battery power. It's entirely plausible that Period 2 Science with Mr. Nye revolved around apps that used considerable power, and now Ms. Cyrus's Period 5 Music lesson has just halted mid-flow because the app they're using is also intensive and has killed a few students batteries. An entirely possible scenario, and with the aforementioned issue of schools not having the facility to charge personal devices between uses, this holds the potential to cause issue.

Of course in this scenario where it's half the class, the obvious answer is "The teacher should have a back-up plan, as should always be the case when a lesson is reliant on technology that can fail.", but when it's the case of only a handful of students (think GCSE years when individual curriculum's dramatically change), what about then? There's lots more to consider than "Give everyone a tablet."

 

What do we do know if 1 computer is not working in an ICT suite? Are we always fortunate enough to have pre-built direct replacement spares on hand?

Here, a full class is about 26 kids, so with IT suites of 30 they just move to another computer, because unlike a tablet (and thanks to mapped drives and NTFS permissions), a computer is better equipped to have multiple users. I can't speak for everybody though, other schools may have only the amount of machines for the class and no idle spares.

 

To my mind, if the school is wanting to implement a 1:1 policy. Then their should be an expectation on the students to arrive at the begining of the day with the device fully charged and ready. Those who don't should be dealt with through the pastoral system.

You're exactly right, in a 1:1 device scenario where they get to take them home, you'd expect students to have them fully charged. That's why I've tried to focus my points on batteries running out, rather than not being charged overnight. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

That said, it does highlight why a straight 1:1 scheme my not be the best overall solution. I'm still favouring advocating a mixed approach with netbook trollies for departments agumenting a BYOD solution.

Honestly I still think just departmental laptops and fixed workstations are enough to cover it. BYOD again pulls down the same problems of 'single-user devices vs the requirement to authenticate', being able to retrieve files, edit them, and save them back to your area in an accessible format - this is a problem intrinsic to the devices operating system, rather than the platform.

 

I hope you don't feel like I'm attacking you - you just seem to be the most vocal opposition (to me, not tablets) right now, so I figure it would further the debate for me to aim my questions towards you. It's nothing personal

[Ephelyon]

Learn the issues, fix all the problems, build teaching plans, curriculum and even whole school plans BASED on the technology.

 

There's a lot of sense in what you say, but unfortunately basing pedagogy on technology, rather than vice versa, is very much not recommended for a number of reasons and is certainly unlikely to get past senior educational thought leaders and decision-makers (even Mr Gove).

 

Alex, you might want to look at the free Meraki MDM from Cisco; it works well for iOS devices though not so well for Android. As for SmoothWall issues, I'd set up a transparent proxy using background tab authentication. It's working well for us here with both iPads and Android tablets.

[tmcd35]

I hope you don't feel like I'm attacking you - you just seem to be the most vocal opposition (to me, not tablets) right now, so I figure it would further the debate for me to aim my questions towards you. It's nothing personal

 

Lol, not at all! And I am getting your meanings, proably being abit obtuse in my replies

 

Actually, as I said above, we are just starting to open up this whole can of worms again so I value these kinds of discussions. Helps me get my own mind on the subject in order!

 

If it was up to our DH we'd go out an buy 800 iPads tomorrow. I'm forcing a more slowly-slowly approach. My first response it to define the problem we are trying to solve, define the outcomes we are wanting to achieve and only then look at matching a solution and $devices to the schools needs. But I do, personally, see real ad-hoc benefits in 1:1 devices that other solutions can't accomodate for as easilly.

 

What's been particuarly interesting in this thread over the past few pages is we seem to have gone from - rubbishing the school in the OP for a bad purchasing decision, the whole iPad/Table bad thing, through the put up as meny barriers to the solution as we can think of, and are now actually talking issue to be solved and solutions.

 

It's not that it's a bad idea and can't work. I just anybody going into it should go in eyes wide open. I can't believe any school doesn't. When you think of the costs involved, this is not something that can be done on a headteachers whim or a single SLT membet championing a scheme. We're talking about governors approval and high value tender processes.