Laptop experience

[BlackTie]

Greetings, all.

 

Just coming to the end of a trial of some laptops for teaching staff. Our plan is to get staff to carry them from room to room using docking stations to connect to fixed hardware (network, projectors and the like). Proper docking stations, mind, rather than little USB jobs...

 

I need to get some feedback from the staff involved in the trial but I wondered if anyone out there in EduGeek land had some pearls of wisdom over the use of laptops by teachers in school, as opposed to fixed desktops?

 

All comments gratefully received - have a good weekend,

 

Steve

[Edu-IT]

I'd say avoid at all costs and get fixed desktops in each room instead. In my experience laptops travelling from room to room get damaged easier, are more difficult to repair and more costly, and generally are a pain.

[FN-GM]

We used to have laptops but changed them all for desktops. Things where cheaper and much more reliable. Staff would forget laptops, break them, drop them. If they where sick we needed spares for supply staff etc. Things are much better now and we save a packet.

[VeryPC_Colin_M]

Hi. Studies show that the TCO of laptops is much higher than desktops. I'm a fan of either in the right circumstances and only you can determine that. Let's hope for more input from edugeekers as this is a hot topic not only for staff use but also pupil use. Best, Col

[Davit2005]

As with others I'd steer clear.

 

Unless you are working in a mandatory laptop for staff scheme. I'm sure you could buy 3 desktops for every 2 laptops with docking stations.

 

I have found from personal experience, laptops get dropped, lost, stolen, coffee spilt over them, power supplies will get lost or forgotten, batteries will be likely to fail, will be miss-used by family members etc. etc

 

Although SMT laying down and enforcing any use policies may lessen the lack of care that a few users seem to have.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Davit2005

[plexer]

Hi. Studies show that the TCO of laptops is much higher than desktops. I'm a fan of either in the right circumstances and only you can determine that. Let's hope for more input from edugeekers as this is a hot topic not only for staff use but also pupil use. Best, Col

 

Hey @VeryPC_Colin_M any links to particular papers regarding that?

 

Thanks

 

Ben

[robjduk]

My Head likes the teachers having laptops because they are more likely to do work at home with them. Sadly my staff are a careless bunch and it costs on average a few hundred a month just to fix the things.

[Bananas]

If it were me teachers have their own laptops fine but i'd have a desktop in every room anyway it saves grief with:

 

Damaged cables

Whiteboard not working

Projector not working (dual screens not setup)

Calibrating whiteboards

MIS software updates

 

Stuff like that with one desktop in each room for a teacher you can manage everything then lock the machine down so they can't break it. I've tried the docking thing before and it doesn't end well and also you've then got to make sure every laptop is identical or at least fully compatible, if one gets damaged beyond economical repair and then that model is EOL you're screwed.

 

So definitely desktops imho

[witch]

We have laptops- the argument being that the teacher must have a computer and may not have their own. Also, if they use their home computer they may put sensitive data on it.

I buy ICT Directs stonking Lenovo i5 T410s. Reliable, affordable, built like bricks and last forever

I have pointed out that remote access and fixed desktops might be a better idea but...

[Zourous]

Just to balance things, we've had staff laptops for over 3 years now and have about 100 in total. I was dreading it, but we've only lost 2 whole laptops in that time. Yes there have been numerous repairs, but not as bad as I was expecting. The number one fault is probably usb ports getting busted, but I just break the port off and make them cope with the remaining ports. They have to lose 2 ports before I change a MB.

[Zourous]

Also got so fed up of walking into classrooms and pressing windows key + P, so on the staff laptop image I put a shortcut to batch file on their desktop that forces the duplicate option. It helps reduce it a bit.

[Bananas]

Had a busted network port because the plonker kept ramming the whiteboard USB cable into it

[seawolf]

We use wall mounted Mac Minis and Logitech wireless keyboards (w/built in trackpad) in every room connected either to a Promethean IWB or a 70" TV with a wall plate controller for source and volume. We also use AirServer to provide AirPlay for iPads and Mac laptops (or Windows laptops running AirParrot). It gives us the best of both worlds so they can either use the school provided computer or AirPlay their own device to the screen.

 

We started doing this 4 years ago because we had so many problems with Teachers either not being able to reliably figure out how to get the projectors to work with their laptops (setting wrong source, being in extended desktop when they wanted to mirror or vice versa, etc.) or they would damage the connectors (VGA/DVI and sound). It really got quite ridiculous. Now we have nearly zero support requests about the IWBs. We no longer have connectors being damaged, sources set incorrectly, or things otherwise being stuffed up.

 

You could easily do the same thing using wall mounted NUCs or Mac Minis and using AirServer, Reflector, or Chromecast to also provide teachers the option to wirelessly mirror their device or application to the screen. A much better and more economical solution than laptops with docks in every room.

[robjduk]

Had a busted network port because the plonker kept ramming the whiteboard USB cable into it

 

well at least its not like they are paid triple what we get though eh?

[witch]

TBF I get few laptop faults - it is just the cost of brand new ones that burns!

[Edu-IT]

We have laptops- the argument being that the teacher must have a computer and may not have their own. Also, if they use their home computer they may put sensitive data on it.

I buy ICT Directs stonking Lenovo i5 T410s. Reliable, affordable, built like bricks and last forever

I have pointed out that remote access and fixed desktops might be a better idea but...

Do you encrypt all their laptops?

[robjduk]

We used to use TPM but don't anymore because the laptops I wanted didn't have it in them. We ensure our staff policy says no personal details to be held on the laptops instead. Saying that, TPM will be something I will be looking to reintroduce in the next batch.

[witch]

Nope

No encryption here

[Edu-IT]

We have laptops- the argument being that the teacher must have a computer and may not have their own. Also, if they use their home computer they may put sensitive data on it.

I buy ICT Directs stonking Lenovo i5 T410s. Reliable, affordable, built like bricks and last forever

I have pointed out that remote access and fixed desktops might be a better idea but...

 

Nope

No encryption here

So they could quite easily put sensitive data on their school laptops and it be no more secure than if it was on their home computer really?

Edited June 16, 2014 by Edu-IT

[X-13]

So they could quite easily put sensitive data on their school laptops and it be no more secure than if it was on their home computer really?

 

Welcome to Primary Education.

[difinity]

If they don't have TPM they can still be encrypted using a USB stick.

How To Use BitLocker on Drives without TPM

[BlackTie]

We have laptops- the argument being that the teacher must have a computer and may not have their own. Also, if they use their home computer they may put sensitive data on it.

I buy ICT Directs stonking Lenovo i5 T410s. Reliable, affordable, built like bricks and last forever

I have pointed out that remote access and fixed desktops might be a better idea but...

 

This is what we've in mind - but also using the corresponding docks so everything in each room remains connected and all teachers have to do is suspend & undock followed by dock & restore. The theory seems to have worked well in limited trials, but very limited!

 

As someone asked later, we are also planning to used Windows Enterprise's Bitlocker full drive encryption for security, and try to get Microsoft Direct Access running.

 

If we go ahead with this, it's going to be a busy summer. Thanks for the input so far, everyone; the negative and the positive!

[Zourous]

Also other non-technical tips that have helped us along the way :

 

Label the chargers with the laptop computer name. Yes, some staff will accidentally swap them with colleagues, but most will keep hold of their own and when they leave them lying around the owner will be easier to trace. Also if you have several different model's of laptops (we do now, as the fleet has got bigger) you'll know what model the charger belongs to.

 

Obviously get some spare chargers to loan out and a few spare laptops as well and then keep a log of who has borrowed what. Quite often the chargers won't make their way back, so you'll have to chase them. If someone keeps doing this over a course of time you'll have a recorded history that you can past up to SLT and say "this person is losing chargers and costing us money"

 

Help guide. Put some sort of help guide on their desktop. Keep it short and concise (although they probably won't read it anyway) and make it read only. Then when you hand them out you don't have to blurt out random things out that you remember at the time. Just say sign this form and remember to read the help guide. (They won't, but you can throw it back at them later)

 

Software. I had to install various software for different departments on the same image. To simplify it, I put a "teachers software" folder on their desktop and this contained everything they needed (shortcuts etc.) and then make it read only. They can then drag their favourite icons on to the desktop if they wish.

 

Also make sure you have extra spare laptops at this time of year. If anywhere else is like this place, you'll find new staff want to start before the old staff have left, leaving you with a shortfall of laptops :-p and the ones on maternity also won't give up their laptops so that could be another reason for a shortfall.

[X-13]

Label the chargers with the laptop computer name. Yes, some staff will accidentally swap them with colleagues, but most will keep hold of their own and when they leave them lying around the owner will be easier to trace. Also if you have several different model's of laptops (we do now, as the fleet has got bigger) you'll know what model the charger belongs to.

 

I completely forgot to do that when I was labelling up our laptops... I have never regretted anything more.^{[Citation needed]}

[browolf]

we've had teacher laptops for years. there will always be:

 

certain teachers whose laptop always seems to fall apart

teachers that put (all) files on their desktop instead of their userarea

teachers that used their laptop with their personal digital camera and the pics somehow got in their userarea. GBs of them.

Same as above but with itunes

teachers that let their kids use their laptop and its full of games/junk

teachers who left their charge at home / lost it.

spyware/dodgy browser toolbars

 

I'd start off with the policy they replace their own charger if they loose it. I dread to think how much we've spent on those...

 

but let them install their own software.

Edited June 17, 2014 by browolf