Laptop replacement recommendation

[speckytecky]

KS3/4 Special School for boys with Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. Class size of 8. We have three classrooms that should run Windows 7 Laptops, one has Lenovo mini Notebooks. They cost £450 and according to the teaching staff the lads don't like using them because they are small. Another has HP 625s, and the third Toshiba 660Cs.

 

Problems from my point of view are all related to teacher control. Simply they fail to supervise properly and the laptops are trollied after the lads have closed the lids and not bothered to log off and shut them down. Keyboards have keys vandalised and I've had to replace two screens because of physical abuse to the machines. Plus of course, the batteries give up the ghost.

 

One member of the management team wants me to get quotes to replace the kit and doesn't comprehend the fact that unless the use is tightly controlled no laptop is going to be up to the job. The laptops could all do with a bost from the 2GB of RAM fitted but apart from that are in my opinion fit for purpose. The simple fact is the lads just don't like using laptops. Not sure how to move forward on this one!

[VeryPC_Colin_M]

I'd show them the cost of replacing them with truly rugged or even semi rugged laptops. That'll quieten them down I reckon :-)

 

Sounds clear though that the issue is behavioural with the damage Geoff. Couple of schools I know strategically pick out one of the bunch from each year and then anoint them the 'digital leader' or some such, and teach them about the devices, why they're important, what they cost, how they get fixed, best practice, trouble shooting, software package overview to help out the others, etc. Once done, damage tends to reduce, behaviour improves, the devices get used appropriately to assist learning and teaching. It's all a bit psychological but it works and it works well.

[TIOAOA]

Working in a similar environment I have come across similar issues.

 

Pupils with emotional difficulties will always focus their destructive tendencies against school property if they are not in the right mindset. Having tried a number of different laptops I find the Clevo chasis as provided by Stone or VeryPC to be one of the more robust (especially for key removal).

 

The biggest leap forward we made was giving the pupils personal ownership of an individual device - if they see it as their own they are less likely to damage it.

 

We did this with iPads (Shudder), they also like shiny things.

 

You also have the option of insurance against damage or alternatively cctv in the classrooms to identify and charge the individual responsible.

[BigBri]

Unless very carefully supervised,

 

ie. Having a user log for each device that the teacher (or issuing person, maybe a "Monitor") fills in before and after issuing to confirm that the device is undamaged.

 

It still isn't fool-proof but it does improve behaviour and it promotes the user actually bringing any faults to your attention.