Move to mobile IT rooms

[DaveA]

Hi All,

 

The management team here are looking at removing fixed wired IT rooms and going down a mobile classroom approach using laptops and trolleys. I have been asked to put together a report stating the pros and cons of fixed IT rooms over mobile ones and I was just after a few ideas from people either positive or negative about this type of move.

 

Thanks

 

Dave.

Edited February 7, 2017 by DaveA

[hardtailstar]

Here are my few points from a general view

 

Cons

- Laptops more prone to damage

- Laptops may not be fully charged for next users if not put away properly

- More devices on the wifi

- Shorter life span then computers

 

Pros

- security of laptops in trolleys greater than classroom of computers

- Laptops can be shared between classes instead of booking a computer room

- more mobile

 

I used to work in a primary school that did away with the computers in the IT suite and went with laptops that could be moved out around the school or used in the IT suite.

We had more issues with the laptops than computers which I have listed in the Cons.

[NB9457]

Laptop Pros:

-Mobile

 

Laptop Cons:

-Prone to damage

-Harder to update programs

-More costly to repair

-Shorter lifespan

-Depend on slower WiFi connection

-Anyone forgets to plug them in, they're out of use for a few hours

-Require more hands on maintenance

 

In an ideal world, I'm all for wired fixed machines, they're more reliable, easier to fix, cheaper to replace and longer lifespans than laptops. That being said, it all depends on the school and the environment the equipment is being used in. I've seen a lot of primaries ditch suites/cut down on laptops and sway toward iPads. For primaries, from experience, iPads seem a great solution, they're reliable. everyone knows how to use them and love them, great battery life, loads of APPs and they're relatively easy to manage.

[BKGarry]

Couple of tips, I work in a secondary school where there are no Computer Rooms at all. I have a couple of pointers for you:

• Make sure your WiFi is solid
  
• VLAN them off to their own network if you can, especially if iPads are around
  
• Make sure you get decent wireless cards in them, the intel AC wireless cards are rock solid in my opinion, even if you are not using AC yet
  
• any room can be a computer room which is great, meaning that you do not lose any space to a PC
  
• Get the ADP warranty, don't even settle for it without, you want Accidental Damage Protection, Accidents will happen and they will be expensive
  
• Make sure your printing is centralised, we use a pull print solution, you don't want to have the printer for every room (if you have that many) and have people constantly printing to the wrong one
  
• 
  

 

If you want to talk through it all, drop me a PM, I am more than willing to offer up my experiences in a phone call.

[LeMarchand]

In addition to the above

 

Cons:

• SMT will expect lifecycle to be the same as a desktop - it won't
  
• You will need to budget for extra power supplies to replaced damaged ones, particularly if you don't fix them into the trollies permanently
  
• You'll also need to budget for replacement batteries
  
• and screens
  
• and keys/keyboards
  
• Some will find their way into the back of a class cupboard, never to return
  
• Not so easy to update
  

 

Pros:

• If properly managed/controlled it's a lot more flexible
  

 

Is it worth considering convertibles or even Chromebooks?

[Bedders]

Just going to brainstorm a few considerations, in no particular order. Sorry for the random order of my thoughts!

 

If a few keys go missing on a desktop keyboard, it's £10 to get a new keyboard and 30 seconds to swap them. If they go missing on a laptop, it's £40 plus the time for a technician to take apart the laptop to replace it.

 

Consider the cost of storing the laptops. Cabinets that hold 30 laptops securely are not cheap. Also look at who has the keys to each cabinet, who checks each cabinet e.g. at the end of every day to ensure that the laptops are all switched off, all plugged in and that the cabinet is plugged in and charging.

 

Get a cabinet with a timer so that the laptops aren't being charged all of the time (can kill their batteries if they're always charging 24/7).

 

Consider where in each room the cabinet will go. They are not small and require an accessible plug, and a route for large groups of students to be able to fight to try and get a laptop at the same time.

 

Take a look at the profiles for all of your staff & students. Are they local, roaming, mandatory? Small enough for a class of 25-30 to be able to simultaneously download them on to laptops off the same wireless access point?

 

Can your wireless infrastructure cope with the increased load of everyone logging on, browsing the internet and even the basic machine polling done by servers all over the wireless rather than some being wired?

 

To end this long post - good luck!

 

 

EDIT: A final consideration. Never underestimate how long it takes to put 30 chargers and laptops into a cabinet. Set aside at least an hour to 2 hours per cabinet for wiring, setting the timer etc.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Bedders

[NB9457]

Couple of tips, I work in a secondary school where there are no Computer Rooms at all. I have a couple of pointers for you:

• Make sure your WiFi is solid
  
• VLAN them off to their own network if you can, especially if iPads are around
  
• Make sure you get decent wireless cards in them, the intel AC wireless cards are rock solid in my opinion, even if you are not using AC yet
  
• any room can be a computer room which is great, meaning that you do not lose any space to a PC
  
• Get the ADP warranty, don't even settle for it without, you want Accidental Damage Protection, Accidents will happen and they will be expensive
  
• Make sure your printing is centralised, we use a pull print solution, you don't want to have the printer for every room (if you have that many) and have people constantly printing to the wrong one
  

 

If you want to talk through it all, drop me a PM, I am more than willing to offer up my experiences in a phone call.

 

Just out of curiosity, how many students attend your Secondary and how many devices? We have 8 IT Suites being used non stop and I couldn't imagine having to depend on 250+ laptops just for IT lessons!

[BKGarry]

@NB9457

 

We have just under 1000 students (and increasing all the time) and around 160 staff all connected wirelessly. On average there are around 650 domain joined devices connected at any one time. Then there are about 140 iOS devices as well (this is why I said about the separate VLAN as they do like to chatter)

The only staff who have PCs are non mobile admin staff and us Techs, which adds up to about 12 machines.

 

We cope, we also assign a laptop to each student at KS4 which they have their own RFID locker to keep it in and it does not leave site (won't work offsite)

 

It does have it's own unique set of challenges but it is possible to do, and I can see the headteachers vision for this, we barely have enough classrooms as it is, let alone losing space for ICT suites.

[kennysarmy]

http://upload.evocdn.co.uk/officereality/uploads/prod_img/2_14502_s.jpg

[Martin48]

Just to add make sure laptops come with a battery warranty of more then a year, some companies which shall remain nameless don't care if all their batteries stop working at a year or 200 cycles.

 

Also consider computers are usually on and updated, it will take time out of lessons to grab the laptops sit down, start them up, login then shut them down and put them away at the end of the lessons.