Chromebook 1:1 scheme

[tj2419]

We are starting to look at the feasibility of going 1:1 with Chromebooks. I am interested in any schools on here that have gone down this route already.

 

A big ask but do any of you have copies of research you did before hand that you could dm me? Specifically around costings, looking at where savings could be made e.g. photocopying, exercise books, existing equipment etc. Anything that would help us with our research and feasibility study.

 

Or possibly reviews you have carried out after making the switch? Did your research at the beginning pan out or were predictions in photocopier savings etc not realised?

 

Also, if there are any schools in the north west that have done this?

 

We are going to engage with a solutions provider for this too but want to get some general research done before that stage.

 

Thanks in advance

[mjk]

My school have gone down the 1:1 Chromebook route.

Biggest tip I can give is NOT to concentrate on the savings (there are many) but to think about the pedagogical benefits. If you're trying to do it as a money saving exercise I think you will be wasting your time. That isn't where the school will make it's biggest gains. The biggest gains will come from:

 

• improved and instant feedback / assessment using google docs in lesson and at home
  
• better parental engagement (google classroom as homework)
  
• Giving *all* students word processors in exams if they want to use them
  
• using immersive technologies that you cannot do on paper.
  

 

Don't come at it from a business managers PoV, come at it from a senior teachers PoV. It is the pedagogy that counts, the costs tend to even themselves out: what you save in X you will spend on Y.

 

here is some stuff to read

 

https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/ (apply the things I mention above to the ICT, and ignore the costs)

 

specifically; it makes things like this really easy to do with big wins: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/feedback/

Edited June 8, 2018 by mjk

[tj2419]

Thanks @mjk some useful thoughts. What I'm trying to do is have responses for questions I know we will get asked. If the sbm asks about costs and Incan identify areas for potential to offset costs slightly it makes for a stronger arguement. I have a pilot group of teachers using Chromebooks who are going to help with their feedback in terms of teaching and learning side.

 

Lots of places list "you'll save X, Y , Z from photocopying etc but I thought it would be interesting to see from people that have, how much the photocopying reduced etc.

 

Just to pick something out from what you said. Are all your students able to use word processors for exams? How do you justify that? What devices to they use as Chromebooks surely will still be connected to the internet.

 

Thanks again

[mjk]

Lots of places list "you'll save X, Y , Z from photocopying etc but I thought it would be interesting to see from people that have, how much the photocopying reduced etc.

 

Just to pick something out from what you said. Are all your students able to use word processors for exams? How do you justify that? What devices to they use as Chromebooks surely will still be connected to the internet.

The JCQ says that if it a students 'normal way of working' then they are able to use a word processor for the exam. You don't need any further evidence than 'normal way of working' . There are applications like digiexam https://www.digiexam.com/ that will lock the machine into a kiosk mode to make it suitable for an exam. Provided the Chromebook has a management license you are good to go.

 

We also cited photocopying savings, but in reality teachers often ask for work that used to be hand written to be printed. It didn't increase costs, but it didn't decrease either. If management were serious they could ban or severely restrict printing, but they don't have the inclination to do so. We probably save on textbooks and exercise books but I'm afraid I'm not able to quantify it as the budgets for these were devolved to departments.

 

We did save on ITSuites. The cost of an ITSuite for us is about (£400*32)/6 = £2000 per year (YMMV) and in total we'll lose 4 IT Suites or £8k + licensing per year saving . We still have some specialist mac and windows suites but the most of the 'generic' suites have disappeared now. Of course the money we saved on that just went into wifi renewals, broadband failover and content filtering! Another area we saved is the continual increase in storage costs - for the first time ever we are decreasing our on site storage as everything has moved to Google drive now. This in turn has saved on backup costs.

 

In general I think you pretty much break even - but end up with all students having a computer.

[tj2419]

Out of interest how is yours funded. Do you do it all though parental contributions or fund some of it yourselves? Do you use a scheme like the learning foundation one? Thanks

[mjk]

we sell the chromebooks to parents. The school contributes in cases where parents cannot afford through pupil premium.

[AlanD]

The JCQ says that if it a students 'normal way of working' then they are able to use a word processor for the exam.

 

...Yes, but chrome books have access to internet/email...even to use google docs....

 

Is it possible to limit such use for exams....by using your web filter? I'd be concerned that you would have to allow access to various gooigle domains and that would allow access to web searches - indirectly if not directly....

[FN-GM]

...Yes, but chrome books have access to internet/email...even to use google docs....

 

Is it possible to limit such use for exams....by using your web filter? I'd be concerned that you would have to allow access to various gooigle domains and that would allow access to web searches - indirectly if not directly....

 

The built in Chrome management will allow you to allow certain pages without breaking other Google services. You would allow drive.google.com, docs.google.com but Google will still be blocked.

[mjk]

...Yes, but chrome books have access to internet/email...even to use google docs....

 

Is it possible to limit such use for exams....by using your web filter? I'd be concerned that you would have to allow access to various gooigle domains and that would allow access to web searches - indirectly if not directly....

 

There are various methods to do this on Chromebooks. We use a third party app called digiexam in Kiosk mode. You can't access anything other than that application, even google docs.

[Ditto]

We not traditionally 1:1, but we run a station of Chromebooks in every classroom, but they are not taken off-site. In terms of having an environment for exams, I think the JCQ and the exams board need to get up to speed with CB solutions. Most instructions seem to assume a Windows network environment. Based on recent first time recent experience, we've run internal exams on a realistic exams conditions scenario for internal exams. I setup up a kiosk mode based on the work of Dean Stokes (http://blog.deanjstokes.co.uk/2015/02/using-chromebooks-for-exams.html). It worked fine (including things like disabling spellchecker etc. where needed) and in spite of my fear of pupils not submitting their work, we don't appear to have lost anything. We only had pupils use this solution based on accessibility arrangements so numbers were not too high. I'd like to find a way to auto-submit every few minutes to mitigate against lost work. I can't recall investigating digiexam but I did come across the name. I did find one other company that looked promising, https://www.chromex.io/en. I did drop them a line but never heard back, but I think they are worth revisiting.

[tj2419]

Thanks Graham.

 

Is there anyone else who has gone 1:1 with Chromebooks that has any project proposal documents they could share? Are they all parental contribution schemes? Do your parents pay per month or one fixed fee? Which partners do you work with? Thanks

[Ditto]

I'll ask around on the project proposal. I know we use European Electronique (EE). I know when the school started, the school had to use a DfE approved supplier and EE were. In spite of there name, they are entirely based in the UK. I've met some of the chaps at Haptic and I found them agreeable and would suggest talking to them. In terms of parental contributions, all our equipment is school paid, but we do ask for voluntary parental contributions in a broader way to fund the school approach of small class sizes (24) and do call out that funding the Chromebooks is part of what the money goes towards.