Do you issue devices to your teachers?

[ITGuyNW]

Every teacher has a laptop. If I had it my way, every room would have a desktop instead.

[free780]

We have 1:1 laptops creeping in. We currently have desktops in each classroom. The way in which Windows 10 presumes 1:1 means it would help with roaming settings. The issues are staff not damaging, forgetting their laptop and confidently using a dock for each classroom they use. Also management of laptops when outside of your perimeter you really need Always on VPN or SCCM CMG. Laptops are the hardest thing to push feature updates to as they have no maintenance window. Edited August 31, 2019 by free780
Corrected a word

[FN-GM]

Using a what for each classroom? [emoji23]

[Ditto]

We have 1:1 laptops creeping in. We currently have desktops in each classroom. The way in which Windows 10 presumes 1:1 means it would help with roaming settings. The issues are staff not damaging, forgetting their laptop and confidently using a cock for each classroom they use. Also management of laptops when outside of your perimeter you really need Always on VPN or SCCM CMG. Laptops are the hardest thing to push feature updates to as they have no maintenance window.

 

I read this a few times to try to work out what staff should be confidently using, but can not work out what it really should say

[3s-gtech]

The only thing we issue, and only on request, is an encrypted USB stick. I prefer them to use RDP. Laptops are only issued to SLT, no iPads in general use but there are a couple in departments where they help with certain teaching skills.

 

Would I change this with enough funding? Not sure - T&L probably wouldn’t be boosted by issuing more - the classrooms have PCs and projectors already. If I can see the benefits, then maybe.

[Ditto]

I see we have 1 vote for chalkboard only. I'd be very interested to hear more about this school.

[Guest Guest]

We have a desktop in every class room as they all have IWBs and all teachers are issued an iPad

[thimon]

The prevailing opinion is "if we ask people to work from home, we must provide them with a laptop", which IMO doesn't stand up very well to scrutiny.

 

My opinion would be that they’re choosing to work from home, in which case they can use their own device. Unless of course they have specific designated work from home days, working in the evening does not count.

[free780]

I read this a few times to try to work out what staff should be confidently using, but can not work out what it really should say

I've corrected it now I meant a dock that they connect the laptop to. I work for a FE/HE College and rooms aren't 1:1 and currently there is a desktop PC in each classroom/IT Suite.

[LeMarchand]

Primary/Junior schools.

 

School 1: All teachers have laptops. Each class has an IWB and a Samsung tablet (for registration and as the class camera). Desktop in staffroom. Some TAs have laptops (those that use them frequently get better ones).

School 2: Each class has a desktop, IWB and tablet (as above). Laptops are being phased out apart from where there is an actual, rather than teacher-perceived, need. 2 desktops in PPA area.

School 3: All teachers have laptops. Each class has an IWB and a tablet (as above). Apart from the guy who broke his tablet within days of issue. Some TAs have laptops if they actually use them and a couple have tablets. (Lots of SEN pupils).

[bald_pig]

I see we have 1 vote for chalkboard only. I'd be very interested to hear more about this school.

 

probably mavhc, something about open source and compatibility of chalk...

[theeggmaster]

I chose 'No device, we use chalkboards only...' as we don't issue devices to teachers. PCs are provided in classrooms to teach, we have banks of Chromebooks, but they aren't issued to anyone, they are part of the furniture of the room and the infrastructure in school, in the same way that we don't issue projectors to teachers. You go into a room, and everything you need is in there. I've spoken to many teaching unions in my years in schools and the overall consensus is that if schools are issuing laptops to teachers to take home, then there is an underlying expectation that they are required to work from home, and that puts the school in an uneasy position.

[dhicks]

We have a Windows desktop and a SMART board / touch screen in all classrooms, plus each teacher gets issued an iPad, which they use to take registers. Each classroom machine has software installed to allow screen casting from the iPads, so in theory any teacher can share their iPad screen on the front-of-class display, although very few seem to have got the hang of this as yet. We provide a remote desktop facility (web-based) for home / remote use. We provide Raspberry Pi based workstations in the staffroom - we did provide laptops for use in the staffroom, but those tended to wander off a bit too easily. Each classroom also has a bank of Chromebooks for pupil use, but any teacher can use those too.

[LeMarchand]

I've spoken to many teaching unions in my years in schools and the overall consensus is that if schools are issuing laptops to teachers to take home, then there is an underlying expectation that they are required to work from home

 

I don't think any of my schools expect the teachers to work from home, but IME most teachers seem to expect a laptop as a perk of the job.

[michaeljbrewis]

Yeah my school has ditched the staff room this year - its now a classroom. I also see a lot of new build schools not being designed with a staff room. I think the ideology behind this is because most departments would just use their department offices anyway. Since we lost ours I don't think anyone has actually noticed.

[michaeljbrewis]

I am thinking about deploying desktop PC's into all classrooms instead of laptops. We currently provide our staff with Laptops and iPads (including those for maternity cover). Therefore everytime someone goes on leave the school has to fork out £1,000 worth of IT equipment. But I dont think if I took laptops off staff it would go down well.

[featured_spectre]

When I was in schools, it was a laptop and desktop. Desktop for classrooms individually (at request of HT), and laptops should the teacher be requested to go off site or work from home for marking etc. It was an incredibly inefficient system but what I was made to work with.

[10101010]

Are you still running with laptops or switching to desktops? I'm in exactly the same boat.