Returning to school - computers

[DrCheese]

They would need setting up, and how many do you buy as we don't know how many kids will turn up each day. It's a total mind field all this but I'll add buy each kid a laptop to the list, we do need laptops as we are using 8 year old laptops in lots of areas so could be a good idea in the long run.

 

Thing is, a lot of us have standardised on desktops everywhere rather than laptops for various reasons (i.e Lifespan/damage blah blah) - I'm not (Neither are my management) prepared to throw the baby out with the bathwater and buy loads of laptops for this. Even worse, buying laptops for students & all the headaches that entails

We're not geared up to support such a large amount of roaming devices.

 

In terms of "Money saved" whilst the school has been shut, It's not that simple. Money sits in seperate pots for different purposes & we can't just transfer funding for one thing into our capital spend - Especially as we were in the black until recently.

[elsiegee40]

 

Posts concerning the financial impact on schools of lockdown have been split at OP’s request into their own thread which can be found here

 

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/general-chat/215284-financial-impact-schools-lockdown.html#post1842114

 

This thread should now return to its original topic of computers when schools reopen

 

Edited May 13, 2020 by elsiegee40

[msi_school]

Gloves are daft, sorry. Get staff and students to practice proper hygiene, supply sanitiser for each classroom in use and make sure they're used before & after each use. Simple.

 

I would agree that gloves are dangerous they make you feel safe, proper hand washing and cleaning is much safer.

[Steve21]

Thought people might be interested, but this is some snippits related to IT from the latest 20 page union checklists for schools:

 

Questions for reps to answer:

1. 
   
2. Will air conditioning systems not be used unless it can be confirmed that there is no additional risk?
   
3. 
   
4. Will all areas of the premises be thoroughly cleaned on a daily basis with particular focus on surfaces that are touched by multiple people such as photocopiers, door handles, table/counter tops, computers including mouse and keyboard, light switches telephones, chairs, bannisters, shared learning resources or toys, specialist equipment for SEND pupils, toilets and toilet handles, sinks, taps and other areas touched regularly, with additional cleaning during the day as necessary?
   
5. 
   
6. Will each classroom be provided with gloves and disinfectant spray in case a pupil coughs or sneezes on a piece of equipment?
   
7. 
   
8. Is there capacity amongst the cleaning staff to meet these requirements?
   
9. 
   
10. Has it been confirmed that sufficient cleaning staff will be engaged to allow for the enhanced cleaning levels required?
    
11. 
    
12. Have you been given an assurance that non cleaning staff will not be expected to undertake cleaning work?
    
13. 
    
14. Has account been taken of the fact that some staff, in particular support staff, normally work at close proximity to individual pupils and how this work can continue in a safe manner?
    

 

 

 

Only some snippits as mentioned as it's a long doc but get the feeling the answer to all of those are NO currently

 

Steve

[apeo]

Interesting thought on issuing each student with a keyboard (and mouse potentially), is it me or would this not work for laptops? i.e. keyboard is not the only point of contact, all over the case, the point at which you lift the lid etc.

[Steve21]

Interesting thought on issuing each student with a keyboard (and mouse potentially), is it me or would this not work for laptops? i.e. keyboard is not the only point of contact, all over the case, the point at which you lift the lid etc.

 

I mean I guess in my eyes, if you're talking about short term issues (until September etc) would you just have the laptop already setup on a desk/plugged in, just like a desktop pc would be etc

 

Steve

[Achandler]

I don't think you can do even with keyboards per kid, as they are still going to put their hands all over the desks and base units. I'm not sure shared workspaces work well at all.

 

Your best option is gloves and a mask, though it might be unrealistic given the apparent lack of it, going off the news, I haven't tried to buy any myself. Good hand hygiene might remove the need for gloves, but you cannot be sure they have washed their hands properly. But how do you stop any airborne droplets from their mouths without a mask.

[mullet_man]

I guess if you had enough laptops you assign 1 laptop to the pupil that they only use. Not sure how that works in practice but it could be an option.

 

Another option is maybe allow the kids to bring in their home devices? Not sure just an idea?

[free780]

A bit pie in the sky but will this push forward the move to 1:1 devices for students even further in the long term?

 

I also thought MFDs will be a nightmare with touch screens. Maybe we can finally see printing reduce.

[mavhc]

Given only x% of pupils will be coming in for now, probably have enough computers for one each, there's 1 computer for every 3 pupils in uk.

 

Aircon on or off? I'd have thought removing air and replacing it with air from outside would be a good idea.

[LincolnE]

Aircon on or off? I'd have thought removing air and replacing it with air from outside would be a good idea.

 

Depends on if the aircon circulates the air in areas, though.

That'd be my thought.

[paulkerton]

I'm pretty sure that parents would not be happy at the idea of their child cleaning the laptops. The unions will not counternance the idea of teaching staff cleaning the laptops. I've yet to go into a single school where the cleaners will clean the laptops, and it's definitely not the job of the IT Support staff to wipe them down all day every day.

I'd suggest that as we are at the point where any return to school (which I still don't think will happen on the pre-decided date) is nothing more than a glorified attempt to babysit children so their parents can go to work, I would suggest that unless you're assigning laptop devices to each child temporarily whilst in school and to be left in school, then you should really kiss goodbye to the idea of using devices till the earliest September inside school.

 

There is absolutely no way you can keep them biosecure unless someone is cleaning them after every single use (preferably the user, which is likely unworkable) or you clean them once and make sure that only the same child is using it continually, with guaranteed cleaning of hands both before and after use.

 

Inevitably, 1 to 1 devices is the route to go in the near future, accelerated by this crisis. Schools can use their budgets they would've spent on devices to help subsidise costs for parent contributions, and they'll have to look at using pupil premium for laptops and 4g connectivity for those most deprived children to be able to access devices.

Edited May 18, 2020 by paulkerton

[mavhc]

Good way to make kids want to stay at home, no computers at school

[paulkerton]

Good way to make kids want to stay at home, no computers at school

 

So how are you going to do it?

[Achandler]

The reality would surely be the computers are "protected" for use by those subjects that need to use them. E.G. most computing lessons etc. Limiting the use would then give opportunities to clean the rooms between use, while also limiting the students who use the rooms, and the computers could be use almost 1:1.

 

There may be a detrimental affect on other lessons, and this may also means students move about more though. But students use to be taught without computer access, so in the short term, I am sure it could be done again.

 

As more pupils return to schools, I don't really know what you do.

[mavhc]

So how are you going to do it?

 

Already planned and implemented 1:1 laptops for staff and pupils. Spend all the money on hardware, use open source software for free.