Replacing teacher laptops with iPad devices (or similar)

[localzuk]

I've been having a think about teacher laptops as we currently dish them out, and how they are an annoyance to maintain, in terms of viruses, random incompatible software packages etc...

 

So, I have been thinking - could we replace those devices with iPads or similar (HP Slates or whatever). Then, the devices would be easier to maintain, software such as SIMS.net could be served either via the sharepoint weparts or via citrix, data would be stored remotely (removing data protection issues) etc...

 

And for those 'typing' exercises that are necessary, wireless keyboards can be provided.

 

Has anyone else thought about this?

[pritchardavid]

Umm quitte like that idea!

 

Still your still get virus and still have to maintain it

[jamesb]

I've been having a think about teacher laptops as we currently dish them out, and how they are an annoyance to maintain, in terms of viruses, random incompatible software packages etc...

 

So, I have been thinking - could we replace those devices with iPads or similar (HP Slates or whatever). Then, the devices would be easier to maintain, software such as SIMS.net could be served either via the sharepoint weparts or via citrix, data would be stored remotely (removing data protection issues) etc...

 

And for those 'typing' exercises that are necessary, wireless keyboards can be provided.

 

Has anyone else thought about this?

 

You could go for an even lower maintenance and budget option.

 

The day of the etch-a-sketch is coming!

 

Or alternatively have a look at the Asus T491 (I think that's the right version), saves the expense of wireless keyboards and the fact that people will lose said keyboards. Careful setup of the machines with GPOs to lock them down and one global image to deploy to them and you've got pretty much what you want, but with a lot more control over the actual deployment than you'd get with iPads.

 

Use the disk space to put on a recovery image, with a boot menu option to reinstall the image, and prevent local storage (hide the amount of storage available if you can - it can always be used for software which doesn't need to save data in a user-accessible area) and you've got pretty much what you're after.

[localzuk]

Umm quitte like that idea!

 

Still your still get virus and still have to maintain it

 

The number of viruses in the wild for the iphone are tiny compared to the hundreds of thousands now attacking windows machines... Maintaining it will be a lot less - if it uses cloud applications for a lot of things.

 

You could go for an even lower maintenance and budget option.

 

The day of the etch-a-sketch is coming!

 

Or alternatively have a look at the Asus T491 (I think that's the right version), saves the expense of wireless keyboards and the fact that people will lose said keyboards. Careful setup of the machines with GPOs to lock them down and one global image to deploy to them and you've got pretty much what you want, but with a lot more control over the actual deployment than you'd get with iPads.

 

Use the disk space to put on a recovery image, with a boot menu option to reinstall the image, and prevent local storage (hide the amount of storage available if you can - it can always be used for software which doesn't need to save data in a user-accessible area) and you've got pretty much what you're after.

 

Windows machines, whatever you do to them, have a high maintenance cost. GPOs fail (especially over wireless), viruses still get past your security etc... Why persist with that solution?

 

Also, why persist with keyboards for everything? Most laptop use I see in our school is limited to tapping on an IWB. Very limited typing goes on.

 

(PS. What is a the T491? A search returns nothing).

[Kipling]

Has anyone else thought about this?

 

Yes we are considering it (sort of). We are not replacing any staff laptops this financial year (apart from any that fail completely) and instead focusing on getting a PC in every teaching room; following that we hope to start phasing in the iPad / slate / iTouch etc to staff.

 

In connection with that we are currently evaluating the TeacherWebFolder package to enable sims access to portable devices.

 

I honestly think that staff laptops have had their day, in fact I think that the Laptops-for-Teacher scheme created a bit of a monster by giving teachers the impression that they are entitled to (what many consider to be) a computer to use at home – ie “their laptop”; and despite the scheme finishing years ago schools are now under a kind of unofficial obligation to still provide staff-laptops because its now “the done thing”

 

A much more useful tool now is definitely a PDA type device, providing a single point of contact to each teacher, combining phone, email, access to sims and emergence support features all in a pocket size package. Once there’s a PC in pretty much every teaching room I can’t think of anything a teacher needs to do throughout the day that can’t be accomplished on an iTouch/iPhone etc.

[Theblacksheep]

I've been having a think about teacher laptops as we currently dish them out, and how they are an annoyance to maintain, in terms of viruses, random incompatible software packages etc...

 

So, I have been thinking - could we replace those devices with iPads or similar (HP Slates or whatever). Then, the devices would be easier to maintain, software such as SIMS.net could be served either via the sharepoint weparts or via citrix, data would be stored remotely (removing data protection issues) etc...

 

And for those 'typing' exercises that are necessary, wireless keyboards can be provided.

 

Has anyone else thought about this?

 

Parts failure, battery replacements, screen damage and other jobs that you can hack together from other laptops would be more problematic on the ipad, possibly a send away job. data recovery might be another send away job and backing up "their" poxy itunes (on a school device) would grind my gears.

 

I'm sure loads of teachers would love it, not sure I would.

[localzuk]

Parts failure, battery replacements, screen damage and other jobs that you can hack together from other laptops would be more problematic on the ipad, possibly a send away job. data recovery might be another send away job and backing up "their" poxy itunes (on a school device) would grind my gears.

 

We don't hack laptops together here - they are bought with extended warranties, and replaced at the end of their useful life. Same as we would with any replacement device.

 

I'm sure loads of teachers would love it, not sure I would.

 

Loving it isn't something I would use as a reason for or against any technology. Personal feelings of a device are irrelevant. The questions are 'can it do the jobs needed of it' and 'can it do them in a more sustainable way than the current system'.

[Theblacksheep]

We don't hack laptops together here - they are bought with extended warranties, and replaced at the end of their useful life. Same as we would with any replacement device.

 

Lucky you!

[PiqueABoo]

The questions are 'can it do the jobs needed of it'

 

As in "what are the user's requirements?" Have you asked any of those then?

[SimpleSi]

in fact I think that the Laptops-for-Teacher scheme created a bit of a monster by giving teachers the impression that they are entitled to (what many consider to be) a computer to use at home – ie “their laptop”; and despite the scheme finishing years ago schools are now under a kind of unofficial obligation to still provide staff-laptops because its now “the done thing”

 

Laptops for people who do work at home was standard 10 years ago - its not just a toys for teacher thing

 

And now that losing data is such an issue, I think it becomes more important to make sure that teachers are only working on a school machine and not any old computer lying around at their home.

[Kipling]

As in "what are the user's requirements?" Have you asked any of those then?

 

In a purely business sense I think it’s more a case of the schools requirements rather than the users requirements.

 

The school requires teachers to input registration data into sims, the school requires that teachers are contactable, the school requires that reports are completed, etc

 

If a user “wants” to use IT to teach and “wants” to prepare that work on a laptop, at home, then it’s up to them to use their own means to fulfil their wants.

 

 

Of course it’s not as black and white as that but mobile IT in teachers hands is probably more of a business tool now than a teaching tool, and if its not now – it will be in a few years.

[AngryTechnician]

As in "what are the user's requirements?" Have you asked any of those then?

 

That may have been said partly in jest but it is terribly important. As much as I like the sound of this idea, I'd be very surprised if your users really didn't do much typing. They may be just tapping on an IWB during lessons, but what about the admin and lesson planning they do at home?

 

I recently completed the practical stage of a formal research project at my school to get solid, quantitative data on how staff use IT throughout the school. I ran a 2-hour focus group followed up with a whole-school survey, as well as spending time 1-on-1 with department heads. I've worked in schools for nearly 5 years now, and still encountered things that surprised me as a result of that research. The findings have played an important part in planning my budget for this year, and I'm currently in the middle of writing up my findings as evidence of why I've asked for the particular things I have in my budget bid. It's proven to be an extremely useful exercise for me that has helped a lot with planning, and I'd strongly recommend that approach.

[AngryTechnician]

If a user “wants” to use IT to teach... then it’s up to them to use their own means to fulfil their wants.

In my opinion, any school that leaves using IT to teach as a "want" (rather than something that is actively encouraged or required) is failing its students.

 

That aside, I would also point out that an awful lot of that work at home is unpaid overtime, and that if it couldn't be done at home, it wouldn't be done. Very few people like being in the office/classroom until 9pm. The school should be ecstatic that teachers "want" to do that work, and should think long and hard about providing kit that makes it easy for the teachers to do it.

[localzuk]

Lucky you!

 

It isn't luck - it is the school recognition that IT is a critical part of education, and as such ensure we invest in it properly.

 

As in "what are the user's requirements?" Have you asked any of those then?

 

User requirements in a school environment are in most cases as Kipling says, dictated to the users. There are the odd few who do other things but as a school with limited funds we can't always afford to do this sustainably.

 

If a user “wants” to use IT to teach and “wants” to prepare that work on a laptop, at home, then it’s up to them to use their own means to fulfil their wants.

 

It is difficult to find the point where a school draws the line on what it funds. What you see as a want, some may see as a need.

 

That may have been said partly in jest but it is terribly important. As much as I like the sound of this idea, I'd be very surprised if your users really didn't do much typing. They may be just tapping on an IWB during lessons, but what about the admin and lesson planning they do at home?

 

True, teachers do planning on their devices - but do these devices need to be fully fledged laptops with built in keyboards which they then have to carry all 2 + kg of around with them all day, plugging various things in every lesson, with the obvious pitfalls that they come with? My point is that in a classroom environment - the teachers don't often need that functionality, it is a function that is more often used at home, or during PPA time, so why pay for devices which have that functionality 100% of the time?

 

In my opinion, any school that leaves using IT to teach as a "want" (rather than something that is actively encouraged or required) is failing its students.

 

That aside, I would also point out that an awful lot of that work at home is unpaid overtime, and that if it couldn't be done at home, it wouldn't be done. Very few people like being in the office/classroom until 9pm. The school should be ecstatic that teachers "want" to do that work, and should think long and hard about providing kit that makes it easy for the teachers to do it.

 

I'm not going to go into this argument much, as it has been done to death, but please don't claim teachers do 'unpaid overtime' when they have 13 weeks holiday...

[PiqueABoo]

In a purely business sense I think it’s more a case of the schools requirements rather than the users requirements.

 

Sure, I had user's requirements in order to do their job effectively in mind - these aren't always quite the same thing as what manglement think they need and it's always worth asking users even if you do get a few comedy answers.

 

I would also point out that an awful lot of that work at home is unpaid overtime, and that if it couldn't be done at home, it wouldn't be done

 

Absolutely. There's a Y5 teacher sat on the other side of the room right now **typing away** on a school laptop lesson planning, and doubtless will be for a couple of hours yet. Although she does this most weekday nights I'm quite sure she'd rather not. Can't comment on Secondary teachers coz I don't live with one but Primary schools all seem to *strongly depend* on this happening, ergo there is an unquestionable moral obligation to support it by providing a usable laptop stuffed with relevant s/w - the cost of that is a teensy fraction of the hours they get for free.

 

please don't claim teachers do 'unpaid overtime' when they have 13 weeks holiday...

 

Salaries are already down-sized to accomodate that aren't they?

Edited April 19, 2010 by PiqueABoo

[localzuk]

the cost of that is a teensy fraction of the hours they get for free.

 

Not exactly 'teensy', when you compare it to a school budget. Say you go for a £600 laptop, with a £100 warranty. You then need to license Office, (and if you use schools agreement) Windows etc... Add in technician time and a laptop suddenly becomes a several thousand pound investment per teacher. Scale that up to the number of teachers in our school and now you have a £80k+ investment over a few years - enough money for a couple of members of staff, or an ICT suite or 2, or enough money to refurbish a half dozen classrooms that have fallen into disrepair over the last decade etc... A laptop may seem cheap, but it comes at the expense of other things.

[HodgeHi]

I've just been seriously thinking about your proposal while ready the thread. It's an interesting one. Users can backup their iPads using their home machine via iTunes. Data can be encrypted through the use of enterprise encryption when iPhone OS 4.0 arrives. Deployment is supposed to be easier as well, by allowing deployment of iPads over wifi connections. All good points to consider. You could even opt to get the Keyboard with Dock connector, thus removing the potential to lose the keyboard. There is also a camera connection to allow import of photos from School cameras and a VGA adaptor to allow the iPad to connect to School projectors (with a supported res of 1024x768).

 

Now the negative points. There would need to be a iPad version of whatever software they use to create IWB flip-charts for use in School. Whether this be Promethean or Smart. Now, Promethean/Smart could be at an advantage here if they utilised an adaptor and released an iPad app to create the flip-charts. The only downside to this is that they couldn't utilise SWF based resources ( are you reading this promethean )

 

This i think is going to be the hardest point to make positive, the lack of software support that is used in the classroom. Access to files and saving out of the iPad isn't really an issue i don't think, as you could potentially export over wifi and save to the VLE. We use Studywiz that already has a mobile app that supports iTouch and iPhone so already works with the iPad. You also have keynote and pages on the iPad for productivity in that sense. But on the whole. Very interesting. I was thinking about getting myself one. I may just do that now and see how i fair with it.

 

@AngryTechnician,

 

What did you use for your surveys? LimeSurvey?

 

Great piece of Opensource software. If you did how do you go about creating conditional questions?

[04nunhucks]

The only issue you might have with teacher with the iPad is to get it to properly display output. The iPad, with Keynote is outputting presentations to the projector, but, the presentation is removed from the iPad screen. It's really quite awkward to teach with. I still prefer laptop and iPhone (i-Clickr)

[HodgeHi]

Hmm. Interesting. How do you know this? Have you seen it in action or used it? Just curious as to how you come by this information. It would indeed make things more difficult.

[Kipling]

In my opinion, any school that leaves using IT to teach as a "want" (rather than something that is actively encouraged or required) is failing its students.

Not at all; badly used IT crowbared into a lesson for the sake of “using IT across the curriculum” is much worse than not using IT at all. How many times have you heard “just go on the internet and research that” when the kids are sat in the library!

 

Using IT to solve IT problems is a natural thing for us but teachers have other tools, forged over centuries of teaching, and IT is only a very small and often insignificant one at their disposal.

[PiqueABoo]

Add in technician time and a laptop suddenly becomes a several thousand pound investment per teacher.

 

Several means at least 3 of those thousands and I really can't figure out what it is you're counting over what period and quite how an swapping in an iPad might make much if any of that go away, but a few extra hours of overtime a day soon adds up and it adds up to a lot more than that.

 

teachers have other tools, forged over centuries of teaching, and IT is only a very small and often insignificant one at their disposal.

 

Perhaps, but that conveniently ignores all the other stuff that has to be done and isn't "lesson delivery".

[localzuk]

Several means at least 3 of those thousands and I really can't figure out what it is you're counting over what period and quite how an swapping in an iPad might make much if any of that go away, but a few extra hours of overtime a day soon adds up and it adds up to a lot more than that.

 

I was actually thinking 2 (so, should have said couple). Over 3 years.

 

Perhaps, but that conveniently ignores all the other stuff that has to be done and isn't "lesson delivery".

 

You mean like reporting, lesson planning, etc...? They get paid for that, and you cannot deny it. This is why I didn't want to concentrate on this point - for some reason, some people seem to think teachers aren't paid for the time they spend doing this stuff, whilst ignoring the 13 week breaks.

Edited April 20, 2010 by localzuk
fix quotes

[HodgeHi]

I think teachers get paid adequately for what they do. They have PPA so they can have time during the working week to get planning and preparation done. Could you say the same about ICT Technicians/Managers/Network Managers? The boss even had to stop the staff going home to do it as instead of doing the planning, preparation, they went shopping.

[jamesb]

Windows machines, whatever you do to them, have a high maintenance cost. GPOs fail (especially over wireless), viruses still get past your security etc... Why persist with that solution?

 

Put Linux on them? I know it is more work, but a standard image which you know to be working, appropriately customised, should work as well if not better. You could even slap your school logo into the image.

 

Also, why persist with keyboards for everything? Most laptop use I see in our school is limited to tapping on an IWB. Very limited typing goes on.

 

The T91 (my mistake on the version number, not sure where the 4 came from) is a tablet where the screen can be folded back. It does just save having to carry a wireless keyboard as well as give you a little more flexibility than a slate.

 

(PS. What is a the T491? A search returns nothing).

 

Yep, I added a '4'. Slight brain failure there.

 

It's really more of a thought to look at, since the prices seem to be roughly comparable. Having alternatives to present to those in charge of the cash is always useful, and if you don't like a particular solution it should be reflected in the proposal anyway.

[Kipling]

Perhaps, but that conveniently ignores all the other stuff that has to be done and isn't "lesson delivery".

 

And that in a sense is the point, all the other stuff can be done on a combination of an iPad type device, remote access and their own computers (if they wish to work from home)

 

Part of the original laptops-for-teacher scheme was to encourage teachers to be more comfortable with IT – to let them play with it – experiment and learn; those days are gone, being able to use IT (for the business side of teaching) is expected, it is a base skill. So the idea of laptops being dished out as “home computers” is nonsensical when there is now more appropriate equipment that money can be used for.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying its all or nothing. Some teachers will always need special requirements.