Education
 

Technical Issues With One-to-One Laptop Programs

From School Computing

  • Increased strain on tech support
  • 4-year hardware replacement cycle
  • Have a loaner pool of spare laptops, for when students come in with a broken machine that needs to be repaired.
  • Power: need extra power adaptors, extra batteries, access to power outlets
  • Broadband is really necessary at home. Offer financial aid for this; survey incoming students as to their home computing set up.
  • Tablets vs Laptops? (tablets cost more, are more delicate, but work better for classroom settings)
  • School should still offer public labs for specialized applications.
  • Ownership of the computers by the kids is a good way to have them invested in keeping the machines running well. Robert, who is 2 years into a tablet implementation, discusses issues with that:
    • If students buy the computers, you lose that control/standardization
    • Antivirus is a must. Student should be able to buy the antivirus from the school
    • Forbid students from using software that eats up bandwidth and/or get a network appliance that manages bandwidth use
    • Storage issues
    • LoJack for laptops: computrace, safeware
    • In one school, before letting kids buy tablets/laptops, kids had to take care of eggs for 2 weeks
    • For more info, see Student Owned Laptop Programs
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