$ 3000 portable computer lab

A major challenge in most schools in computer access for students.

At my school we purchased netbooks and combined it with Google Apps to create portable computer labs which cost less than $ 3000. The combination of portability (netbooks) and cloud computing (Google Apps Education Edition) fits in with research and best practices in education - see 2009 Horizon Report.

Watch video for more information.

Netbook Pilot Project - Improves Learning

Points about the netbook pilot project:

In April 2009 our school received 17 netbooks as part of a pilot project. The netbooks are being used with different classes from grades 7 to grade 12. 

I used the class set of netbooks yesterday with a grade 7 class. It was very successful as the students were very engaged. The feedback from the staff has been very good. Security is an issue. Presently the netbooks are being booked out of the school library. 

To make best use of them you need a good wireless connection - that can support all the netbooks at the same time.

I am still looking into a netbook cart (they are expensive $2000+ US) which can be wheeled into any classroom, but I may get a carry unit which would hold 5 netbooks. These carry units then would allow the netbooks to be split up among different classes. 

I installed the following software (all are free) on each netbook.

• Open Office (like MS office)
• Audacity (for making podcasts)
• Photo Story (making multimedia presentations)
• Google Earth

I am encouraging students to use Google Apps Education Edition (our school is registered- for free) for their word processing, spreadsheet work and save their files in the "cloud". See more about Google Apps from my non-profit web site (connectingeducation.com ). The model of cloud computing and portability fits in with the 2009 Horizon Report

Part of the pilot project is to write curriculum to be used with the netbooks. This curriculum will be written over the next year.

Why I picked netbooks instead of laptops:

Netbooks are cheaper than laptops (at least 33 % less).Netbooks are more portable (about 1 KG each) which mean they  easier to  move around the school. They tend to be tougher than lap tops (eg. if they are dropped) and they also use less electricity. If they are signed out to be taken home. they are small enough to fit into a student's purse.

Reasons for the Acer one (10 inch) for this project (about $ $360 US)

• price about 25% less than other vender's netbooks (with 6 cell battery)
  
• six cell battery - which means the netbook only has to be recharged once a day (about 6 hours between charges) - a three cell battery will limit the number of classes that can use the netbook per day- I only seem to get about 4 hours out of mine though...
  
• Acer One is currently the most popular netbook
  
• physically a tough unit
  
• automatic restore software - (restore computer to factory setting quickly - special software is included

From PC Magazine

Acer Aspire One (10-inch)

REVIEW DATE:  02.09.09

BOTTOM LINE:

Acer proves that it's still the master of the netbook recession special with the new and improved Aspire One (10-inch).

PROS:

Phenomenal battery life. Six-cell battery is standard with the price. Still the most affordable netbook around. Ten-inch widescreen and mouse buttons are consistent with everyone else's.

Blending Learning and Technology

As someone who instructs teachers (grades 7-12) on implementing new technologies into the classroom and has presented at numerous conferences on this subject - I have found that blended learning (process of incorporating many different learning styles) works better than traditional methods of teaching if teachers are given proper support - especially curriculum support. Also,  students are much more engaged when they are learning and using 21 century tools (such as podcasting, wikis, Photo Story etc.).

The interesting thing is that teachers actually do not have to know how to use these technologies - they only have to know what these technologies can do. This concept takes the pressure off teachers to learn these skills.

It is up to students to learn new technologies on their own by watching on-line video tutorials and searching the Internet. For example search “tutorial podcast” on Youtube.com and you get dozens of tutorials - many using Audacity which is free. Below is the tutorial we use with students - (most of the teachers who assign podcasts do not know how to create them)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHgD6cVv9QU

The video below is from a teacher who actually did not know how to use the technology she assigned - Her students taught themselves how to create a wiki, do podcasts and use Microsoft’s PhotoStory. The assignment they used is posted on connectingeducation.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fGsgYpLgrs

We have also started to implement Google Apps (education edition). This product is a huge success - it makes learning more efficient and uses the same tools as in business for collaboration. Students need very little instruction on how to use it - because the look and feel of Google Apps is the same as the email - chat - calendar applications they use in their personal lifes. Below are a couple of students discussing its use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miYvAh09M_M

All the technologies we assign to students are available for free - so students can work on them at home for no cost.

Netbooks / Google Apps Pilot Project (portable computer lab)

Our school was chosen to pilot a project using 20 Netbooks (cost less $400 each). A netbook cart and wireless (wireless works off the cart).

Students will be using Google Apps (cloud computing), which we implemented in Feb. 2008 ( read more) . Google Apps will allow students to save all their documents in the "cloud".

So now instead of teachers booking a computer lab - the computer lab can be moved into their classroom. This is also a much cheaper solution than traditional computer labs.
The netbook (like a mini laptop) we choose is the Acer One 10 inch with 6 cell battery. It has a 7 hour battery life so the netbooks only half to be charged once a day.

I will be giving feedback on this project on this blog as it gets going.

Does anyone else have similar experiences with portable computer labs ???? I like to here about it.

Implementation of Google Apps Educational Edition in My School

This page gives information on the implementation of Google Apps Educational Edition

Introduction

The project started in January 2008 and continues to grow. This page is intended to give information on the implementation, the successes and the challenges.

According the leading experts in education the two defining trends in education for the next coming years in technology is cloud computing and portability Read 2009 Horizon Report. Google Apps allows educators to implement cloud computing.

Google Apps Edition Editon is free for non-profit educational institutions and has no ads. Google has explictly stated it will never charge for Google Apps. Millions of students and thousands of educational institutions have signed up including

It allows students and teachers to create documents(Word, Excel, PowerPoint), share calendars, email, chat, create web pages,video and more. It is secure as everything stays within the registered domain and cannot be accessed by people who do not have a school login. It is an excellent tool to provide elearning. It works on any computer including Macs. Many Personal Digital Devices - such as cell phones - can access many of the tools available.

Implementing the Project

The project took about 1 week to set up from the time the school was registered with Google as a non-profit public educational institution to having all students registered.

The project requires ownership web address where the administator changes can configure MX records to activate email. The MX records will edit by the administrator of adamscott.ca. The process was simple as Google emailed clear instuctions. See video tutorial on how to do this
click here.

Registing students on the adamscott.ca domain was quick. Google requires a text file containing students names, logins, and passwords. A text file was already been created for student logins on for the school server by the IT department. To create the exact four fields (first name,last name, login, password) for the text file, MS Excel was used. This file was then used to create all the users in a batch process. The whole procedure took less than 30 minutes for around 1000 students.

Two classes were selected to initially test Google Apps - both Grade 12 English University. These classes were selected because they were senior level students who would quickly learn the technology and the teacher was willing to try new technology. Students were required to have a permission form signed.

Each class was given about 20 minutes of instruction on using Google Apps. Students were also instructed NOT to use Google Apps for any personal email or chats. Most students were able to use Google Apps with little trouble. See video of students speaking.

Once the project showed success other classes started using google Apps in different subjects areas from grades 9 to 12. Math teachers really like Google Apps because it gives the students a spreadsheet at home. Most students did not have a spreadsheet at home until they signed up for Google Apps. See video of Math Teachers comments.

Students in a Grade 10 History Class are collaborating and creating a virtual museum on the same web page.

This video is from a Geography teacher on using Google Apps and this video is from a student using Google Apps.

How Google Apps Improves Learning

According to students the best things about Google Apps are:

• Easy to use
• Easy to work on documents both at home and school
• Same interface at home and school
• documents are never lost
• When collaborating on a document - Google Apps can record who did what.
• ability to collaborate (i.e. able to work on the same document at the same time from
  remote locations)
• Teacher calendar
• Chat
• Having both spreadsheet and PowerPoint software at home
• Large enough user space that large projects such as video and podcasts can be saved and
  easily moved from home to school
• Works on both Macs and PCs
  

According to teachers the best things about Google Apps are:

• ability to easily share electronic documents with all students in a class quickly and easily
• ability to up load Word and PowerPoint files
• Easy to use web page creator
• ability to search documents
• calender
• ability to make comments on students work as they are working on the document
• prevents plagiarism (can see every revision of a document)
• ability to post videos that are only viewable for people inside school domain
• ability to limit (i.e. only to students of a class) who see class marks generated by markbook when the marks are posted
• less photo-coping and printing

Presentation on Using Google Apps

Google Apps and Netbooks supported by major educational research project

The just released 2009 Horzon Report which is based on "ongoing primary research effort that draws on a comprehensive body of published resources, current research and practice" looks at future technological in education states the the two top trends are portability such as netbooks and cloud computing such as Google Apps. read report



Quotes from report

cloud computing ..."Inexpensive, simple solutions to offsite storage, multi-user application scaling,hosting, and multi-processor computing are opening the door to wholly different ways ofthinking about computers, software, and files."



portability "making it an ever more versatile tool that can be easily adapted to ahost of tasks for learning, productivity, andsocial networking. For many users, broadbandmobile devices like the iPhone have alreadybegun to assume many tasks that were oncethe exclusive province of portable computers."


"cloud computing transforms once-expensive resources like disk storage and processing cycles into a readily available, cheap commodity. Development platforms layered onto the cloud infrastructureenable thin-client, web-based applications for image editing, word processing, social networking, and mediacreation. Many of us use the cloud, or cloud-based applications, without even being aware of it. Advances incomputer science to ensure redundancy and protection from natural disasters have led to data being shared across many different hosting facilities. Improved infrastructure has made the cloud robust and reliable; asusage grows, the cloud is fundamentally changing our notions of computing and communication."



"Already, cloud-based applications are being usedin the K-12 sector to provide virtual computers tostudents and staff without requiring each person toown the latest laptop or desktop machine..."



"The idea of a single portable device that can make phone calls, take pictures, record audio and video, store data, music, and movies, and interact with the Internet — all of it — has become so interwoven into our lifestyles that it is now surprising to learn that someone does not carry one..."

Articles in support of Google Apps & Cloud Computing

Below are some links to articles on Google Apps. The feedback at the my school where I set up Google Apps Education Edition has been very positive. Also given the economic climate Google Apps saves money. It is free for educators and can replace expensive internal servers and management software.

Google to power Adelaide University
Quoting Paul Duldig, University of Adelaide services and resources vice-president.
"UNIVERSITY of Adelaide has selected Google as its default email and collaboration platform for over 16,000 students"
"project costs one tenth of what it would if done internally"
Read Article

Macquarie University rolls out Google appsQuotes from Macquarie's IT services director, Mary Sharp"Sharp said this will result in cost savings and the move to Google will free up time for IT staff to help students in other ways.""students now have (seven) gigabytes of e-mail storage capacity, as well as IM capabilities with their contacts, and an online calendar that allows them to add classes, tutorials and meetings right from the Gmail interface."
read article


Technically Speaking: Computing in the Cloud
Hamilton College, Clinton NY
by by David Smallen Vice presidentInformation technology
"we can provide IT resources less expensively by thinking differently about the way we use the Internet. Providing access to computing resources by using the Internet is called computing in the cloud"
"Cloud resources provide additional ways in which we can think differently in these difficult financial times. It is crucial to use these technologies as we look to the future."
Read Article

Guardian News & Media goes Google Apps
Andy Beale, technology director of enterprise operations at GNM
"Google is perfectly adequate and a lot cheaper and simpler to use."
"We're promoting [Google Docs] as the primary productivity application because it's simply a better collaborative app,"
read article


The Pros and Cons of Hosted E-Mail
Quoting Vivek Kundra, chief technology officer of Washington, D.C
Discussion on why the city of Washington DC changed to Google Apps
“So we were able to solve that problem for half a million dollars what would have cost us $4 million, so that’s $3.5 million savings right off the top there.”
read article


Should Your Email Live In The Cloud? An Infrastructure And Operations Analysis A new report from Forrester presents a cost analysis of cloud-based email systems in enterprises, such as Google Apps...
read article