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The following broad range of ‘hints-'n'-tips’ on mobile ICT management and organisation in schools is based on learning from the Laptops Initiative – see the ‘Engaging Learners’ book for more details.
- Maintenance and Day-to-Day Issues
- Battery and Charging Problems
- Laptops Trolleys
- Grants for Individual Students
- Encouraging Fostered Use
1. Maintenance and Day-to-Day Issues
The following will help minimise problems that may arise in managing day-to-day use of laptops in busy school environments:
- Consider a full three-year collect-and-return warranty from a reliable supplier when purchasing
- Damage to keys, by students prising them off, was the most common hardware damage reported by Laptops Initiative schools – consider purchasing machines where the keyboard is not permanently damaged if a key is prised off
- Many compatibility problems arose between hardware, software and peripherals – carefully check all compatibility issues prior to purchase
- Consider making easily-accessible wireless printing stations available
- Conspicuous etching of laptops will deter theft – see, for example, www.loxit.com
2. Battery and Charging Problems
Batteries running out can be a problem and battery life also degrades over time. Various ways of approaching this include:
- Check for long battery operating time when purchasing and consider an upgrade if available
- Maximising battery function my be dependent on charging sequences – read the accompanying literature before initial charging
- Consider purchasing spare batteries and budget for replacing them every two or three years
- Consider having a bank of spare batteries and a charger – a damaged laptop will act as a charger
- If some laptops are in permanently fixed locations their batteries can be used as spares
- Have a secure area accessible to students where they can leave their laptops to charge during breaks
- Teach students to become familiar with the power management options on their laptops – this can significantly increase battery time
3. Laptops Trolleys
Laptops Initiative schools found these very useful for storage, charging and mobility – they can be seen in use in the video clips from Causeway Comprehensive School, St. Paul’s Community College and Wexford Vocational College. Laptops Initiative schools obtained information on mobile storage units from the followings sources:
• LapSafe: www.lapsafe.com
• Loxit: www.loxit.com
• Bretford: www.bretford.com
• CompuCharge: www.compucharge.co.uk
Another popular laptop trolly link LEBA: http://leba-innovation.com/web397.asp
4. Grants for Individual Students
The Department of Education and Science has a grant scheme for the purchase of equipment for the use of pupils in second-level schools who have been diagnosed as having serious physical and/or communicative disabilities of a degree which make ordinary communication through speech and /or writing impossible for them. See Circular M14/05 at www.education.ie.
5. Encouraging Fostered Use
Giving a laptop to a student without adequate support will limit the success of the fostered strategy and may place an undue burden on the student. The following lessons have been learned from the Laptops Initiative:
- Strong-willed and independent-minded students are effective in piloting the initial fostered use in schools and establishing the concept
- Students will benefit from good typing skills in order to be effective independent users
- Students using the fostered model also need to be taught good file management, retrieval and backup techniques
- Teacher need to be reassured that the novelty and distraction caused by a student having a laptop in class lasts for only a short time
- Teacher also need to be reassured that the student is an independent computer user and will not be relying on the teacher’s ICT knowledge
- Students like to put the laptops away when they are not needed and therefore require a secure place to leave them during breaks – the school office was a favoured location
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