Quote:
Originally Posted by 21C
We have 1000 students in Years 7 to 10 (12 to 16 year olds). It is a non-government Catholic high school with 80% of our income coming from federal and state funding. I honestly don't know the money we have to spend but it sounds like it is in the neighbourhood of 200+ computers.
I also don't know if the money is just for desktops and/or notebooks but I'll have a better idea after the meeting on Monday. All of this money is coming from the federal government so every school is in the same position as us. Somehow I think we need to investigate how other schools are spending their money - what works and what doesn't.
We had considered going fully mobile but I think the general consensus has been that this is too fraught with potential problems. We are currently trying to decide whether to spend all of the money on desktops (and where those need to go) or to spend some on notebooks/netbooks (and how exactly they are to be used).
This thread is helping me come up with some notes that I can take in to the meeting.
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Obviously should have finished reading the thread before posting.
I would still argue you're approaching this problem backwards. It's great that you have a pile of money coming your way to get computers. The first thing that you need to do is figure out what instructional purpose you're hoping the technology could solve. What do you want students doing with them?
Given my knowledge of parochial schools, having taught in one for 2 years, I would consider some combination of higher end computers to create a media lab and a whole bunch of cheap computers to create opportunities for basic word processing/internet.
Would still be happy to talk further if you'd like about the specifics of your school.