I posted this at the end of my previous post, but I’m going to throw it up here as well since the questions are essential for education technology professionals and school districts to consider:

In regards to the idea of netbooks, I love these two questions asked at Usability News…but ask them with education in mind:

1. Can netbooks play a unique role better than any other device you have? Are they a category distinct from laptops at the high-performance and usability end, while standing apart from handhelds at the lower range in performance and usability?
2. Do netbooks fit into the overall school district’s Information Technology (IT) strategy? Do they add to or detract from the total cost of ownership?

These are questions that have to be answered for netbooks, much less handhelds. This is why a web app provides district’s flexibility rather than settling on one device over another.

Wes Fryer shares the following points:

I wrote the post “Netbook Classroom Experiences And Related Resource Articles” for ISTE’s NECC 2009 blog this evening also, which includes a variety of links and resource recommendations related to netbooks. My top recommendation in that article as far as netbook technology integration “voices” and resources go is Tony Vincent’s February 12th “Soft Reset” podcast “Netbooks in Fort Smith.” Tony’s description for the episode is:

Fort Smith Public Schools has nearly 20 classrooms using Eee PC netbooks. George Lieux, technology professional development specialist, gathered up nine classroom teachers to talk with Tony Vincent about their use of the mini laptops. Tony speaks with these elementary, middle, and high school teachers who all share valuable classroom management tips as well as great curriculum integration ideas. If you are thinking about getting class sets of netbooks, you have got to listen to this episode!

Wes, in another blog entry at ISTE Connects, shares this comment…I shortened it to make the point:

We are currently looking at netbooks for each student in 4th-8th grade. We are having a lot of nervous individuals worried about the misuse of the computers, ability to integrate into the classroom, battery life (charging station issues), security, monitoring, and loss of traditional educational methods. As the tech coordinator, I continue to stress that netbooks will ehnance and supplement the our current methodology., not replace it.

Wes goes on to make the point that netbooks definitely fit into classrooms for student use. But what about educator use? Can’t we achieve one to one with netbooks for teachers and administrators?

I found these comments on Will Richardson’s (Weblogg-ed) interesting:

We have over 800 netbooks (mostly Asus eeePc’s) in Littleton Public Schools. Between those and a few other solutions, we have increased the number of student screens by almost 22%, while reducing district and individual school Microsoft licensing costs. Yep. This has all been accomplished within the last twelve months, bad economy and all.

I spend quite a bit of time in schools–what I see students doing 95% of the time is word processing, Internet surfing, emailing, and occasionally working on a web app. of some sort, say a teacher’s blog. The eee’s do all that with aplomb. Small footprint leaves more room for paper and pencil on a desk, and the boot up time is incredible. Durable? We had an grant that provided for 300 of the netbooks. We put them into fifth grade,and have only had a very small (3-4?) number of defective or damaged machines. The SSD ‘hard drive’ is quiet and light.

What makes them a feasible option for us is a robust wireless network, filtering on the network, not the device, and web access to server storage. (Not a VPN, but somewhat like that.) After 2 minutes of orientation to the Linux OS, the students are able to find the Open Office programs which default save to .doc, .ppt, etc) and connect to the Web. Finally, we have allowed print by IP, which allows them to work with our networked printers.

Hey, you hit the nail on the head. A MacBook Pro, or Dell Latitude, whatever, is an expensive, high-end machine that far exceeds the computing requirements that most of our kids need, most of the time. Leverage the savings out to more machines is our philosophy.
Source: Mike Porter’s Comment on Weblogg-ed

and Tony Vincent (again) on Fort Smith ISD’s efforts…listen to the podcast:

For those wanting to hear how teachers are using netbooks, check out the latest episode of the Soft Reset podcast. I interview 9 classroom teachers (elementary, middle, and high school) who recently began using class sets of Eee PC 1000Hs in Fort Smith, AR. The teachers share great curriculum and management ideas. You’ll also hear about just how excited students and teachers are to use their mini laptops.
http://learninginhand.com/softreset/20.html

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure