Insurance on Netbooks

[Anne Mirtschin]

As we will go 1:1 for years 4 to 9 next year (that is the plan), the insurance cost and need is still being discussed. Anne has mentioned it in her reply to Adrian on an earlier discussion but just wondering whether any other schools have got ideas or plans.
Are students going to be able to take the notebooks home is a second query.

[Patrick McInerney]

The quote we got from Capital Finance was around $27/unit with a $100 excess
Im not even sure if they will actually cover the devices fully once they are off site - this is where they are most at risk from damage after all.
Our students will definately be taking them home

[Anne Mirtschin]

Hi Patrick Thanks for your advice. We are still teasing out the insurance issue and are leaning towards the school self insuring (see below with Adrian's comment and my reply). I would 'fight' all the way to allow students to take home those netbooks, as that is where learning will start to be 24/7/365.

[Dave Clift]

Surely 1:1 learning will only work effectively if the kids can take the netbooks home with them (I know I'm speaking to the converted Anne!)? I'm interested to see what other schools come up with too cause the devices need to be fully covered at school and home I would have thought, otherwise the school will soon be footing the bill for accidents outside insurance realms. Can't be too expensive though otherwise it'll be cost prohibitive for parents to cost share ... tricky stuff!

[Anne Mirtschin]

How will you go next year, Dave? Will your students move on with the netbooks or will you still be using them in your classroom? How have you found them and what would the classroom be like without them?

[Adrian Camm]

Hi Anne.

Here is an excerpt of the policy document we have put together for our 1:1 program for next year. We decided to self insure as all quotes we recieved from external insurance suppliers were exorbitantly expensive. And yes, students can take notebook home and have full admin rights over their own machine.

"McGuire College will insure the laptop against loss or damage by fire, theft, accident, seizure, confiscation or otherwise. A fee of $35 per annum is included in the parent contribution instalments to cover the cost of insurance. If laptop is damaged to an extent that it is deemed necessary by McGuire College to claim insurance, a $150 excess fee will be charged to parents.

If the laptop is stolen from a residential address or outside of the college, parents will be required to complete a police report. They should then contact the school and complete the appropriate form and supply this accompanied by the police report. McGuire College will lodge appropriate insurance documentation and notify parents of progress. A $150 excess fee will be charged to parents in this situation."

If you would like to see the policy document in full, let me know and I will give you a copy.

Cheers.

[Patrick McInerney]

Sounds great Adrian.
Have you an indication on the turn around time in the event a device is lost or stolen?

[Adrian Camm]

Hi Patrick.

Aside from each student having their own, we have ordered 20+ extra notebooks plus one class set for use in the library. The 20+ extras will be available for student/staff loan during the school day based around a booking system. We envisage that if an individual students notebook is lost or stolen we will provide an immediate replacement from the 20+ ordered. Insurance will then provide the college with a new replacement with an estimated delivery time of 2 to 3 days thus replenishing our own stocks.

In conversation with our supplier, if a notebook is damaged or needs repair, the turnaround time is approximately 7-14 days.

Is 2010 the first year you are implementing a 1:1 program? If so, are you going whole-school or opting for a gradual rollout?

[Anne Mirtschin]

Thanks Adrian for all this sharing. Our current grade 5s are part of the DEECD netbook trial. At this stage, years 4 to 9 will be rolled out with the netbooks (acer). Are you going notebook or netbook? Are you going across the school. Most of our year 11 students have a laptop and I think that the older students need a model with more 'guts'. However, my principal has been discussing all this with our technician who works in several schools in our district - many of whom will roll out in 2010 as well. We were looking at the school self insuring. Our library already has a bank of 15 netbooks and we would build that up, just like you will to a practical number to allow for damage, forgotten netbooks etc. With our grade 5 students the most common problem seems to be screen damage to the netbook.

[Adrian Camm]

This is the one we went with Anne - more powerful than your typical netbook and has had good reviews. It will run the Windows 7 OS. We ended up getting a very, very good price on these machines so it was hard to pass up.
http://www.goodgearguide.com.au/review/notebooks/msi/wind_12_u200/3...

We are in the process of upgrading our wireless capabilities across the school, but have opted for a gradual rollout, with only year 7's receiving notebooks in 2010. If I had it my way, we would of gone whole school, but there were a number of issues to combat. Even having year 7's with notebooks however, is very significant in our region as we will be only 1 of 2 schools in the whole region implementing a 1:1 program.

It is interesting to note that we are well resourced, and our ratio of students to computers in 2010 will be very close to 1:1 anyhow.

I agree with you that as students get older the netbooks become less useful. Its a tough one.... In my opinion by the time the year 7's in 2010 get to the end of year 9 we will see the transition to every child having a mobile device similar to the iphone.

Is your school happy to connect students personal devices to the school network?

[Anne Mirtschin]

Hi Adrian Thanks for all this info. Are you able to message me with the actual price you paid. Personally I feel netbooks are fine for the primary students. I had one myself and loved it, but some in Hong Kong is enjoying it now as it was left on a bus. I am worse than the kids!!
There are quite a few schools in our region looking at going 1:1.
We have had issues this year with senior students and use of the internet. Movies were downloaded and great expense to our internet account!! So no students were allowed access with their laptops to the internet. I thought the students were connected to the school network, but I might have to double check that one.
Senior leadership is still taking a very conservative approach to all this, due to all the unknown and potential issues. One of our biggest ones will be our wireless internet structure (which desperately needs updating) and lack of technician time. How have you worked through those two issues? Is your school happy to connect students to the network What covers will you encourage your students to get? Our students nearly all catch a bus home, so their bags (and netbooks) will just be tossed in the bunkers of the bus.
.By the way, did you know there is a 1:1 ning setup by Helen Otway just recently, but the conversations here have been richer.

[Adrian Camm]

you left your netbook on the bus! ;-)
Yes, we are happy to connect students personal devices to the network. The notebook we are going with comes with a padded sleeve/case that fits nicely into their existing school bag or could be carried by itself. We have one (almost)full time technician, a trainee and two more staff have admin rights to help out with the workload. We have a very open policy with minimal filtering to encourage the use of ICT. If something needs unblocking we make it happen straight away, as it was identified that one of the major issues with staff trying out something new, was the reponse, 'it will probably be blocked, so whats the use?" We try to minimize the frustration and anxiety that staff have in order to make them more comfortable stepping outside their comfort zone.

Wireless infrastructure upgrades come at a fairly significant cost so it will be interesting to hear how your school proceeds. Ill email you some more details and will include the policy document. Ill check out the 1:1 ning too.

[Anne Mirtschin]

Adrian I how I wish that our school had a policy like yours. Our techies are often saying that they dont like to unblock sites as they are too open, but that is in stark contrast to yours and our experience that staff will not use ICT due to the high percentage of blocks due to our heavy filtering. So we do have frustrated and anxious staff. Have your students abused the situation at all.