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From the Coal Face - hands on those laptops

This week’s input to From the Coal Face comes from Ruth Buchanan, Teacher Librarian at Colo High School, New South Wales.

I’ve met Ruth “virtually” through the OZTL listserv, a great email distribution list that supports teacher librarians throughout Australia.

Ruth writes
We distributed our federally-funded, state-administered Year 9 laptops last week. Arising from a discussion with a colleague, I put together a one page guide to seven simple things to try in week 1, for all our Year 9 teachers.

Ruth has described the first two days with laptops on her blog Skerricks

  • Oh Brave New World: laptops Day One: It was announced on assembly on Thursday last week that the Year 9 laptops would be distributed on Friday. These are the netbooks being issued as part of the Digital Education Revolution, a federally funded program. I thought I’d document here what day one was like; this is such a change we’re ushering in…
  • Laptops day Two (+ 7 things to try): Day two: not as frenetic as day 1, thanks be to all the gods and little fishes. In the library, we were busy, but not overwhelmed with laptoppers during breaks. As there are 60 wireless access points in the library, and some of these may be accessible/within range from outside the library, it’s not always possible to tell if an internet connection fails because the 60 spots are gone, or if it’s a computer problem….
  • While different systems have selected different laptop/hardware configurations, Ruth’s 7 things to try is general enough to be widely relevant. If you’d like a copy, the Google Docs link can be found in her Day Two post.

    If you would like to showcase what is happening with ICT in your school, then check what From the Coal Face is all about and email me with a short article and perhaps a photo or two.

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