by Ken Royal
Don’t confuse consumer-computing needs with school-computing needs.
The consumer take on Netbooks can be different than the educator’s take on them. Consumers may like the pricing at about $300-$400, but criticize the small keyboard, screen, no modular drives, and lack of computing power—seeing them as a vehicle for nothing more than e-mail and getting to the Internet. Furthermore, consumers looking for light, think twice about upgrading to a more powerful battery—for extended use. But some of these criticisms make netbooks perfect for schools.
Why netbooks for schools?
The prices of netbooks make them very appealing. There are plenty of choices, so making deals can happen—that $300 price tag for consumers, doesn’t necessarily have to be the one for education, especially when quantity is part of the bargaining. Smaller keyboards are fine for smaller hands, and today’s 10-inch screens work just fine—not like the smaller ones we used years ago. Most netbooks come with some sort of word processing software—but what will make these more price-perfect is their Internet ability. That Web access allows for all sorts of Web 2.0 capabilities—possibly
Google Education applications to start, but certainly Cloud Desktops will be the goal. Battery upgrades, with a little added weight aren’t concerns, and batteries that last a school day, and tilt the keyboard toward the user a little are good things.
Recommendations:
As with anything, there are poor, adequate, good, and best choices, depending on district needs. Testing a few, side-by-side, in a sort of “hardware shootout” is a good plan. And just don’t test them using tech personnel, educators, and other adults—make sure plenty of smaller hands get on them, too. At the end of the day, while you may not choose the netbook kids liked best, you need to know what they think, after all, they will be using them. Get plenty of little hand smudges on them. And, if you can pilot a netbook project, with company support, it might be worthwhile as well. Better to discover problems before a district-wide launch.
Considerations:
Always check what kind of support you’ll get from the netbook company. Many of these companies are used to and great with consumers, but don’t quite understand education needs and use. Many netbooks come with plenty of USB input, onboard digital Web cams, 160GB hard drives, and 1GB memory standard. Checking to see if you can upgrade memory on your netbook choice is a good plan, because with some netbooks you can’t. Not having a modular, or DVD drive is fine, and in many schools using regular notebooks, they are removed anyway. 160GB hard drives are more than enough, because with netbooks, you should be thinking online student and teacher desktops anyway. If you’re not, it’s time to recalibrate your school computing concept and plans.
Bottom line: Netbooks are better suited to student consumers and education needs. Search the many Netbook choices to see which best suit your education computing needs.
Comments