Cheap, tough notebooks could transform schools
The school is one of four in New Zealand trialling small, rugged classmatePCs made by Intel.
The computers have been compared to the Asus Eee PC %26ndash; which went on sale at Dick Smith outlets last year priced at $599. They were inspired by the $100 laptops developed by the non-profit group OLPC for use in the third world.
Ms Stuart says the classmatePCs are great for wordprocessing and online work, though they wont replace the need for some conventional computers.
The obvious advantages are price, size, weight, portability and robustness. They also have a wow factor with kids.
The school is trying out machines with 30 gigabyte disc drives, rather than relying on other versions with smaller but more robust 4 gigabyte flash memory drives.
None have been damaged so far and the trial has shown children quickly adapt to the smaller keyboard, she says.
Richard Morgan, managing director of Cyclone Computers, which distributes classmatePCs in New Zealand, says they are available only to schools, priced at about $600. He is hoping for a significant price cut this week and says the computers may be sold in shops by the middle of the year.
In a speech to the International Confederation of Principals conference in Auckland last year, Ms Stuart called for school leaders to transform their role to that of a learning coach.
We need to work out how we can safely and powerfully use Web 2.0 technologies to educate our students for their future, she says.
Ideally, the school would have one laptop for every three pupils. That was not possible under current funding arrangements but, as prices dropped, more parents would buy them for their children. The challenge for schools is how are they going to respond when students begin to arrive at school with laptops?
Dick Smith senior buyer Nick Lapwood says the retailer has struggled to meet demand for the Asus Eee PC, which has frequently been out of stock. It hopes to sell a version with 8 gigabytes of flash memory by May.
