For all of those schools looking at 1-2-1 solutions then this Teacher TV video is essential viewing. With our IT Manager and Governor, I went to visit Arnewood School this earlier year and must say I believe the video further contributed to my support for this approach.
‘see how the scepticism amongst parents disappears as the students enjoy using the laptops, demonstrating an increase in creativity and enhanced thinking skills. Further gains also seem to derive from home learning, by bringing the school and family closer together in a new kind of learning partnership.’
This week I met with our Headteacher to finalise the business model for managing the project. We are working on a 2 year model for Yrs 7 and 8, at a lower TTP (250) to be paid to over 24 payments, followed by a slight more powerful / expensive unit (350) for years 9, 10 and 11 to be paid over 3 years (32 Months period). As the proportion of netbooks within school increases so the need for bespoke rooming descreases. A quick look at the numbers is essential.
Hardware for a room is approximately 450×31 = plus, plus the infrastructure to support them, disposal, IT Network manager, technicians salary. Many of the additional costs also apply to a 1-2-1 solution so lets accept an approximation cost of £15,000.
We have 8 rooms in total, plus 4 IT learning areas of approximately 4-7 PCs (art, library, history and Learning Support). We refurbish at least two rooms per year, in some cases three. A total cost of between £30,000 – £45,000 per year. (£37,500)
The cost of 200 netbooks at £300 (Unit, Licences (£27), Insurance and Cover) £60,000.
If the school were to reinvest £37,500 a year into netbooks books and ask parents to pay the remaining costs, parents would be expected to make a contribution of less than £5 a month and the parents could retain the product at the end of the cycle. In years 9, 10, 11 this figure nonly rises to £6 as despite the increased unit cost, the payment period has increases by 8 months. These costs will of course fall as the market develops. We are now waiting to review Toshiba NB200 announced on April 22nd and compare it to the Samsung NC10/NC20. The debate now, will be on bettery life, with a full days battery costing a further £30-40.
Specs for NB200
• 10.1” widescreen LED backlight display (1024×600)
• Near full size tiled keyboard
• Up to 9 hours battery life
• Integrated mobile broadband and embedded wireless LAN
• Extra large touchpad
• 3D-accelerometer monitoring system
• Weighs from 1.1Kgs