Software For Education - Any School Admins?

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rosco

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I am working with a small private high school. They just received $45,000 to put towards technology at the school etc.

Currently, it's a typical Windows network with about 75 workstations running XP Pro and two Windows servers. They currently use the internet for research etc, MS Office, and several other software packages like Adobe Creative suite, etc. Pretty much the standard stuff I would say.

I'm wondering if any of you are network admins at a high school and have experience with a certain software package, hardware (such as tablets etc) etc that you have implemented that really made a big impact on using technology to learn at your school.

Additionally, do you know of any forums like these that are more for folks that support school networks and discuss the use of technology for educating kids etc?

Thanks.
 
www.edugeek.net

What grade level are you buying for. What subject matter? I will nee specifics before I can recommend anything. Must the software be web based, or client server? Are you looking for math, science, reading, typing, ESL, etc.
 
This is for a highschool so grades 9 through 12.

We are trying to get an idea of what would be a good next step. Right now, like I said, we're real basic. The students have access to shared desktops and each have their own login to save to their spot on the server.

Also, I forgot to mention that almost all of the teachers also have smartboards. So, that was one step beyond the basics that we have taken.

I'm not necessarily looking for software for a specific subject etc. Just looking for recommendations on things that have greatly benefited other schools.

The smartboards are an example of the kind of teaching tool that someone recommended we implement several years ago.
 
1 - Data Projectors. Mount them on the ceiling and connect to the teachers station. Completely redefine the classroom.
2 - Document Camera - Coupled with a projector, further allow a dynamic presentation.
3 - Interactive tablets such as eInstruction Mobi.

All teachers like projectors and document camera's. I've noticed that many, but not all, will embrace Mobi type technology as well.
 
This is too loose of a question. Where is the school lacking technically? For example, would implementing a wifi school network benefit the faculty? If you chose a software package of product "XYZ", who would be responsible for defining the curriculum and teaching it? Would doing a wholesale replacement of existing multi-purpose equipment alleviate the pains of piece-mealed upgrades over the past several years/decades?

I think the first step is to decide whether this would be something brand new or support/enhance existing infrastructure and curriculum. Depending on your decision, $45 K may only contribute part of the budget needs for the bigger picture.
 
@bigdogchris
If the classrooms already have smartboards then they already have projectors.
Document cameras are viable.
If you have already standardized on SMART go with the AirSlate tablets. They integrate nicely with the SMART Tools software.

@Rosco
Again, WHAT GRADES? You can't just say highschool. You need to have a plan in place.
You are approaching this all wrong. What does your technology plan say? Is this money going towards infrastructure, 21st century classroom, or software?

You need to sit down with your school administration and look at your technology plan (which you should have already) and see what your goals are and then use the money to further the plan.

It doesn't sound like you have thought things through and you should certainly not be approaching this with "we have money, what should we spend it on" it should approached as
"we have X need (which should be addressed in your tech plan) and we will use Y money to purchase it"

If you want infrastructure look at the following.
VoIP phones
Wireless Network upgrades
Video over IP distribution (ala united streaming or discovery) (i like vbrick or safari montage)

If you want 21st century classroom items look at the following
Document cameras (I like lumens personally)
SMART AirSlates
Audio enhancement (I like Frontrow Lasso)
Laptops for teachers

If you want software you need to do the following
I can't help you much as my district is K-8 so I'm not super familiar with edu software for highschool.
 
Part of the issue we have is that the majority of our tech plan focuses on expanding technology classes which we cannot do until we are able to hire another teacher to teach the classes. We're already spread pretty thin.

So, we are looking at ways to enhance the current use of technology in the classroom similar to what the smartboards did for us. They enhance every class, every subject in one way or another.

We just want to make sure there isn't some other technology out there like that we are missing. Or software that really improves the way students collaborate on projects etc.

Otherwise, we might just use this as an opportunity to buy a bunch of new desktop computers for the teachers or new lab computers.

Do you guys have experience with using tablets for the teachers? I've seen them used with docking stations for in the classroom then they can be removed for taking home with them etc.
 
Tablets are not ready for prime time. Do not fall for the hype of iPad's for teachers. They are not powerful enough to run a classroom.
Also, why are you still buying desktops? I can understand for a lab, but stop buying desktops for teachers. You need to be moving towards mobile. Laptops are an amazing investment for teachers. But if you buy laptops for all your teachers you need to also setup the infrastructure to allow them to work from home. A la, roaming profiles, VPN connectivity, drive mapping for their my documents, etc.

We are currently experimenting with Win7 based tablets but even those are pretty dinky when compared to a full blown laptops. We have decided we are going to wait at least another 2 years before we start trying to implement a tablet initiative. Right now they are all still atom based which can't even run flash very well. And teachers love youtube so flash is a must.

Since you have smartboards you should already be developing the SMART software with your teachers. The software is a great teaching tool. AirSlates are a great extension of smartboards and offer a tablet like experience but they are super cheap (only about $300 per unit) so you can afford to get them for every teacher.

It sounds like what you are wanting most is something to move you closer to the 21st century classroom model and see my above suggestions for equipment that you can use to further that goal.
 
-cry0n - Thanks for the reply. That is valuable information.

What are your thoughts on leasing compared to purchasing for a school environment? We have only purchased in the past.

The trouble we run into is that we end up buying new computers in very small numbers (5 to 10 at a time) due to the upfront cost. We tend to keep them for more than 3 years, probably more like 5 to 6.

We just can't find the money to budget for $13,000 per year to buy even 25 new computers. That's why I'm wondering if using this big chunk of money to buy a bigger number of new computers make sense.

It just seems like it could also be used in more creative ways the really move things forward.

Can you give me an example of how the AirSlates are used in the classroom? I assume it would be something like letting a student use a tablet to show the class on the smartboard how they solved a problem etc?
 
Also, what do you think about putting in wireless in every classroom and letting students bring in their own laptops if they want?

I've heard about a couple schools that do this but don't have any direct contact with them to ask the specifics. The idea is a lot of kids already have a laptop at home and this way, they could use it at school which they probably like. Plus, it could reduce the amount of computers the school needs to provide.
 
RE Student Laptops
Allowing students to bring in their own equipment has a lot of factors.
1) How affluent are is your student population? Are you in a high risk area. What is your student home internet access percentage?
2) How big is your staff to support such an initiative? Will you be troubleshooting issues on student machines? How will those machines access internal school resources. How will you handle virus/malware. How will you handle productivity applications and associated licensing if students do not have Word, Excel, etc
3) What is your insurance policy in relation to non district equipment being damaged and/or stolen on district property. Will you have students and parents waive liability?
Allowing students to bring in their own equipment is a huge deal and one that should be well planned.
Personally we are a Title 1 district in the innercity so we have a very low home internet access percentage and even lower percentage of students that even have computers at home. We got a federal grant to buy laptops for our students (we went with netbooks) and we now have about 1,100 netbooks that have been added to my inventory in the past 18 months.

RE Airslates
Our Airslate implementation has been mostly for the teachers use. If they hand them to students that is certainly one application for them, however we notice that teachers mostly prefer to develop lessons using the SMART software then enjoy the freedom to walk up and down the aisles while lecturing and still being able to move the lesson along on the smartboard. They can draw and circle items on the screen from anywhere in the room.

RE Leasing
Leasing is certainly an option however you must coordinate with the business department to make sure you have the monies to sustain multi-year lease contracts. $1 buyout options are usually the best. If you have bond money you can also setup multi-year leases for 5 or 7 years with upgrade cycles every 2 or 3 years respectively. This way you get 2 upgrades during your lease period.
If you want to buy NEVER buy new. Buying new is a waste of district money. Always buy refurb. We use a great vendor based in Cali called School Tech Supply (dell and some HP, but mostly dell)
www.schooltechsupply.com
I believe the guys name is Marc.
Anywho, they offer lifetime warranty if you buy their refurbs and they have the newest models available that are on dells website usually. So you can get a Latitude e5420 (i believe the newest right now) for refurb pricing.. AND get a lifetime warranty which if you bought new from dell you are 1) paying more money for it and 2) will only get a 1 or 3 year warranty.
 
Thanks once again for all your input.

I did contact School Tech Supply but their pricing wasn't quite as good as I hoped. I just purchased a few HP Probooks that are brand new, current edition of proc etc for $450 each.

So, for a refurb D630 to come in at $380 or so with lower specs and older gen hardware was sort of disappointing. The HPs we wipe clean and put our own copy of Windows 7 so we probably save SOME money there but not that much with MS pricing.

So, to meet our budget we had them quote out some Acer netbooks but those are 10" screens, with lower specs so I'm not sure what to do there.

Our administration did like the idea of those airslates. We're probably going to get 3 or 4 to test them out.
 
I dont know what state you are in but for the SMART equipment I prefer to go with a vendor called Troxell. CCS I am not a fan of so if they are in your state avoid them.

You get what you pay for I guess. If you want a laptop for only $400 your choices are limited to either rinky dink new hardware (atom based acers or something) or much older Dells and HP's.
We buy strictly latitude e series right now because we plan on having them for at least 5 or 6 years. My administration sees the value in spending a little bit more now to get a decent machine so it will take longer to become slow and overloaded.
We also upgrade our latitudes to 4GB of ram in preparation of Windows 7 and Windows 8 / beyond.
 
The HP Probook I am talking about for $450 is a nice machine. Current gen hardware including Intel corei3, 4GB RAM, Etc.

So, for a refurb Dell that is a couple generations old to only be $70 less just doesn't seem to make sense.
 
rosco said:
The HP Probook I am talking about for $450 is a nice machine. Current gen hardware including Intel corei3, 4GB RAM, Etc.

So, for a refurb Dell that is a couple generations old to only be $70 less just doesn't seem to make sense.
Click to expand...
HP sucks when it comes to anything after sales. Especially on their laptops and desktops. The server stuff I don't have too many issues with because honestly my HP servers never break.

However without typing out 20 pages of hell we have gone through I'll sum up and say that my team and I burn through about 10-15 laptops PER WEEK in warranty claims (we are a large district and our kids sometimes are rough with the machines) and we have had nothing but problems with HP and their warranty and their support.
So many problems in fact we are abandoning their product line completely. They know it too and won't do anything to change our mind because they know they can't provide the type of service we want.
We have gone through 3 different account reps in the last 10 months, and we have spoken with countless supervisors and managers at all levels of HP.
Bottom line is they suck.
 
We've got two of those so far and they have worked well.

What brand are you switching to?
 
HP is not bad if you go through a consulting firm. They take care of all the BS.

I've noticed though that any HP notebook sold in the past 4-5 years has had shit luck with batteries. I've had entire 30 laptop labs fail within a few weeks of each other. Actually 3 or 4 labs of HP laptops, all the batteries failed within a month or so of each other. Tell me that's not designed obsolescence.
 
rosco said:
We've got two of those so far and they have worked well.

What brand are you switching to?
Click to expand...
2? :D Talk to me when you have 2,000.

We are evaluating a few other vendors but are leaning towards Dell. We already have about 700-900 dell machines in our network and we dont have near as many problems with them or their support people than we do with HP.

(And we've done both, handle things directly though HP and also through a 3rd party vendor and while the vendors support is great... they run into the same supply chain and customer service problems that we did)
 
I'll agree with using a consulting firm lessens the craptastic support from HP but only to some extent. We have to provide every little detail about every items before our middle man will do a warranty to HP because they get crap from HP all the time. We have ~11,000 machines in our district and in general have been fine with HP but I'd look at Dell too.

And I agree with everything cyr0n has said. BYOD requires a ton of planning and can really increase your need for staff which ends up costing a whole lot more down the road. We only have a few airslates that I know of (in the middle of a bond project to install smartboards in all our classrooms) and have heard good things about them. And we have done a mixture of leasing larger items (SAN and servers for virtualization, etc) and straight purchasing.

From everything I've read I would say using the money you have for laptops for all your teachers would be a good start. We don't have the funds for that yet but I know that's something that really increases teacher satisfaction with technology and also increases their expertise in using technology which translates to the classroom. It helps with both the quality of the education but also with job satisfaction.
 
Stuff to think about:

* Student response pods. It's more or less proven that taking a test improves recognition, retention and time to re-learn, even if you don't know or don't care that you are going to be tested. This makes it a lot easier to give tests. Students haven't yet figured out that the dongles have nothing to do with "self expression" (they're just another way we force them to learn), so compliance is not usually an issue, or at least less of an issue than traditional forms of directed-practice.

* Standards-aligned testing / metrics / skinner box suite. May not help them after they graduate/drop out, but taking the test over and over is more or less guaranteed to improve performance on the test. Probably helps w/parental involvement as well - there's a nice "shock value" to seeing in black and white that there is a 78.2% chance your kid is going to fail the test and get left behind. Unfortunately, the skinner box stuff does not seem to work all that well yet. Not sure whether it's just poor implementation or teens' uncanny ability to figure out what you want and do the opposite.

* Is your current SiS/parental reporting good enough? There WILL be administrative AND teacher resistance to any changes, so a D- here passes.

* If you are planning to expand technology instruction, is it possible to grab a 3D printer and offer a design class? There is still a significant "wow factor" associated with 3D printing/CNC.

* Does "technology" include science? If so, lab equipment for molecular biology is getting surprisingly cheap. Your science teachers may already have some ideas in this area. Parents will see value added in the opportunity to engineer custom organisms.

* Tablet PCs, if properly managed, can greatly reduce the cognitive burden of note-taking. They offer handwriting recognition, fairly seamless integration & automatic OCR / transcription of external images and media, near-instant search, and give teachers the ability to instantly "push". Classroom management software and teacher training would be a requirement, though. Low ROI.
 
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