Comments on: Netbooks in Schools – Survey results and reflections

By: C Brown

C Brown — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:23:49 +0000

thank you for this information! I’m writing a persuasive essay on this subject and am very happy to find this!
Thanks again!

By: Leslie Thompson

Leslie Thompson — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 09:58:32 +0000

Your comments and survey are helpful as our school debates whether to replace the towers in our elementary lab with netbooks.

By: Tami Brass

Tami Brass — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:18:21 +0000

Hold off until the Classmate “Convertible” is available. The more I research about netbooks, the more I like this machine: http://www.classmatepc.com/
I should have one to test in a week or so. We’re seriously considering them for our middle school students. The traditional Classmate is also a solid machine. Both are “semi-ruggedized” for kids. I’ll be testing a machine with a traditional hard drive (less expensive, more storage) rather than SSD (more expensive, more durable) and posting results here ASAP.

By: Danielle Abernethy

Danielle Abernethy — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:43:00 +0000

WOW! Even with 13 responses, the data that you have is quite interesting.
The students in my old district were so excited about the laptop carts and were eager to follow the rules. I usually went in and did a 15 minute rule session, made sure they knew how to carry them, and promised them that I could find out who was on task with Internet Research and who wasn’t. In two years we may have had one laptop (out of 320) that got damaged and one that was stolen. The labs in our district were mainly used for the drill and skill type programs and therefore students were thirsting for interaction that they were familiar and comfortable with on the computer. PowerPoints, Digital Storytelling, Geometer’s Sketchpad, fun spreadsheets, and Internet Research were their favorite things to do.
On a personal note, I am currently debating whether to get my son a laptop. At age 10, he enjoys Internet games and educational funstops and we are usually in competetion for the laptop. You’ve given me some great food for thought as to what type of machine to buy.

By: Sharon Betts

Sharon Betts — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:39:26 +0000

Thank you for this survey and the links. We are in the process of Netbook discussion/selection.