Our laptop programme

Introduction to Island School 1-2-1 Laptop programme

Island School laptop website for staff and students

Robyn Treyvaud's - Digital Citizenship Resources - here

As students increasingly draw on digital literacy skills and technology to support and evidence their learning, so the nature of education changes. At Island School we are implementing our planned response to this dimension of education by extending our 1-2-1 laptop introduction to another cohort of Year 8 students beginning January 2010. These resources will help to inform and guide parents and students as they make a decision regarding laptop computers. See also

History and Rationale Throughout the academic year 2007-08 Island School explored various mobile devices as we sought to better understand the impact of technology on teaching and learning. Just prior to Easter 2008 a class set of Asus EEE machines were purchased. These were trialed with a form group of Year 7 students and the results of that test led us to the decision to extend our experience of a 1-2-1 situation to an entire year group from January 2009. January 2010 will be the next phase of this introduction.

Research shows that students working in an environment of 1-to-1 computing are more motivated, engaged with learning and capable of evidencing their understanding using multimedia.

Island School has given a lot of thought as to how it should progress with this complex decision, and the resources in this area should help parents to understand our thinking behind the decision to move forward in this way.

What Kind of Laptop Does my Child Need? This is an obvious question for parents to ask. Unfortunately the answer is, "It depends". Island School has decided to not advocate any one particular model of computer and instead to give parents the choice. Whilst we realise that some parents would like firm requirements, we feel that equally, others have already purchased laptops for their children and would not want to go to further expense. Accordingly we have generated a Critical Factors Affecting Choice Guide which would be a good place to start.

Island School Laptop Minimum Specifications

This document is a dynamic document subject to change without notice and reflects Island School’s minimum specification requirements for student laptops. The nature of this specification is such that we envisage it future-proofing the realistic lifespan of a laptop computer at a minimum of 3 years.

Document Date: March 2012

	Windows PC	Apple Mac
Operating System	Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate	Mac OS 10.5 or Above
Virus Protection	e.g. AGV available free at http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage	Sophos available at http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx
Processor Type	Core i5 or i7 Processor	Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or higher
Memory	4 GB RAM	4 GB RAM
Hard Drive	250-500 GB	250-500 GB
Graphics Card Display	256 MB Video Memory or higher 10” diagonal (minimum) 1280 x 800 Resolution or better	NVIDIA GeForce 320M or higher 10” diagonal (minimum) 1280 x 800 Resolution or better
Connectivity	10/100/1000 Ethernet WIFI 802.11b/g/n compliant	10/100/1000 Ethernet WIFI 802.11b/g/n compliant
Warranty	3 year parts and labour	3 year parts and labour Applecare
Installed Software	Microsoft Office 2007/2010 OR Open Office freely available at http://www.openoffice.org/download/ Chrome or Firefox Web browser	Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 OR Open Office for Mac freely available at http://www.openoffice.org/porting/mac/ Chrome or Firefox Web browser
Windows Emulation Software	N/A	If Mac users want to run a Windows OS in addition to Mac then we recommend the following to allow easy switching between the two Operating Systems. Parallels Desktop for Mac (www.parallels.com) or VMware Fusion (www.vmware.com)

Other Recommendations

- Built-in webcam
- MacBook - mini-DisplayPort VGA adaptor for presentations.
- Use a backup program like Windows Backup or Mac OS Time Machine with an external hard drive (External USB 2.0 or Firewire 400/800 hard drive) to ensure file recovery in the event of a system malfunction.
- Web applications occasionally do not work well with all browsers. Individuals are encouraged to install at least one alternative browser (either Chrome or FireFox) in addition to the default browsers provided with the operating system for those situations.
- Netbooks and tablet computing devices do not have the computing power of a normal notebook, for this reason they are not recommended.
- Consider adding security hardware, such as a security cable.

Note on Mac: If deciding on purchasing a Mac, please contact your teacher first. ICT, Mathematics & Science classes may require use of Windows only software. For example, some ICT classes may require you to use MS Access, which is only available in the Office suite for Windows. If you purchase a Mac you will have to install Parallels (www.parallels.com) or VMware Fusion as well as the Windows operating system & Office 2007 suite in order to load this software.

For questions concerning hardware and software minimum specifications, please contact:
ICT Teacher or HelpDesk.

Island School Laptop Purchase Programme

Please click here for the Apple Laptop order form.

Please click here for the Apple iPad order form

Please click here for the Laptop Computer All Risks Insurance Plan Enrolment Form.

Please click here or the Laptop Computer All Risks Insurance Plan Factsheet.

Please click here for Island School HP student laptop order form.