Daily Archives: June 7, 2007

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I think that teacher laptops are fast becoming an integrated part of the work they do. I could not survive without my school laptop and was totally lost last year when it was in repairs for several weeks. I was always borrowing a spare and then becoming anti-social in the evenings as I disappeared into the family room to work on our 2002 vintage PC desktop. Prior to having a school laptop from midway through 2005, I relied heavily on my Pocket PC which is still going strong even if it is a bit battered and can go for weeks between synchronisations. I used to even read blogs on it because it is a 2003 model that didn't have wireless, but synching the offline feeds was quite time consuming and nearly defeated the purpose of saving time. I still write quite a bit on it, as the Transcribe mode for getting ideas and thoughts down is excellent, and I never use scrap bits of paper for phone numbers, serial numbers or brief messages to myself.

Having a laptop changed the importance of the Pocket PC and most of my serious school based work goes onto there. I am also pleased that my school has seen fit to roll out laptops to teachers here - it has made an enormous difference to the workflow and communication around the school. Everyone can be a presenter, everyone can word process, everyone can view a common site or have access to their e-mail and online notices without interruption. I think every school in South Australia should be like ours in this regard - but, it has never rated highly with the governments of the day. Victoria has led the way and every teacher has their own department funded laptop and now, I see Queensland is going down that path as well.

When will South Australian teachers get important technology tools like this as a default?

Image: 'iPAQ blogging' www.flickr.com/photos/48889065255@N01/176107
Image: 'calor' www.flickr.com/photos/49503016009@N01/18157148