Where's the beef? Brian.. out of all of the computers listed for ELC to Grade 5 above, are the changes listed in RED due to be 'additions' to the inventory.. I presume not being as they are listed as iBooks. So, where are the plans for depreciation/replacement of our old inventory? I'm sure I'm missing something! We couldn't possibly NOT be refreshing our current stock/supply of classroom computers as they get old could we? AND - we really need about 20 functioning lap tops per Grade level to make use of whole class teaching from time to time - not 15 to 18.

Yes, you are correct elementary would continue to keep their iBooks. Currently we are replacing about 40 plus or minus computers a year.

Replacement policy is about mid way through this page:

Replacement Cycle Policy
All Computers are replaced as they break through wear and tear. Stolen computers are replaced with a police report. Replacement computers are ordered one month into the new Academic year.

Faculty Laptop Ownership

Like the idea Brian... I wonder where you got it!! Can you OK this idea before the Summer break? Or get it not OKed..... At least we'd know where the proposal stands.

It's not Okayed but at least it's in writing, I think it'll lead to a good discussion and hopefully into a policy.

out of the 100 or so computers in the Elementary grades then Brian - how many are scheduled for replacement per year... or is it only when they 'break'!! If it's only when they break, sods law and the law of averages says that they're all going to start breaking from around year 5 on... they get serious wear and tear with the little ones. And where are we now in that time frame? IF we don't drip feed new computers/models in year on year, we're going to be looking at an awfully bad year or 2 a wee way down the road. Are we serious about IT here - if we are, we're going to have to feed the beast one way or another. James Mac I believe with yourself has had ideas based around an IT fee..... any news on that? Thoughts?

All true, and our oldest computer are almost 8 years old. Even with this approach you'll noticed the budget is already over by 8 million yen. Where do we cut? What should we not be purchasing?

This shows ten computers for science on the 4th floor and 20 on the third floor. There are fewer than this due to old age. Will these trolleys be refilled?

Yes, these carts will be refilled but we won't be doing the replacement orders until September 2009. That means the carts will be close to empty at the beginning of the year, with the expectation of having them filled by October 2009.

I am amazed at the cost of the web site! We pay a lot for a web site that is so slow and lacking in storage space. Are we getting good value from it? There are much cheaper/faster/easier alternatives to the current class pages (e.g. google pages or pbwiki). Also the web site calendar is MUCH inferior to that on first class. I can think of a few ways to better spend 1.5million...

I'd agree with you with on Portal it is slow and is limited in it's feature, but the main site does what's it's designed to do and that is making it easy for people (non-geeks) to maintain it. On the portal front we are looking at alternatives, currently we're beta testing the use of Wordpress MU. You'll see a link to it on the side titled "The Learning Hub" go ahead and explore it, on it are many Web 2.0 projects and Middle School students Digital Portfolios.

@Julian - I agree. We don't have a good enough 'exit strategy' for our current iBook stock. It's definitely something we need to consider, but at this point, without good numbers to run on, this is the best we can do. We should probably talk more loudly on the 'exit strategy' issue though, since our Aruba Lease and 5 year cycle patterns will be very close to each other.

PART ONE

Good morning fellas/fellasses (Brian, James, Frank, Genki, Christine and whoever reads these things)

Please excuse me but I'll have to add the following problem/issue/request in 2 parts - as there's a word limit on these comment boxes that I can't stay within in one go. So a problem part and then a proposal part.

This request comes about as the MacBook laptop computer given to me for work here at YIS is approaching its 3-year birthday and is showing the wear and tear. I've replaced (added) memory at my expense and generally looked after the thing. However, I'd like to change it when Snow Leopard comes out (soon) to keep up to date, keep learning and updating my IT skills.

The computers used to be:

Replaced every 3 years (was good)
Changed to being replaced every 5 years (not so great)....

but heh, shoganai, what with the financial situation being tight…But if we really do have a budget and IT plan in place, the monies should already be allocated somewhere on paper - shouldn't they?

So… next for the PROPOSALS.. please read on
Julian

PART TWO

I would like to make the following proposal(s) regarding the comment box above (please see PART ONE)

1. You allow teachers to use 1 year out of every say 3 years PD allowance for IT hardware - yes it does lead to personal PD - and if a new computer is bought, that becomes a budget neutral decision.

2. Indeed you could insist that teachers buy their own computer with PD money every say 5 years with an IT allowance - no other computers will be supplied by the school - that would put the cart before the horse, take away the responsibility from the school for providing a teacher computer and put the responsibility for choice of (as long as its compatible) and maintenance of the computer to the teachers. Budget neutral.

3. If necessary, and if you are now depreciating the computers over 5 years instead of 3, let teachers like myself who want to upgrade/change/renew their computer pay the percentage of the cost of a new computer that's still left on the time frame i.e. for me - I've had it 3 years so I would need to pay 2/5 (40%) and the school 3/5 if I were to buy a new computer this summer. Then my 5 years starts ticking again from this summer. Again, budget neutral.

Could YIS authorise and agree to at least one of these teacher friendly/YIS budget neutral ideas before the 2009 summer begins please? I like to use the summers productively to update my skills, practice and get ready for the new school year.

Brian I believe wants (as do I) to swing this responsibility for a primarily school based laptop computer for teachers - to teachers. Maybe one of the ideas above could lead us that way. What do you think? I look forward to hearing a response from Mr. MacDonald, the Administration and of course Brian and the IT folks (folkesses).

Onegai shimasu,
Julian

Congratulations to Brian, James, Frank, Genki, and Christine for bringing this level of transparency to the IT department. I am inspired by the open discussions possible through this approach and hope that it continues to improve not only your infrastructure, but the educational environment in your school. Truly a great way to lead by example.

I do have one concern. I've always thought that in a country like Japan where service labour, parts and repairs as well as engineer's salaries are reasonably high in comparison to hardware refresh costs and software upgrades that it is often better to make quick decisions and spend money on the best tools rather than spend a lot of engineer time fixing, troubleshooting, evaluating, etc. If other schools of varying size and expectations are to use this as a guideline when doing their planning, I hope they are able to find an appropriate mix of stretching hardware/software refresh cycles and engineer time. I also hope they are able to understand that there is an economy of scale involved with any infrastructure and that say a school 1/4 the size would likely need more than 1/4 of the budget to deliver a comparable environment.

All in all, very refreshing to see the open discussion and looking forward to seeing other schools follow the example.

thanks, Jason

A few things:
The science cart on the third floor has 17 computers, not 20.
What is the plan for the computers marked ?? - are these nearing obsolete?
How many computers have been stolen this year? Is this an improvement on previous years?
What does 'Inventory taken on by teachers' mean?

Hi Simon,

The Science Cart began with 20 laptops, that's why it says 20. The recommendation is to fill out the Cart again with 20 MacBooks at the start of the new Academic Year.

The plan for the computers marked with question marks is TBD. Perhaps you could bring it to everyone's attention at the meeting.

We've had 4 Teacher MacBooks stolen & video adapters go missing from classrooms, but no Student Laptops go missing from the 3 Carts, the 2 in Math, the 4 in Social Studies, and the 27 in HKC. From what information that has been relayed to me from Elementary, there are no missing laptops from the Elementary as well.

But we've had 27 broken computers: 15 iBooks, 1 Student MacBook, 7 Teacher MacBooks, 2 Teacher PowerBooks, 2 eMacs.

Thanks for noticing the inventory phrase. I've reworded the inventory phrase to: "Inventory checks responsibility will be shared between Inventory Staff and teachers." I've been spending 70% of my time this year doing inventory and couldn't focus on supporting teachers while they plan units using technology, in the classroom using technology, or providing professional development to teachers. Just asking for help!

IT people... howdy... just listened to your laughter filled discussion on the proposed faculty ownership of laptops!!
Audio recording discussing Faculty ownership.mov
I couldn't work out at the end of it though if there was going to be any movement on the proposal or not. What IS the plan for renewing laptops then? You currently give a new laptop to new teachers and then? Would you be able to make clear the options to existing staff with aging laptops? Will there be an IT "allowance" or not? Will be able to spend PD money on IT resources or not? Is the renewal cycle for a laptop going to be set at 5 years, 3 years or ??????? I hope we can start the new 2009-10 academic year clear on these issues. Thank you, Julian

Christine, I do not believe you have spent 70% of your time on inventory. 70% is a very specific figure, and I don't recall seeing you around the carts that often. How did you arrive at this figure? You have a time sheet I presume? Interestingly, this was the very inventory system that YOU devised and imposed upon us. Furthermore, if inventory is a waste of your time, why is it not a waste of ours? If you wish to add something to the teacher's job description, you might want to run it by the curriculum coordinators, principals, headmaster, and board.