Putting computers in the homes of students-Input requested

[Barb Smalla]

Hi,
With our Bond computer update cycle, we will be pulling equipment from circulation that is still usable. We would like to implement a process for putting these computers in the homes of our students who need them. Any suggestions? Is anyone currently doing this? Success stories, or nightmares welcome.
Thanks.
Barb

[Ben Rimes]

I personally don't have any experience with students taking their laptops home. While I did teach in a 1 to 1 laptop environment, the computers stayed strictly at school.

Tom Woodward, an amazing educator in Virginia (and a member of the site), used to work in an entire middle school of laptops, and might be able to provide you with some insight and stories for you.

[Chris Eldred]

I live and work in a community that is relatively well off except for a minority that don't have computers. I struggle with this because I am advancing online learning in my program. I have thought about using old systems from school that would work in the homes of these students that don't have one. Here are some considerations that I have thought about. First, the operating system, will these machines come with Windows? Probably not legally, you might want to go with a Linux distribution like Ubuntu. But there is another problem, how will you teach them how to use the computers, you'll need to figure that out. How will you support the systems? Will you rent them out, sell them? Where will these users go for service? What about internet access. Will dial-up be adequate? Do the computers in question have a modem?

[Tom Woodward]

Our deal was slightly different in that the laptops students took home were still top of the line (relatively) and were the same ones we used in school. So it wasn't so much surplus as part of the whole 1 to 1 concept. One of the goals was to eliminate the digital divide between students from different economic levels.

ONE time we did try to sell off old iBooks for $50 a piece with no warranty. You may have seen it in the national news, people wetting themselves in line, flying in from England, and the inevitable stampede. Culminating with t-shirts for sale online.

That was never repeated.

So tip number one- if you're selling them think long and hard about who might want them and what a reasonable price to pay would be. If your deal is too good it seems bad things will happen.

My general advice from the my experience with the one to one would be to think about pairing the donation/sale with some training (or training material). "Free" computers might be a great way to reach out to parents who don't come into schools. Talk to them about safety, digital literacy, show them how to use the computers etc. On the other side you don't want to become tech support for these computers when there are issues.

I believe you do have to worry that if the kids get computers and the parents are clueless. That's asking for trouble. YOU will be blamed for any and all bad things that happen with the computer in that case. After all, you gave the kids the computer. "I had no idea there was porn on the Internet. What was the school thinking giving my child this loaded gun?"

Now in terms of licenses and other legal mumbo jumbo you might also have to worry. I'm not a lawyer but I was raised by one so . . . I'm imagining the machines are windows based. You might be under some restrictions regarding non-educational dispersal b/c you probably bought them under an ed license. If so windows 98 maybe the newest OS you can give away to people or maybe you can't give them any Windows OS. I don't know. Then you have to also look at the individual software packages on the machine and make sure none of that will get you in trouble.

In a worse case scenario, I'd reimage with edubuntu or some other free linux flavor. That way people would still get decent programs and a usable computer.

I think it's a great idea and the right thing to do. i applaud you for doing it and so I'm probably being overly cautious to make sure you don't end up suffering for it.

Good luck and I'd love to hear how it goes.

[Barb Smalla]

First of all...thanks for the LOL...WOW! And, of course the words of wisdom; we will take this experience into consideration. This process will most likely take several months, but I'll keep all of you posted.

[Kevin J. Galbraith]

I've always admired the Dell TechKnow program (sorry, no link...)

But when I looked at it, Dell said my district of 14,000 students was too small for them to get involved with! You might check the program out and see if you can do something similar on your own.