Technology at TAS

Information Technology and Laptop Policy

Section 1 - Learning and Technology at TAS

TAS is committed to recognizing, retaining and celebrating the best of our traditions whilst ensuring our students have access to the best available educational tools. Information technology been central to this since 1993 when TAS was the first school to be connected to the internet for student use through the Australian Academic Research Network. Since then, we have continued to seek to provide learning environments that will engage our students and give them independence and flexibility in their learning.

We believe that students at TAS should be able to learn in teams, collaboratively, as a class, a whole community or alone. They should be able to share learning experiences with their classmates, but also with their wider intellectual, physical, creative, emotional and spiritual peers, regardless of age.

Learning experiences at TAS will occur with class teachers, but they should also be supported by other experts and students from other schools and even other countries. Learning will occur within subject disciplines, but it should also span subject disciplines in real and rich tasks, both with teacher direction or support, and totally independently.

Students should not have to wait until their senior years to experience this learning environment. Experience at TAS has highlighted the ability of students even at Year 3 level to take full advantage of the breadth of opportunity new technology offers.

In short, widespread adoption of new technology at TAS has liberated the learning environment from the physical constraints of the classroom to give our students the capability to collaborate, share information and experiences, work across disciplines and take control of their learning as never before. Teachers have new and powerful tools to create learning experiences which span peer groups, subject areas and physical locations, making them richer and more engaging.

Section 2 - Selection of Platform and Costs

2.1 The Laptop

All students from Year 3 to Year 12 are allocated with a school laptop and this is a part of the compulsory curriculum at TAS. We have chosen an Apple Macintosh platform throughout the School. The Mac platform, together with a two year leasing period which keeps machines current, enables us to keep maintenance and network management costs at a minimum. Our students’ machines are virus, Trojan and worm free, something which is most easily achieved on the Macintosh platform.

All machines are equipped with CD/DVD drives and a very broad suite of software. This includes a range of creative tools such as Garageband (audio production), iPhoto (image editing), iTunes (music and video management), iMovie (powerful video editing) and iWeb (web site creation) as well as a Microsoft Office and other publishing and internet software.

Our volume purchases help to keep hardware costs to a minimum, significantly reduce software costs and bring benefits such as visiting speakers, collaboration with I.T. education specialists, global networking for professional development and access to pre-release software and hardware. All of this helps to improve learning opportunities for our students.

Introductory sessions for new parents and students will be held on the first school day each year. These sessions cover familiarisation with the laptop as well as topics such as rights and responsibilities of the user, email for students and parents and internet use and protection.

2.2 Costs

The laptop levy is currently $650 p.a. and covers the annual rental cost of the laptop, insurance, the suite of software and internet connection costs. It is compulsory for all students to participate in this program.

The laptops are leased for a period of two years, providing regular updating and the most cost-effective arrangement for the School.

2.3 Insurance

The school provides insurance for non-warrantable damage or loss with a $250 excess for each claim. Repair and replacement costs of less than $250, including battery chargers, are the responsibility of parents.

The insurance policy does not cover stolen machines if left in plain sight, nor does it cover wilful damage. Additionally, machines are not covered if taken out of the country for periods exceeding 28 days and are not covered if transported in ‘checked baggage’ on aeroplanes.

Insurance claims and enquiries should be made through the I.T. Help Desk (ph: 02 6776 5871 or email: compoffice@as.edu.au)

A computer bag (also included in the costs) will be provided in 2008 and students are advised to use the bag for transportation.

2.3 Renewal of Laptops, Data Transfer and Data Ownership

The laptop is renewed approximately each two years (though software and the operating system is updated more frequently) through the I.T. Help Desk. At that time all student data on the laptop is transferred to the new machine (NB: students should back up their data prior to the transfer process.)

Laptops are returned to the School at the time that students as part of the leaving process. Students are responsible for the copying of any data that they wish to keep. The School will provide the copying equipment for any transfer to student supplied media (such as DVD or hard disc).

All data created by the student on their laptop remains the property of the student. All software installed on the laptop by the School remains the property of the School.

Section 3 The Laptop Learning Environment

3.1 Laptop Use in the Classroom

The nature of the 1:1 laptop environment is that students will have their laptops with them and available for use through the school day. This does not mean though that they will be used in every class. Like other learning tools, the use of laptops will depend on the particular learning activity and this is at the discretion of the teacher. Laptop activities will blend with others such as writing, reading, discussion, debate and testing and students will find that their use of laptops will vary from day to day. In one survey week during 2007 the average use was found to be 15% of class time.

3.2 Handwriting, Writing Skills and Laptops

The nature of school and state wide testing continues to dictate that students are required to take the bulk of tests by hand rather than with their laptop. With this in mind, it is school policy that handwriting skills and handwriting activities will remain as regular activities across the curriculum. This is particularly the case in senior years as students prepare for the external exams of the School Certificate and HSC.

However, this is not to say that the use of laptops for writing tasks causes a deterioration of handwriting skills. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, research from a very large scale study (Silvernail and Gritter, University of Southern Maine, 2007) of the impact of 1:1 laptop use on writing skills in the U.S. state of Maine over a five year period has found that laptop use has a positive impact on writing skills. It is argued that as students learn to take advantage of computers for writing, their writing strategies change. Revisions of drafts become easier and accepted as a normal part of the process, improving the overall quality of writing. The study concludes that using laptops for developing and producing writing helps students to become better writers both when using a laptop and when writing in longhand.

The research report may be found at:
http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare/Impact_on_Student_Writing_Brief.pdf

Ready access to on-line resources provides students with a wealth of material to assist their writing. At the same time it has focused attention on problems of plagiarism across NSW and education on this issue is a part of the curriculum. This occurs at all year levels and in Year 10 all students complete the compulsory ‘All Your Own Work’ before commencing HSC studies.

Students are expected to approach writing tasks using their laptop with the same attention to spelling, grammar, text type and format as they do when handwriting. Spelling and grammar checking functions on the laptop are important learning tools as they provide students with immediate feedback on their writing.

Touch typing is considered to be an important skill for all students as it increases both speed and focus on what is being written. For this reason touch typing will be part of the curriculum in Junior and Middle School.

3.3 Computer Games and Other Distractions

Good teachers provide compelling learning experiences, know their students well, and know what they can get up to. Therefore, classroom management with laptops is not really different to that without laptops.

The breadth of software applications required within our learning environment necessarily includes those controlling activities which may provide temptations for students to stray from task in class, such as computer games, the internet and social networking sites. For this reason the playing of games and use of other purely social tools is banned through the school day and at prep time for boarders. This is part of the agreed terms of use of the laptop and breach of it will be regarded as a disciplinary matter.

Similarly, unless specifically directed by the teacher, listening to music through headphones during class time is not allowed.

It is recommended that purely recreational use of the computer be treated in the same manner as other ‘screen’ activities such as television and limited accordingly.

3.4 The Homework Environment

School policy indicates that students should expect to receive an average of 10 minutes of prep (homework) per night for each year level, four nights a week. That is, a student in Year 8 should expect to receive 1 hour and 20 minutes of prep per night, from Monday to Thursday nights. Weekend prep will be less clearly defined and will include study, revision and assignments for senior students.

Not all prep will require the use of the student laptop and it will not be necessary for Junior and Middle School students to take computers home every evening.

In Junior School the weekly homework sheet will indicate whether homework requires the use of the laptop. At other times, students may leave the laptop in their classroom.
In Middle School, the student diary will record the required prep and the nature of that prep will indicate whether the laptop is required. New storage and charging facilities to be installed will enable both day boys and boarders to leave laptops in their home rooms.

Use of the laptop beyond this should be limited and balanced with other social activity, including physical exercise. Should excessive use present as a problem, parents are advised to have the computer left at school when it is not needed for prep. The relevance of the laptop for prep will be evident from the prep recorded in the student diary.

3.5 How to see your child’s work

We believe that it is important for parents to be as involved in all aspects of their child’s work as possible and parents are encouraged to regularly spend time with their child asking them to explain the work on the laptop. This is likely to include movies, podcasts, web pages, simulations, cartoons, drawings, photo essays, artworks, musical compositions and animations. The creativity expressed in this work will be supported by the interest of parents as well as teachers and and looking through it on the laptop should be as regular as looking through workbooks.

Parents should also have full access to both the laptop and their child’s work. The laptops are the property of the School and funded by parents and we expect that all students will make passwords available to parents.

Parents who have difficulties in accessing their child’s work for any reason should contact the computing department.

3.6 HSC and School Certificate Appeals for Misadventure

As we are all aware, computers can "lose" data. Though this is now a comparatively rare occurrence, it can happen.

To avoid problems, particularly with important assessment tasks, students are encouraged to regularly back up work on the school's servers, or on CDs (each machine has a CD burner built in).

However, a computer may crash during a save operation, or for some other reason beyond the control of the student, may cause work to be irretrievable. In this case, the school's assessment misadventure policy will apply.

3.7 Student consultative committee

A student representative committee with members from Years 6 to 12, prefect supervision and the Director of IT co-opted as required has been established to assist in the formation and ongoing revision of policy regarding laptop use and access limits.

The central role of the committee is to act as a student voice, in the spirit of the Round Square ideals. Issues such as timed access to the internet, restrictions on game playing, copyright and excess usage are discussed.

The proceedings of this group are used in discussions with staff to provide a clear understanding of student rights and responsibilities.

Section 4 Maintaining a Safe Laptop Environment

4.1 Occupational Health and Safety

Instruction on use of laptops in a good ergonomic environment will be presented to students new to the School or to the 1:1 laptop environment at the start of each year. This will focus on good posture with attention to the position of the chair, desk and laptop as well as demonstration of stretches and other exercises.

Additionally, we advise students to avoid looking at any screen (including televisions) for extended periods of time. It is for this reason that access limits to both the internet and any laptop use have been put in place.

In applying best practice, we are mindful of the fact that students differ in their usage from other laptop users, eg: in the workplace. Generally, they are not seated in the same place for long periods of time whilst using the laptop and take frequent breaks from the keyboard and screen, even in the same class period.

Evidence from other schools with long experience of laptop use is that the combination of educating students about good ergonomic practice and young people’s natural habit of changing posture frequently addresses the issue of physically safe use successfully.

The TAS laptop has been selected with weight in mind. The current student laptop weighs 2.27kgs and students in Junior and Middle School in particular are advised to carry it in the TAS backpack.

4.2 Access Limits at School

Whilst the laptop is at TAS, access to the internet is controlled on an academic year basis, decided in consultation with Housemasters and students. At present, the student laptop will generally not be able to contact the internet before breakfast or after bedtime.

The new operating system ‘leopard’ being installed on all machines makes it possible to limit the time that the machine itself will operate. Limits will be determined in consultation with students, parents and staff and will vary between year groups, though the time limits for younger students will be more stringent. These limits will apply from 2008.

In the meantime and as a general rule, it is recommended that parents include the laptop in any limits on ‘screen time’ which includes television and video games.

4.3 Keeping Your Child Safe on the Internet

The school shares responsibility with parents, government and the community to protect our children from the impact of inappropriate material on the internet. This protection at TAS comes in the form of a number of mechanisms to block inappropriate content.

Network Content Filters: Whilst the laptop is on the TAS campus the TAS network filters access to internet sites through a ‘proxy’ server. This is done by a number of machines analyzing each request for a web page to inspect the nature of the page.

Every request is compared to a database of "forbidden" sites and pages and allowed to the next step if it "passes". This is a worldwide database based in France that operates as the industry standard and is updated twice weekly. If the page passes this test, it is downloaded to a local server which then inspects the content of the page for offensive material. If the page passes this final test, it is allowed through to the client.

Every internet request and download is recorded, logging user ID, time, page element accessed, size of element, method of access and the machine from which the request was made. No internet filtering mechanism will be perfect and for this reason the I.T. Department regularly inspects these logs for breaches to this protocol. Students found to be accessing inappropriate material will be referred to the School discipline system. The action taken will vary depending on student age and may include notification to parents and limitation to internet access.

Limits to Software Access: Also whilst the laptop is on the TAS campus, the TAS system places restrictions on how software can access the world outside. For example, in the case of iTunes, no material that has a rating of ‘explicit’ material can be downloaded or listened to. What is ‘explicit’ in this case is decided by the iTunes administrators in the United States.

Computer games must be treated individually, with access to games with an MA rating or above (such as ‘Halo’) being blocked through the School server. Parents should note that when the computer is used offsite, filtering is dependent on that provided by the home internet service provider, in the same way that home computers are filtered.

Content Filtering Through the Operating System: The new operating system ‘leopard’ now being installed on our laptops includes content filtering which gives the machines built in protection anywhere, anytime. This breakthrough means that for the first time schools which adopt this particular technology we can extend the protection offered by the school to the home. Prior to this schools have not been able to offer any effective filtering solution beyond the school network. This filtering extends also to social networking sites so that pages which contain offensive language or other content will not be able to be seen on TAS machines.

Supervision: Whilst the network, software and operating system filters will assist in limiting access to inappropriate material, computer software will not replace the supervision and care of a parent. Good advice is available from the Federal Government website, http://www.NetAlert.gov.au

Further to this government advice, TAS recommends to parents that:

Laptop use, particularly for younger children, be restricted to family areas of the home, such as the family room or kitchen. This is particularly important where a wireless access allows internet use throughout the home.
Children should be supervised on the internet. Make rules about what is appropriate internet use for your family and stick to them. It is recommended that these rules reinforce the school policy of not allowing foul language or other inappropriate material on school laptops.
Communicate with other parents before sleepovers to make rules regarding whether computer use is allowed, whether there will be internet use and what viewing categories will be allowed for movies or games.
Educate yourself and your children about potential dangers online and how to make the right choices about online behaviour. This should support school advice to students to never provide personal information on a global system or to identify friends or themselves in photos.

Some useful sites: Government Portal

Digital Citizenship Department of Education and Training

Cybersmart website

Cybersmart teachers website

Think U Know

Net Alert

4.4 Social Networking Sites

Sites such as MySpace, FaceBook and Bebo present important opportunities for communication and their proliferation indicates their widespread popularity amongst young people as the communication tool of choice. Content filters on the new operating system will assist in ensuring that offensive material is not a part of this communication for our students. Parents are encouraged to build on the education regarding social networking provided through tutorial and home-room groups at school. This should include active discussion with children at home regarding appropriate use and content.

However, within the school setting these sites also have the capacity to encourage students to stray off task and for this reason they will be blocked through the course of class time and prep time.

4.5 Cyber-bullying: part of bullying policy

Electronic communication, including that via the laptop, presents an avenue for bullies to harass other students. The School sees this is no different to any other form of bullying and it will not be tolerated.

The School position on bullying, including cyber-bullying, is contained in the student diary every term and students and parents should be familiar with this.

Section 5 Research – overview

Research considered by the School has come from academic journals such as the ‘International Society for Technology in Education’ and the ‘Journal of Research on Technology in Education’ as well as conferences in Australia and overseas, experience of teachers who have been early of information technology and discipline specific associations such as regional, state and national teachers’ associations. Importantly, this research has not included any “Apple sponsored experts”, nor has it leaned on any one person or company.

Probably the definitive research study (on the provision of laptops to all middle schools in the entire state of Maine in the USA) has been authored by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern Maine and it is available at:

http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare/Reports/MLTI_Report1.pdf

Further recommended reading: Professor Seymour Papert (Massachussetts Institute of Technology), who built on work by educational psychologists and thinkers Jean Piaget, Jerome Bruner, and Lev Vygotsky. His papers can be accessed at http://www.papert.org

Further Research Links

Maine (USA) gives a recipe for success
http://mcmel-resources.wikispaces.com/Doing+1to1+Right

One to One laptop resource (USA)
http://www.k12one2one.org/lit_review.cfm

Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops
http://www.nytimes.com

Teachers respond to the New York Times article
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/

Anytime, Anywhere Learning Foundation
http://aalf.org/

The Metiri Group: Technology in Schools: What Does the Research Say?
http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/docs/education/TechnologyinSchoolsReport.pdf

The Florida “Laptops for Learning” report
http://etc.usf.edu/L4L/Index.html

Department of Education, Western Australia, collection of research
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/notebooks/

A search of Edna (Australian Education network) for articles relating to laptops in schools
http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/

Seymour Papert, the seminal voice on computers and learning
http://www.stager.org/

Keefe,Dave and Andy Zucker. “Ubiquitous Computing Projects: A Brief History.” SRI International,2003.
http://www.ubiqcomputing.org

Maine Learns.The Maine Learning Technology Initiative.
http://www.mainelearns.org

Rockman et al is an innovative research, evaluation, and consulting company that specializes in examining critical issues in formal and informal education
http://rockman.com/publications/index.php

Reports: Evaluation information on the evolution, use, and impact of laptop programs, including the following reports, which are also available directly from Microsoft.

“Report of a Laptop Program Pilot,” June 1997.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/download/aal/resrch_1.rtf

“Powerful Tools for Schooling: Second Year Study of the Laptop Program,”1998.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/download/aal/research2.rtf

“A More Complex Picture: Laptop Use and Impact in the Context of Changing Home and School Access,”1999.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/download/aal/research3report.doc

State of Maine. Maine Learning Technology Initiative.
http://www.state.me.us/mlte