In response to "Why MacBooks?": The short answer is because Apple provided us with a good total-package system that meets our needs very well at a good cost.
In response Jane Q: When I say "hardware", I'm talking about a content filtering server that the laptops have to chat with before being allowed on the internet, no matter where the laptop is located. It's not hardware installed on the machines. And I'm not about to say that nothing we do can be defeated somehow. I'm just saying that we manage to keep things controlled to a degree that satisfies our school board and parents, as well as legal requirements. The most common repsonses to the original post seem to be either "if you control anything at all, you're a Nazi", or "since you can't possibly make your controls totally foolproof, then you're wasting your time altogether." I'm just trying to say that I believe it's possible to provide a 1:1 laptop program to your students in a workable way that allows them enough freedom to be educational, but gives you necessary control. I'm not fooling myself: I try to defeat the controls myself, and I have trusted student helpers looking for holes, too. So far, the holes we've found have resulted from improper configuration. When things are configured properly, it works pretty darn well. And again, the key is to NOT start from the premise that it's going to be you against the students. Start instead from the premise that what we're doing has great promise and a certain degree of risk. Do what you can to minimize the risk and maximize the promise.
I'm a tech coordinator at a district that has implemented a 1:1 laptop program. We are using MacBooks managed by OS X Server, with additional content filtering hardware and software. Despite all the comments to the contrary, there's no choice but to control, monitor and filter. It's also not an option to open them up when they take them home. You have to address the issue of inappropriate content being downloaded at home, then brought into the school. It is, in fact, possible to both control and filter reasonably effectively while at the same time providing a good range of software and capabilities to the student. And our students are not, in fact, either bypassing our controls or destroying the laptops left and right. Three things are vital: 1) Communicate with all stakeholders well in advance, discuss all the pros and cons, plan for the inevitable problems, 2) Provide good tech support to the students; show them that you are there to help them, not just to control them; explain to them that some control is a necessary evil, but that it won't stop them from having a great time with these machines and learning a lot in the process, and 3) Provide good training to your teachers to change the way they teach, and to accept the inevitable changes in classroom environment that must result.
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In response to "Why MacBooks?": The short answer is because Apple provided us with a good total-package system that meets our needs very well at a good cost. In response Jane Q: When I say "hardware", I'm talking about a content filtering server that the laptops have to chat with before being allowed on the internet, no matter where the laptop is located. It's not hardware installed on the machines. And I'm not about to say that nothing we do can be defeated somehow. I'm just saying that we manage to keep things controlled to a degree that satisfies our school board and parents, as well as legal requirements. The most common repsonses to the original post seem to be either "if you control anything at all, you're a Nazi", or "since you can't possibly make your controls totally foolproof, then you're wasting your time altogether." I'm just trying to say that I believe it's possible to provide a 1:1 laptop program to your students in a workable way that allows them enough freedom to be educational, but gives you necessary control. I'm not fooling myself: I try to defeat the controls myself, and I have trusted student helpers looking for holes, too. So far, the holes we've found have resulted from improper configuration. When things are configured properly, it works pretty darn well. And again, the key is to NOT start from the premise that it's going to be you against the students. Start instead from the premise that what we're doing has great promise and a certain degree of risk. Do what you can to minimize the risk and maximize the promise.
I'm a tech coordinator at a district that has implemented a 1:1 laptop program. We are using MacBooks managed by OS X Server, with additional content filtering hardware and software. Despite all the comments to the contrary, there's no choice but to control, monitor and filter. It's also not an option to open them up when they take them home. You have to address the issue of inappropriate content being downloaded at home, then brought into the school. It is, in fact, possible to both control and filter reasonably effectively while at the same time providing a good range of software and capabilities to the student. And our students are not, in fact, either bypassing our controls or destroying the laptops left and right. Three things are vital: 1) Communicate with all stakeholders well in advance, discuss all the pros and cons, plan for the inevitable problems, 2) Provide good tech support to the students; show them that you are there to help them, not just to control them; explain to them that some control is a necessary evil, but that it won't stop them from having a great time with these machines and learning a lot in the process, and 3) Provide good training to your teachers to change the way they teach, and to accept the inevitable changes in classroom environment that must result.