Run a Live USB distro have a 3G dongle and borrow kit (laptop or PC) - store your stuff mainly in the cloud and/or on a persistent volume on the USB stick. You'll get to meet more people and practice your charm rather than fiddling with hobbyist kit and having problems! You'll be surprised how many people will lend you kit (even on a plane where most business types only use the laptop for a few minutes before settling for the paper or movie) and want to learn what a live USB does.
Why not start with requirements, prioritise them and review the resources you have available to you as a starting point - get your requirements together.
Try starting with the teaching staff pedagogical goals - help the teaching staff think about what their best practices are in interacting with computers when teaching. How are computers used and where are they placed?
Next - what software do they currently use (not the titles but the broader areas) and what do they want in future - push they to understand how these software relates to their teaching and the students learning styles? How does software support the overall classroom - what are the actual software requirements?
Think about the effect of what you will implement - what will be the reaction of any change on teachers and students - how much time will they have to spend learning the new technology?
Lastly - any technology needs to work - what resources are available to keep your environment running, what money do you have to spend on all of support, software, OS and hardware. Can you support any given scenario (with your available resource - a salary is usually much more expensive that the cost of any given OS). What value do the administrative and teaching staff see in the computer enviroment (often very little thought is put into how they value this environment as part of their overall teaching strategy)....now you can go out and look at what will be the best system for you, there are great educational titles at the K-12 level for both Windows and Linux, but choose something that fits your schools needs rather than any stereotype of "what's best, Windows or Linux". In a subject as important as educating your children, worry about delivering the end goal in the most effective way and concentrate on the most important areas first.
Slashdot Mirror
Run a Live USB distro have a 3G dongle and borrow kit (laptop or PC) - store your stuff mainly in the cloud and/or on a persistent volume on the USB stick. You'll get to meet more people and practice your charm rather than fiddling with hobbyist kit and having problems! You'll be surprised how many people will lend you kit (even on a plane where most business types only use the laptop for a few minutes before settling for the paper or movie) and want to learn what a live USB does.
Why not start with requirements, prioritise them and review the resources you have available to you as a starting point - get your requirements together. Try starting with the teaching staff pedagogical goals - help the teaching staff think about what their best practices are in interacting with computers when teaching. How are computers used and where are they placed? Next - what software do they currently use (not the titles but the broader areas) and what do they want in future - push they to understand how these software relates to their teaching and the students learning styles? How does software support the overall classroom - what are the actual software requirements? Think about the effect of what you will implement - what will be the reaction of any change on teachers and students - how much time will they have to spend learning the new technology? Lastly - any technology needs to work - what resources are available to keep your environment running, what money do you have to spend on all of support, software, OS and hardware. Can you support any given scenario (with your available resource - a salary is usually much more expensive that the cost of any given OS). What value do the administrative and teaching staff see in the computer enviroment (often very little thought is put into how they value this environment as part of their overall teaching strategy). ...now you can go out and look at what will be the best system for you, there are great educational titles at the K-12 level for both Windows and Linux, but choose something that fits your schools needs rather than any stereotype of "what's best, Windows or Linux". In a subject as important as educating your children, worry about delivering the end goal in the most effective way and concentrate on the most important areas first.