Which One Would You Choose?

With the influx of mini PC's/sub notebooks/webtablets/UMPC's entering the market, the decision about which machine to choose, for 1:1 laptop schemes, has been made so much more complicated.

The 4GB, Asus Eee PC 701, Linux version with its 7 inch screen, is the cheapest on the market with a price tag of just over $400. Another $100 more will buy you the Microsoft version. For $650 you can buy the 20GB Linux version and $750 will get you a 12GB Microsoft version both with the larger 9 inch screen.

Acer have their very flash looking Aspire One, 8GB, Linux version for just under $700 and the 8GB, Windows version for around $800. Both with 9 inch screens.

The 30GB, Classmate from Dell packed with a whole range of educational features including a water-resistant keyboard, collaboration software, theft deterrent features and student PC monitoring comes in at well under $600 for the Linux, version and a bit over $600 for the Microsoft version. Both with 9 inch screens.

When it comes down to deciding which one to choose, you have to consider these four things

1) functionality
2) features
3) aesthetics
and 4) price

Well the Eee PC 701, seems to win it on price. The Acer, Aspire One, is beautiful with it's shiny case and high resolution screen and the Dell Classmate is jam packed full of educational features.

All in all the functionality is the same with Microsoft costing an extra $100 and the much needed larger screen size demanding a couple of hundred dollars.

As a school functionality and added features would rate well above aesthetics but we have to be especially mindful, that we're not paying for features, that we'll never use. Let's be honest how many wash cycles do you use on your washing machine.

At the end of the day if you're happy to stick with just a few wash cycles like the internet and Openoffice, then the entry level, Linux, Eee PC 701 is excellent value for money. If you need a few more wash cycles then you'll need to be looking at a Microsoft machine. If you need to do a bigger load then the 30GB Classmate with all its added features would be the one for you. A larger screen costs you more and if you want it to look pretty then you'll have to pay more for that too.

How big is your load?
H0w many wash cycles do you need?


*all prices are approximate and have been quoted with GST
no discount has been given for bulk orders

Microsoft or Linux

I've had the opportunity to play around on the Microsoft (XP) version of my Eee PC's this week. While I love my Linux machine because it's quick, simple and easy to use, I have to admit that the Microsoft version is not as bad and as slow as I thought it would be (even on this 4Gb machine) and there are some definite advantages to having a microsoft machine such as:-

1. You have access to the Microsoft Office software suite.

2. Shockwave player is available.

3. You can easily map and share drives off a Windows server.

4. You have access to Windows compatible software (such as Quest Atlantis and Scratch?).
   

5. You can upload files to all web2 programs.

Personally I can live without points 1-4 above. I can use OpenOfffice and or web2 programs instead of Microsoft Office. I haven't come across anymore web2 programs which require the Shockwave player as most are Shockwave Flash based which is available on the Linux machine. I don't want to be able to synchronise my files with my 'h' drive and have to wait 5 minutes before I can use the machine. I don't want to be able to use software that is on a mapped drive, that can only be accessed from our server while at school. I don't want to spend ages putting extra software on my machine or 25 student machines to come to that. In fact I don't want to spend years upgrading and installing extra software full stop and I definitely don't want to be relying on technician support.

All I want to have is a machine that is simple to use, one that connects easily and quickly to the internet, accessing software and information from the web (in the cloud). The Linux machine is specifically designed to do this, with its large pre-installed buttons, that link you directly to the cloud (Firefox, igoogle, skype. and much more). The Linux machine is configured as a web tablet where as the Microsoft version is just a mini Windows machine.

However point 5 above does concern me - not being able to upload to some web2 programs (i.e. dipity, animoto, eyespot) which restricts my use of web2 program. Yes I can use other programs (jumpcut, voice thread, glogster etc) but my question is as more web2 programs are developed will there be more programs I can't use? This I'm not sure?

Mark seems to think that the reason why I cant upload files to some web2 programs is because the web sites have been designed using Microsoft software instead of an opensource alternative and the programs can't find a 'c 'drive which is a Windows standard (seems a reasonable explanation to me). Does that mean then that you can't use them on an Apple machine?

Surely all programs that are designed for the web should be of an open standard, designed for all machines (PC's, phones. PSP's) and all browsers (Firefox, Explorer, Opera mini). So maybe if they aren't I shouldn't be worried about not been able to use them! Oh it seems like I can live with that too.

In fact for $400 I can live without all of that. I like the simplicity and speed of the Linux Eee PC with its internet ready design and its easy to restore to factory settings button, but I have to admit for an extra $100 the more complicated and slightly slower Microsoft version with its extra features is a good option too and maybe just what we/you need for your school.

What features do you need?

Which one will you be able to live with ?

Microsoft or Linux?

Unconference Links

Here are the links from the Unconference held at Southwell School, last week, for those of you who didn't manage to get around all the tables or are not fortunate enough to be at Southwell.


If you don't know what an Unconference is, it's just an informal gathering, where people can show case their ICT initiatives/ideas. We had six tables/stations set up for the one hour staff meeting, on the last week of term 3. Everybody just moved around from table to table with their laptops, gathering ideas and discussing issues. I thought the Unconference was a great idea and a good success. I would definitely recommend it to any school who haven't tried it yet and hope we get to do another one next term so that more people can showcase their initiatives.

Table 1-TBa showed us dipity a web2 program for generating timelines. A great little program which links to googlemaps and gives you a flip book view too. Unfortunately this is another web2 program I've found which doesn't allow me to upload pictures from my linux EeePC so I won't be able to use it with my class but I recommend you give it a go with your class as it has lots of potential and is very easy to use.


Table 2-TBu showed us his class page on Moodle. TBu has worked hard on this to produce such a great design and you can too. Find instructions on how to do 'all things moodle' in the documentation section at moodle.org. You lucky Southwell people can also check out the moodle courses we did a couple of years ago under 'All about Moodle' in 'Teacherspace'

Table 3-GV showed you his excellent Year 8 Science exam he'd produced on Moodle. Well done Guy for daring to do this. GV won't mind me saying this but it was no mean feat. It took a lot of planning, preparation and trialing. The idea is that you design each question first (question type, image and audio) then work on putting the quiz together. 'Think big, start small and plan for early success'. moodle.org also has a good documentation section on setting up your own quizzes. You'll need to register first but it's worth the effort as this site is packed full of moodle know how.

Table 4-KW showed us Glogster - a site used to apparently 'poster yourself' it mixes graphics, video, music and text into slick glogs- A pretty flash program definitely worth a play with if you haven't done so already. It works on my Asus Eee PC's too so I can use it with my class.


Like all good web2 programs glogster provides you with the URL and the embedded code to add your finished glog into your favourite website/social network. Glogs can be easily linked to moodle and embedded into the blog and text widget on Elgg (our school's private social network) but you have to remember to go to the settings (top right of the screen) and switch off the visual editor (bottom of screen) before you can embed it into the mypages-eportfolio section in Elgg- a point worth noting when you are adding other web2 stuff like voicethread and animoto.


Table 5-PW let us have a look at his netvibes page. A startup page for your PC which lets you aggregate all your news and blog feeds into one area. I have a netvibes page but prefer to use use igoogle (just a personal thing). Startup pages are quite handy so if you don't have a netvibes or igoogle startup page I highly recommend you check out these two over the holidays and work out which one you prefer.

Table 6- And finally I discussed Elgg (0ur schools private social network) a bit like bebo and facebook but with a lot more learning potential (blogs, wiki, eportfolio, etc ). Even if you don't think you are ready to use these with your class yet, just be aware that the kids are using them. You might just want to join one or check out the activity in Elgg and see what they are up to, it might just inspire you. Here is a Pdf of a few other areas in Elgg you could check out too.


Happy holidays and see you next term.

1st in the Waikato

I feel so proud, one of my students came first in the Waikato, (Year 7, Girls, Speech Competition).
Now I'm not naive enough to think that it was all down to my teaching, and not in anyway related to the particular student, in questions own natural, innate ability but I can't help thinking that the increased access to Technology in the room this year did help. I believe that this access to Technology not only improved the winning speech but also contributed to improving the quality of all the speeches in my room. Last year not one of my students made the school final, this year 3 did and one well you already know about that.

Having access to 1:1 laptops, cellphones, video cameras, googledocs and Elgg (our private social network), ensured we had a successful learning programme from start to finish. Having the ability to prepare, practice, improve and assess class speeches really improved not only the outcome/finished product but the whole learning process.

We used our 1:1 EeePC's to research speech ideas on the internet via a Firefox browser.

Students own mobile phones to record initial ideas and gather thoughts.

Open Office documents to plan, design and write the speeches.
Open Office draw documents to produce cue cards.

Mobile phones/the microphone and web cam on their computer to record, practice and improve the delivery of speeches.

A digital camera to record students first attempt at their speech.

A blog on our schools social networking site (Elgg) to upload students first attempt of their speech from the class digital camera. These were then viewed by themselves and the rest of the class who then commented on each speech and gave guidelines for improvement (content and delivery) on the blog.

Finally we used googlespreadsheet to grade the final speeches during the class speech competition.

The class are presently in the process of using their mobile phones/class digital camera to record their final speech and place them in the eportfolio, Myfiles section on Elgg our social networking site to keep for prosperity and viewing by their family and friends.

Not all students want to place their final speech in their eportfolio. Not only do I believe this is how it should be 'their choice' but I'm really not worried if they chose not to. It was the learning that was important and that's all about the process not the outcome. Even though it's nice to be placed first in the Waikato it's even nicer to have access to Technology that can improve the learning for all the students in your room.

Term 2! What did we do?

I can't believe I've just posted a comment about term 3 and haven't discussed what we did in term 2 yet. Even worse I can't even remember. Well let's see, oh yes there was Alice(programming software). It worked very well actually only 250Mb. After downloading once it was easy to pop on the USB/phone and install on the EeePC's. It ran very well too and we were able to export the finished work as a web page. I have to admit we did find the screen view a bit small though, particularly the editors area and world view window when you were building the programme (okay for viewing though). We also had to keep moving the instruction boxes about on the screen to enable us to click the 'next' instruction button. Alice comes with excellent tutorials and if you haven't given it a go yet on your EeePC it's worth a play with.

Alanpt just sent me these links via a previous post to Scratch(programming) apparently it's available for linux now (I can't wait to try this out too -I hope it works on the EeePC). Thanx Alan.

notesmine
tcppodcast
scratch

We ran Alice from the file manager rather than placing a dedicated short cut, with its own icon, on the main page, as we found out that when you upgrade the machine you lose any icons and shortcuts you have placed on the machine.
Because of this I also made the decision not to place any of the other programmes I'd trialed on my machine (audacity, kino, winff etc) on the students machines. Besides wanting to keep the machines standard because it's so much easier to reset them to factory settings, if anything goes wrong, I'm still struggling with the concept of movie making on the computer as I really want to be able to do this via the web using mobile phones not video cameras as all the kids just don't have these. Plus I have to admit I've found my 4GB machine really does make video editing hard work.

Em now what else have we been doing? Oh I know our Super Hero Fiction stories. We used Openoffice for this opendocument to write the stories and opendraw to produce the comic pages (it's amazing how creative you can get with a webcam and a paint program - you can make normal everyday students into superheros and even make them fly). Good work from the kids but could someone please tell me why we didn't use Google documents to write the main story. I know I'm still not too confident about using the internet for too many web2 programs because of our slow internet bandwidth but Googledocs doesn't take up that much bandwidth -does it, besides if I have to send and receive another email I'll scream. Not to mention the confusion between which file is the latest version when sending drafts too and from students to be corrected.

In fact we used a lot of the proprietary software on the Asus this term(must of been the novelty). A whole range of the openoffice software for our Social Studies projects and Openpresentation for our assemblies too. Well I can definitely say I've been there done that time for web2 now, roll on that fast internet connection, time to get my head firmly stuck in the clouds.

One Term On

As term two has already started I feel it is really important to reflect on our first term with our Asus Eee PC's. I'm pleased to say that the novelty has definitely not worn off. In fact the enthusiasm for using the device has grown rather than declined. The biggest skeptics of the machines are now it's biggest advocates. Those whom preferred to write rather than type can now see the benefits of being able to reshape and edit their work. Those whom preferred to draw on paper are developing their creativity using the inbuilt Drawing and Paint programs. And those whom preferred to use their larger Windows based machines at home see the compactness of the Eee PC as a real convenience.

From a teaching perspective I am really impressed with the inbuilt Open Office Suite of software which offers everything that Microsoft Office does.
Mozilla Firefox and inbuilt connectivity to the internet is superb which enables seamless connection to our school Moodle and Elgg sites.
The web cam is a very useful and a well utilised piece of hardware.
The machines seem to be very durable and robust however a few screws have come loose and we have lost one keypad. Screen size is no longer an issue, solved by using zoom and the 'fn' ALT' option. Processing and storage capabilities are acceptable, if machines are kept clean and tidy.

Over all the Asus Eee PC is an excellent machine for it's sub $500 NZ price tag which enables creativity and the development of 21st century skills.

However, I have found there are a few things the machines can't do. Apparently Shockwave doesn't work on the Linux operating system, which means that there are a few interactive maths and language games we can't use. There also seems to be a bit of an issue uploading to some Web2 programs. I think this is due to a combination of low processor speed of the Asus, low internet bandwidth at school and lack of Linux compatibility with some Web2 program but I can't really be sure at this moment in time so I'll have to wait and see what happens when we improve our internet speed at school. Storage capacity is limited with the 4GB hard drive capability but I have been able to load and run additional software onto my machine including Gimp, Alice, and Google Earth. Obviously you are restricted to Linux Xandros compatible software which does limit your choices and while Alice is a viable option to Scratch (Windows based) for developing programming skills their seems to be nothing comparable to Garageband (Mac based) for music development

I've also been unable to print to our colour printer as apparently the printer doesn't have a Linux driver. And finally one that annoys the technician, when you upgrade software it upgrades the desk top icon file so any buttons and icons you have installed have to be reinstalled again but well you can't have everything can you ? not for $500 anyway.

Problems to solve

After taking the Eee PC's home for the first time this week we came across several problems to solve.

1) The most obvious and probably the easiest to accomplish is that students, parents and even telecom need instructions on how to connect the devices to the internet at home. This is out of my technical expertise and one I'll need to pass over to the ICT department to organise but if we are to roll the computers out to other classes one we'll definitely have to do.

2) Wireless issues - not having the Asus's on our roaming wireless network made homework for 'Boarders' and students going to 'After School Care' rather difficult especially when I'm still reluctant to give out worksheets. However the ICT department are working on this and hopefully this will get resolved within the next couple of weeks.

3) Security - computers going home on Tuesday's and Thursday's (sports nights) were a real nightmare. It wasn't too much the issue with the children who finished sport at the normal time as the classroom was locked and the children told it would be opened up after sport. However those who needed to finish early or catch the bus caused real security issues. I couldn't leave the door open for them and I didn't think it would be safe for them to leave their computers in the changing room (we don't even let them keep their clothes in there). ? Not sure what to do about this ? Maybe they could leave them in the Management Centre to pick up on the way home but that would be a lot of through traffic?

4) Computers left at home/needing repair etc - 'Please Miss I've left my computer at home','Don't worry dear we have a spare one'. Recommondation is that you keep a 3% surplus to cover these issues but I didn't really expect to have to use it this soon.

5) Forgotten passwords - Unfortunately the ASUS's Linux operating system has a security and password setting which can only be removed by re-imaging the machine. Not that the children were told to set the password but children will be children. So inevitably the first machine had to be re-imaged.
Fortunately this was easily resolved by pressing down F9 which resets the machine to factory settings. It does mean that all the child's work is lost though. Not an issue in this instance but could be later on especially if more settings have been changed or programs installed.

Three Eee PC's still to connect

Well I didn't have a queue of parents at my door this morning most of the class were able to connect their Eee Pc's easily to the internet at home. Just three more to go. One of the parents unable to connect rang up Telecom and was given the excuse that 'you can't connect the ASUS to their network'. An interesting excuse but I can't possibly imagine why not? This is obviously not true but as 'A' the technician said you 'can't really expect the help desk personal to know how-it is rather technical!'. At the very least though you'd expect them to pass the call onto someone who does know how. They obviously don't come from the same school of thought as me. I'm a firm believer that there is no such thing as 'you can't'- maybe they can't, maybe they can't do it now, maybe they can't be bothered but somebody, somewhere can. We've passed our Mr Somebody's mobile telephone number onto our parents and hopefully once they give 'A' the technician a call they will be able to too.

The Eee Pc's have gone home

A day later than anticipated but my class took their Eee PC's home last night. They had to try to connect them to the internet so that they could use them to do their Current Events homework on Moodle. I wonder how many will have been able to connect them? Well nobody called me last night so it looks positive. After one of the class had taken their device home at the weekend and wiped out our wireless proxy settings we realised we needed to get the class to all install Foxy Proxy. Foxy Proxy is a morzilla plug in which allows you to set different proxy settings. For some technical reason which I don't really understand, but the ICT guys asure me is right, the proxy is disabled at school and set to default at home. The ICT guys tried to rename the disabled tag school and set the default tag to home but you don't seem to be able to do that. Never mind though it works and that's all I care about. Well at least I hope it does. Only time will tell. I think I might need to go to work early today just in case I have a line of parents at my door. Wish me luck.

Now that's me conectd

Well after quite a few weeks of reading forums and trying to remember the linux command line I have managed to connect the Asus eeepc to the web using my 3G Sony Ericsson p990 phone ,ooh yes! People will probably think, what's the big deal when you can connect using wireless, Ethernet or just plug it straight into your broadband router. I could have waited for the in built 3G card that Asus have promised or I could have purchased one of the linux compatible 3Gmodems that some forums have suggested work with the eeepc. But that would have been the easy way and I just don't do easy. I wanted to use my phone because that's where my data plan is and I have used it successfully with Windoze. I didn't want to have to get another device and another data plan, when I could just keep things simple. I still can't take the smile of my face when I saw it first connect and I am blogging using the connection now. I feel even more pleased as there are very few people around the world who have done it as well (at this point you are probably thinking that there is only a few people who would want to do it as the other options are more main stream), but it just goes to prove that it can be done and I feel it is the ultimate in being conectd and still mobile. It just rocks!

Such a good design

I know that there will be more that follow, that have the same features and probably better but you have to admit that the Asus Eee Pc is such a good design. It is and will always be recognised as the first sub $500 dollar PC available worldwide. A machine for the masses. The machine that made the 1:1 dream a possibility for all. Not just cheap but clever. Not just an inbuilt webcam for skype but one that acts as a camera and video recorder, igoogle, gmail, openoffice applications that open/save microsoft office documents and a form factor envied by it's over $3,000 cousins. Now that's clever. Well my class thought so today when they were given their very cute, new devices. We'd (ICT Department not really me) spent the best part of the day upgrading the wireless access point to ensure they were all connected to the internet, thinking that this would be the first thing that we would use but no! The webcam caught their attention first. Within seconds we had girls checking their hair and boys pulling faces at themselves. Seizing the moment we showed them how to save an image and within seconds they were cropping and tweaking their pictures in one of the many Paint programs available. I told you it was clever. Thanks for the help guys. I promise we'll use the internet tomorrow.

All conectd

I had fun this afternoon logging on 25 computers and connecting them to the wifi (not). Well at least when the wifi drops out I'll be able to confidently help my class reconnect them. I could have let the ICT department do this but you wouldn't attempt to teach something you couldn't do yourself would you! Well at least I won't forget or will I? It always amazes me how many times you need to repeat something before it becomes a habit.

1 conectd 25 more to go

We managed to get one of the Eee PC's onto the wifi today (mine of course). It was a little bit trickier than first thought due to our closed microsoft system (but the less said about that the better). In the end we ended up setting up a separate wifi point just for my room. Unfortunately it means that I won't be able to roam around the school and use other wifi points but I'm quite happy to pick up my rabbit ears and internet cable and take them to another room when we need to. I have 100% confidence in our ICT departments ability to solve this problem but it does make you realise how important it is to have an open and accepting industry wide standard wifi system for future growth and development. Whether we like it or not the flood gates have opened and the devices are going to come. Will your network cope with the tidal wave?

They've arrived

It was like Christmas again today as TB and I unwrapped my class set of Eee PC's. They look even better than I remember. We carefully removed their packaging and placed them in our little incubator to fully charge. Even the chargers look cute. Don't they? Just a little 20w mobile phone style charger each so the power usage for the full class set is only equivalent to that of three standard desk tops. Not too demanding on the existing power infrastructure and kind to the environment. What more can you ask for.

Eagerly Waiting (part 4)

It's been over a week now since my class set of EEe PC's arrived in Auckland and I'm still waiting for them. Apparently they are in transit having been sent from the distributors in Auckland but haven't arrived in the shop (Hamilton) yet. Oh well still another 5 days before the start of term but it is beginning to cut it a bit fine. I had anticipated this given the demand for them globally and us well just being little old New Zealand, down here on the other side of the world. Apparently according to Wikipedia they have sold 300,000 since they were launched in Taiwan on October the 16th, 2007 and hope to sell over a million this year.I am prepared to grab a few last minute photocopied worksheets if need be but I really don't want to. It would be so awesome to start the new school year with a completely different approach to my teaching not to mention the student's learning.

Eagerly Waiting (part 3)

They've not arrived yet. It's a good job really because I still can't get my head around that name. The marketing literature describes the ASUS as a sub-notebook, 'Easy to learn, easy to work, easy to play' I always wondered what those three E's meant. I have heard others refer to them as UMPC's-Ultra Mobile PC's or the new jargon of the day MID-Mobile Internet Device. Not too sure about the term mobile and I'm sure Mark will agree with me given the Eee PC only has a 2hr battery life, no 3g/cell connection (as yet) and doesn't exactly fit in your pocket but that term Internet Device that's growing on me erm IDC-Internet Device Class has a nice ring to it.

Eagerly waiting (part 2)

They've landed. My class set of Eee PC's have just arrived, well in Auckland anyway, they just need shipping down to Hamilton for the start of the New School Year, which starts in just short of two weeks on the 29th of January. I can't wait I'm so Eeexcited.

Eagerly Waiting (part 1)

While I eagerly wait the arrival if my class set of Eee Pc's I begin to wonder what the class will be called?
Laptop Class, Digi Class, Web2 Class. No, I need something more all encompassing, something all accommodating, something not determined by the technology but accepting of all devices, grounded in a strong philosophy where each tool is employed on its own merits whether it be paper and pen or computer. For that is the dream isn't it ? I need something future proofed. A name that will stand the test of time. Something that will lay strong foundations for more devices to come. Something that
reflects the vision. Any suggestions?
Please excuse typo's blogged from the mobile.