NSW hands out 66,000 student laptops

Renai LeMay
16 March 2010, 3:59 PM


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NSW Education Minister Verity Firth says 66,000 Lenovo laptops have been handed out to school kids already.


NSW Education Minister Verity Firth today gave an update on the state’s implementation of the Federal Government’s Digital Education Revolution initiative, saying some 66,000 laptops were handed out to students in year 9 last year.

The Lenovo laptops will continue to hit the school system this year, with an average of 10,000 to be delivered each week, Firth said in a statement. “By mid-2010 there will be almost 130,000 laptops in our schools, turning our classrooms into 21st century learning hubs,” she said.

This year’s batch will be Lenovo’s ThinkPad Mini 10 devices, running Windows 7 on an Intel Atom processor. Previously Lenovo had been supplying its IdeaPad S10e laptops.

The update coincided with a visit to Australia of global Lenovo chief executive Yuanquing Yang, who said the Digital Education Revolution was considered to be the single biggest educational netbook rollout anywhere in the world.

In total, Firth said the state had employed more than 300 technology support officers and was spending 16 million to to also provide every secondary teacher with a laptop.

The Digital Education Revolution project is the result of an election promise where Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised a computer on the desk of every high school student from year nine and up. The students will keep the laptops as they move through the school ranks.

The Federal Government is contributing $2.2 billion over six years for the rollout, and also for supporting infrastructure such as broadband to schools. However, much of the administration of the program is being done by the states.

Also today, Firth reportedly said the state would consider relaxing the rules through which NSW students were restricted from accessing certain types of material through the state education department’s filter.

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agami (New user):

Handing out laptops to students is not enough, the curriculum needs to change to complement the new tools. Also, teachers who understand how to apply ICT in a scholastic capacity need to be hired.

16 March 2010, 4:27 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Raindog (User):

Quoting agami:
Handing out laptops to students is not enough, the curriculum needs to change to complement the new tools. Also, teachers who understand how to apply ICT in a scholastic capacity need to be hired.

I couldn't agree more. Has "the toolbox of the 21st century" shrunken to become "the Toolkit of the 21st Century"?
Lenovo sure refer to this model as a netbook, but somehow when used as part of a Rudd handbook it becomes a Notebook.




16 March 2010, 4:40 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

Pitty they don't have a process for OS repairs, or a process for diagnosing hardware faults and doing something about warranty.

Our school has one suspected RAM fault, which we can't confirm so can't do anything about warranty. And we have one broken OS image, which the process for fixing is apparently "put it on the shelf and wait". Not sure what the shelf's magical powers are, but anyway.
These are just 2 really silly ones I know of in our tiny school. I've heard some 2nd hand stories of some mighty cock-ups in other schools.

16 March 2010, 5:43 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

whitecros (New user):

sorry didnt think i was signed in with this comment

16 March 2010, 9:18 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

agami (New user):

So as long the kids are getting something you didn't when you were at school, it's OK?

This isn't a generous act of some philanthrope, this is tax-payer's money we're talking about. I'm all for improvements for students, I've even put it in a 3 year technology strategy I recently wrote for DEECD, but good technology without good technique is only going to confound the educators and by extension the potential gains from this vote buying exercise. Like many of our federal and state government initiatives, this one has 'half-arsed' written all over it.


16 March 2010, 9:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

whitecros (New user):

are you guys kidding me. im sorry for sounding attacking but kids are getting laptops isnt that a great thing. i went to a school with 40 computers for 700 students so to me this sounds like a bloody great plan!! yes it could be improved as all things can be but what a great start for these kids and i for one would happily pay a fee over the year for my son to get access to a laptop he can use in class. any use of a pc at their ages is fantastic for the fundamentals of using a pc especially the world they are growing into so to the government i say well done and how about expanding it nationally and maybe make a year long payment plan for the laptops (lets face it bulk buy for laptops would put the price around 400 im sure at the most)!!

16 March 2010, 9:22 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Raindog (User):

Quoting whitecros:
but kids are getting laptops

No they are not, some will get net-books.


Quoting whitecros:
and i for one would happily pay a fee over the year for my son to get access to a laptop

That's nice, but why am I and other taxpayer helping you pay that fee?

You do understand these Net-books are pretty much useless for anything other than browsing, and you do realise most kids will laugh at them.
The things obsolesces faster than Japanese motorcycles and will be useless within 18 months.
I'm glad your happy to subsidise further issue because I'm not keen to see my tax dollar wasted and I'm not keen to see scarce education resources badly utilised.

Ask your kids to rate a Lenovo mini 10 as their toolbox to the 21st century?

It's be like learning their first car will be a unicycle.


16 March 2010, 9:35 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

Quoting whitecros:
(lets face it bulk buy for laptops would put the price around 400 im sure at the most)!!


DET asked for target $500 price in the tender. Lenovo is rumored to have gone as low as $300 to make sure they got the deal - and as a bonus, they got to flog off their poorly selling S10's.

16 March 2010, 10:38 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

whitecros (New user):

if they are getting a tool i didnt have at school isnt that improvement?? as for being half arsed most likely we are talking about governments but isnt half arsed a better result then nothing and the money still disappearing?? (looks at qld government!!)

16 March 2010, 9:36 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Raindog (User):

Quoting whitecros:
but isnt half arsed a better result then nothing and the money still disappearing??

Only if your a washed up, 1st term, party trick Prime Minister desperate to get re-elected before all the funds are gone.


16 March 2010, 9:42 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

whitecros (New user):

arent they all??

16 March 2010, 9:43 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

agami (New user):

That is a very concietist view. I understand what you mean when you imply that things could be worse. We've all experienced plenty of that. What I'm saying is that things need to be done better, because I know they can be.

16 March 2010, 9:47 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

whitecros (New user):

look my belief is something is better then nothing which is what kids have. should this be paid by taxpayers hell no i dont agree with that but as a fee levy thats payable over a year (and voluntary) i think thats a good idea (perhaps different options for those who can afford a higher priced netbook as well). if done this way the education rebate should also be removed as well as its not really needed is it. are they poor netbooks probably but you get what you pay for and if lenovo is offering the lowest price of cause thats the one the government will get. as for that taxpayer jab mate im a tax payer as well and i want bang for my buck as well. all my point was is that at least the government is trying to do something (however good or bad at least its something). and for the record no im not a krudd fan and that conroy bloke is a joke of the saddest amount but as i said before something is better then nothing

16 March 2010, 9:43 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

agami (New user):

Quoting whitecros:
at least the government is trying to do something

The correct way to put this is 'at most the government is trying to do something'. And that is where the problem lies. To quote Yoda "No, try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."



16 March 2010, 9:59 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Raindog (User):

Quoting agami:
What I'm saying is that things need to be done better, because I know they can be.

couldn't have said it better myself.

Quoting whitecros:
should this be paid by taxpayers hell no i dont agree with that

But sadly this is exactly what is happening, I don't mind that some of my tax dollar is spent in schools for someone else's kids, its part of contributing to a community, but I get mightily pissed when its a spend for no gain.


Quoting whitecros:
but as a fee levy thats payable over a year (and voluntary) i think thats a good idea (perhaps different options for those who can afford a higher priced netbook as well)

It seems you put more thought into this than Team Rudd did, there are lots of options, but this rushed package was never about best solutions it was about being seen to be doing something in the public eye.


Quoting whitecros:
but you get what you pay for and if lenovo is offering the lowest price

It's no comment on Lenovo they just met a spec, a spec very different from the "toolbox of the 21st century" ideal.


Quoting whitecros:
I'm a tax payer as well and i want bang for my buck as well.

Then surely you understand particularly if you've been to a school or a hospital any time recently.


Quoting whitecros:
and that conroy bloke is a joke

Currently he's the most expensive joke in the land.


Quoting whitecros:
as i said before something is better then nothing

I don't agree a 2nd rate something is just funds diverted from something useful. Cheers.


16 March 2010, 10:12 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

Quoting whitecros:
my belief is something is better then nothing


Not always - maintenance costs money. Teacher time costs money. Students have limited time in class to learn a preset list of things. Having nothing gets in the way far less than having something that doesn't work properly.


Quoting whitecros:
and if lenovo is offering the lowest price of cause thats the one the government will get


Which is the problem. They are not suitable for the purpose. Dell's Latitude 2100 is rubberised on the lid, has a thicker lid, and generally is designed to be hardier than a cheap consumer netbook - yet DET went with cheap consumer netbooks.

16 March 2010, 10:49 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Douglas (New user):

Quoting Tin:
yet DET went with cheap consumer netbooks.


Reading between the lines of the article, I'm assuming that by "Lenovo ThinkPad Mini 10", they mean the ThinkPad X100e, which is the only 10in ThinkPad I can see. And if it's a ThinkPad, it will be built like a tank.

And as to why they provided consumer netbooks in the first place confuses me. Perhaps they had the dumb that day.

17 March 2010, 1:31 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

Quoting Douglas:
And if it's a ThinkPad, it will be built like a tank.


The photos I've seen of the new ones didn't look very convincing. But I've not actually seen one in person yet... Hopefully they are more solid, but it is Lenovo and DET - a combination that generally sees cheap an unsuitable computers given to students.

17 March 2010, 6:38 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

n1ck0 (New user):

no point anyway, iv had mine alomost 2 years we never use them and even when the teacher does say pull em out most ppl do otha crap on them, honesty unless the curriculem changes complety u cant implement laptops, good for me heyy free laptop, but honestly waste of money!!! THANKS RUDD (Y)

17 March 2010, 4:27 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

teknoftw (New user):

Personally, as a student I find the idea of handing out these netbooks to be quite half-baked. From the experience at my school, which is one of the best in NSW, of the 120 lenovo s10-es issued to students last year, in the first month the ICT department confiscated 40 of them. Seriously though, students who get these laptops are just going to play games on them. Out of the teachers at my school, less than a third of them are computer literate, and therefore will not actually make use of these "laptops". It is not uncommon at my school to have one class get "bad" teachers, and never use their netbooks in class. I agree with many previous posts, the curriculum needs to be changed to match these new tools for learning.

18 March 2010, 5:36 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Tin (Regular user):

Quoting teknoftw:
Out of the teachers at my school, less than a third of them are computer literate


I would say your teachers need some nudging to bring them into the world of computers. We got a lot more interest in using computers for things when we forced staff to book rooms and resources via a web based system (MRBS is what we use)... They couldn't ignore the computer and hope it went away then.

18 March 2010, 7:17 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

agami (New user):

I just want to thank the students that contributed to this discussion.
We go on philosophising about how this way is better than that way, we might even in our professional lives have a forum in which to make some changes, and somewhere along the way we might even doubt our conviction, but to hear it from the people who are directly affected reaffirms my resolve.

Thanks.

18 March 2010, 8:45 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Raindog (User):

Again Agami I'd agree with everything you have said on this issue. as disturbing as you may find such a situation.

Oh and I did see your gobbled post and yes it is fine to use the Japanese textbook example where ever you wish without problem

18 March 2010, 11:50 PM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

agami (New user):

I wondered what happened to that post. Thanks.

Not disturbing at all, apart from me calling you out on your method, you and I share a lot more thought parity than with most of the others that occasionally post here.

19 March 2010, 10:56 AM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

Ausman (New user):

Where are the kids going to put there current home computers? Rudd needs to do another wasteful handout to buy kids bigger desks and routers to network all their tech gear at home ;-) Maybe we can outsource our schools to MS and they can just teach them how to use Windows and Office. That's all they need to know apparently ;-)

22 March 2010, 2:34 AM (2 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend reply

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