This is what computing will look like in our schools now:
Please check out the post Laptop Cart: Rules & Recommendations for general tips on how to sign out the laptops. Some small changes have occurred since this was posted. The most important is the h: drive ...your "h"ome drive is now the U: drive. It belongs to "U"!
We do need to remember this is a time of change and there are a couple of things we need to keep the laptops functioning properly & keeping them easy for our students and ourselves to use.
1) Students must know how to find & save their work to the appropriate drive. I will be going over this at the first staff meeting and will be giving you two 11x17 posters of these procedures to post in every room to remind all of us how to do this until we get good at it!
2) Please be careful with the laptops. They are fragile and need to last about four years. Make sure students are placing them on a stable desktop and aren't working with them on floors or in hallways where they could be damaged.
3) Having the students take the time...and it does take time...to log off of the computers properly before closing the laptop is also really important to have the laptops working for others that morning or afternoon. Please make sure the cart is plugged in between uses.
4) Although we will be connecting the laptops to the network weekly, you still may find some will still have problems. Please follow the instructions on the LapTools pdf. You will receive a copy of this document in your box & will want to save it in a convenient location. You will also be receiving an extra ethernet cable for your class & I will be ensuring all classes have two live network drops so everyone can connect a laptop to perform this fix if needed. If the computer still doesn't work, please write the number of the computer on the Problems Board on the top of the cart & have the laptop delivered to the library to be worked on.
I know change always seems difficult, but we will work through it and soon it will be like we've always done it this way. Plus...I promise you'll get a little training along the way!
See you much too soon,
Stef