When I was at school teachers were able to educate children very well without using electronics.

It's a sad state of affairs when smartboards, projectors and specialist software is seen as the only way to achieve top quality learning.

...apparently it's called progress...

£15 mil, 7,400 computers.

= £2027 each.

Even with some support slapped in, thats wildly overpriced for a load of Dell boxes and some internet connections.

MS software in schools still ? Oh ffs. Havent they learnt yet. Linux provides the cost advantage that schools require

Without going into a Windows vs Linux cost/support/usage argument, remember that they bought 7000+ PC's, Dell probably gave Windows OEM licences away for free with that much hardware... They don't come much more cost effective than free and preinstalled!

Cheers,

Daniel

Just walked out of a classroom which the teacher has said: "A few of the computers are not working - I'm not an expert on these things....."

Would have helped if he'd have switched the power on......

Woeful.

Some thoughts...

1. To Mr 'Oh ffs' yes we still use microsoft products in school. And whilst the majority of industry does likewise, it will be thus. We have a duty to provide our students with the most relevant skills set for when they leave and move to bigger and better things. Teaching them how to use an OS and Office Package that a tiny proportion of people use does that how?

Yes, I run Xp across the network. Actually it delivers a pretty reasonable solution. But where I dont need it, I use linux. Where its prudent to use linux, we do - web servers, remote access servers etc.

2. When will local government read up on suppliers before placing contracts? We could all have told them it would never work. And thats why I laugh in the face of salespeople who try to undercut my hardware with 'Dell PCs'. But HP and Microsoft proactively support education with education pricings. As a school HP pcs cost me about 300 quid each, and Vista licenses 28 quid each. Which is less than I can pay for anything else decent. With three year onsite warranty that will actually deliver. Not that Ive had to call on it for any of the 80 odd pcs from HP in the last 18 months.

3.The old 'when I was at school' argument is, with all due respect ROT. The three things employers demand from us is Numeracy, Literacy and IT skills. With IT skills forming usually the most important! And it has been long proven that children learn by example better than any other way. So acutally, a data projector is a powerful tool to teach students in the background whilst learning about other subjects. Learning ICT by osmosis.

Isnt that efficient? Isnt that what we are supposed to aim for?

>>The old 'when I was at school' argument is, with all due respect ROT. The three things employers demand from us is Numeracy, Literacy and IT skills.

That presumes that the sole function of education is to put kids in employment. Surely it's not?

And secondly, yes all these IT things are great for teaching kids some things, yet since we started making our children's education dependant upon them, child literacy and numeracy levels are going down, not up.

I think the original poster was making the point that you do not NEED these things to teach kids.

Sounds like "contractor error" to me. There would have been similar problems even if Pure LINUX had been installed end to end, with hand-knitted mueseli Cat5 cables!

HP/Compaq is the way to go these days all around. The majority of Dell's edu sales were made in a time where everyone else was still selling at full retail to EVERYBODY, and Dell offered $20 off and an all expenses paid vacation to whoever signed the contract. I take it you don't like vacations? :)

Dell tends to treat higher ed a LOT better than primary and secondary, though. $300 a pop for a $1200 piece of kit ain't bad at all - even with 3 years of parts-warranty (we used to get the on-site, but they started outright refusing to diagnose our machines which were having obvious hardware issues and blaming our network)

Thank you Mr. Byrne you are entirely correct.

Mr. Johnson has also assumed that I and others are unfamiliar with School ICT.

In fact I have short listed for roles considerably higher than his in the Ed. system. Knowing what I do now, I would never do so again.

In the commercial sector I deal daily with those "prepared" by the private sector.

Finally those who take the tax Shilling will accept judgement by the public. Anything else is unthinkable.

Does this mean that teachers now expect kids to learn just by being in their presence..by the same score I should be an expert phone and photocopier engineer, the amount of time they spend here.....not gonna happen, how about actually teaching

I imagine the classes would be far better off if they were run by the most e-savvy students. Taking turns, with Teach' sitting at the back and learning, it would be far better than the mischievous chaos that is likely to be the case as is.