#deecd

Now working for Public Schools (Vic Department of Education), teachers are given choices on what computer they can lease. It is not a requirement of the DEECD that you lease a laptop from them. It is simply recommended that you choose one of their two platforms as they have warranty and insurance included in the lease price that covers until the laptop is sent back. What would I recommend (DEECD Laptops)?

What I would recommend out of these if you get thrown into the allocation pool is you stick with the Lenovo as they are very reliable and all recent allocations have been the L420 Core i5 500GB Hard Drive 4GB RAM model, the lowest you will get is the L420 Core i3 320GB Hard Drive 4GB RAM. I would not recommend the MacBook as you will most definitely get the crappy White clamshell one. These are sluggish and slow and god-awful compared to the Core i3 Lenovo that came out at the same time.

If you get thrown into a new round or are up for renewal I would personally recommend the Apple as they are offering the best yet... MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch with 256GB SSD Hard Drive and 8GB RAM. I have had three teachers who have never used a Mac computer before and dove head first and are currently loving it. It is $17.50 a fortnight which in retrospect over four years is nothing and you have four years of insurance and warranty where if you purchase it new in-store for $200 less you get the one year limited warranty and no insurance.... Just to put things in perspective for you...

What I would recommend (Outright Purchasing laptop)?

What I recommend is a computer that has the following specs:

4GB RAM or higher

Core i5 or Higher

Any AMD that is 2.5Ghz or higher

13.3"-15.6" Screen (Nothing Smaller or bigger)

Hard Drive - 500GB or Higher (Standard) or Minimum 128GB (Solid State Drive aka SSD) and that is if you really only use it for work documents and nothing else

And please purchase the extended warranty so for it is covered for the duration of a DEECD laptop lease if any mechanical failures etc happen. Best place to buy one outright that have amazing warranties (Like Next Business Day on site warranty) is Learning with Technologies (www.lwt.com.au)

I thought I'd generate some of my own FAQs for people who don't understand this from a Victorian teacher's point of view.

1. Do teachers need laptops/notebooks?

Yes. The Department of Education, Employment & Early Childhood Development have mandated we use technology for assessment purposes and for teaching and learning. I completely agree with this because, after all, this is the 21st century and we are teaching 21st century kids.

2. Do teachers have to pay for their laptop/notebook lease?

Yes. Currently it's $4 per fortnight for a Lenovo laptop (PC) for a three year lease, and $7 per fortnight for an Apple MacBook lease.

3. What's the recent fuss about?

Well. The DEECD has kept the Lenovo lease at $4. And has raised the Apple MacBook lease to $11.50 over four years (not three).  But the Apple MacBook they are now offering is an older machine than the Lenovo. Yes - Apples are more expensive than Lenovos. Yes - we Mac users are prepared to pay more and have done so. But to pay three times as much for an older machine that retails for only $100 more than the Lenovo is, in a word, BENT.

4. Then why not just lease a Lenovo? They're cheaper aren't they? And they have all the required software on them?

This is true. But as machines they are chopping boards and should be re-named 'Lemonovo'. I am speaking from experience here: I used to have one. And I am the school's technical liaison guy and I can prove that out of all the jobs logged for notebooks, 90% are for Lenovo - for a staff that has a 50/50 split between Lenovo and Apple.

5. Why doesn't the Department source a better PC?

I don't know. Do they exist?

6. Aren't you teachers being sooky-la-las? Why the heck would you need an Apple anyway? It's not as if you're doing high-level multimedia or anything.

Wrong. There are many of us who are doing high-level multimedia in classrooms, and I'm one of them. It's called innovation. It's about being great teachers for modern kids. It's about using the best. It's about technology that works and is exciting. Why settle for less? Why let the kids settle for less?

7. Anyway, lots of people have to buy their own tools of the trade. Why should teachers want anything different?

Yes, it is probably true that some professions don't have a notebook leasing program. But using technology in the classroom and as a teacher is constantly being forced down to us from the Department - and for good reason. When I worked in the corporate sector, I needed a laptop. So they gave me one - and this happens a lot.

8. How about the recent development that Apple offered the Department the MacBook Pro for $13.50 per fortnight?

This paper from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD), outlines a ‘cycle of inquiry’ which systematically builds teacher knowledge to improve teaching practice for students and teachers. The paper shows how principles of student assessment can be applied to evaluate not only student outcomes, but also the learning needs of teachers.