Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Netbooks are Coming

The netbooks are here, the netbooks are here.  We have 60 spanking new netbooks which will soon be in a classroom near you.

This is a process, Garret has to put the image on them, and then I will barcode and check them out to specific teachers. The plan is to begin  at the end of the K/1 hallway and move up. If you currently have a netbook checked out I will collect that one, and replace it with three of the new ones.

The plan is to collect all the old netbooks in circulation from K-3 classrooms, and replace it with three new netbooks. The old netbooks will then be available to 4/5  for classroom use checkout.

It is important to remember these, like older netbooks, are net only devices.  They will boot up fresh each time so no software can be installed on them. When they boot up you will have a Chrome icon, Destiny (Library Catalog), and Virtual Windows icon. 

Since netbooks boot up fresh each time, bookmarks can not be saved to the device. There may be a cloud based solution to bookmarks if there is enough interest from teachers.  What it would entail is creating a Google Account that is logged in on each netbook for the purpose of saving bookmarks. 

In order to find Links 4 Kids search "Schenk Links4kids" and the first result will be Schenk Lab. On Links 4 Kids you will have access to all of Schenk's and MMSD's databases. This includes Book Flix, Pebble Go, Tumble Books, and Brain Pop. I would get in the habit of going to Links 4 kids to access these sites because the password is embedded in the links.

It is important to remember the netbooks are cloud based devices. This means all data is on the internet (cloud) not on the device itself. These netbooks are designed to revert back to factory condition upon each reboot. They are great for searching the web, using the databases on Links 4 Kids, but not for installing or using particular software.  As a general rule if it runs in the browser, it should work fine on the netbook.  

Don't forget 90% of all computer problems are solved by rebooting.

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