Plimmerton School
goes for recycled Pentium IIIs (September 2003)
 |
| Year 5 and 6
students using CANZ computers in the Plimmerton School
library. |
Buy reasonably fast recycled
computers at a quarter the cost of new machines and make good use of
them during the last half of their life cycle. That's the computer
purchase philosophy Plimmerton Primary has settled into after a long
history of ICT dating back 20 years to a set of Australian-made
Microbee computers with 16K of RAM.
In 1997, Plimmerton School laid
down a backbone of CAT5 cabling that connected all classrooms and
the school's technical centre. "That network is still the basis of
our computing," says Maurice Laird, the school principal. "Computers
and servers have come and gone, but the network is still there, and
it's been reliable."
The original networked computers
were 486/25s, but now the oldest machines, powered by AMD
processors, are equivalent to Intel Pentium II 300s. Most of the
school's 102 computers are Pentium IIIs, topping out at 600Mhz
models.
Many have been bought second-hand.
Over the past two years they have been Hewlett Packard Vectra VLs
from PC Recycling Channel (http://www.pc-recycling.co.nz/), an accredited
CANZ supplier in Lower Hutt. Twenty of these machines have been
bought in three batches.
"They've been very robust – no
hardware problems at all," says Laird. He expects to continue buying
recycled machines, and he's likely to stay with Pentium IIIs for the
foreseeable future. "Back when Windows 95 and 98 came out, we were
continually upgrading our hardware to keep up with the demands of
the operating systems and the newer applications. Things seem to be
on more of a plateau for the moment."
Most of the Pentium IIIs are
running on Windows XP, while the older machines run on Windows 98.
As the oldest machines get replaced, XP will become the
standard.
The school's core computing needs
are met by the Microsoft Office suite, while Internet Explorer and
Outlook Express cater for online needs. The school's ADSL connection
has been a great improvement over the former modem connection, but
the greater speed made it harder to monitor potentially unsavoury
internet content appearing on screens. This problem was solved when
the school switched to Campus Watchdog as its internet service
provider (http://www.watchdog.net.nz/). Laird says they're
very happy with the service, which filters all Internet content at
source.
The school is keen to develop
video production. They purchased the Ulead Video Studio editing
program, but found it difficult to use. Video editing is one area
Laird concedes that Macintosh computers have an edge, with their
iMovie software. In other respects, he has no regrets about being a
"Windows" school: "Windows computers are more industry-standard and
they're what students have in their own homes," he says.
Some of the technical support for
Plimmerton School's ICT system is carried out by knowledgeable
teachers and the school also uses a local technician as required, on
an hourly payment basis. Laird emphasises that while this approach
may suit a school where the ICT infrastructure is well developed and
where some teachers have technical skills, it may not suit all
schools. Where there is less ICT experience, leased machines covered
by a service contract may be more appropriate.
As in all schools, integrating
technology into class programmes is an ongoing challenge. Most
professional development in ICT has been internal and Laird is
looking forward to receiving eight new laptops for teachers under
the Ministry of Education scheme. Next year school staff will take
part in planned ICT professional development within the informal
Parumoana Cluster of nine schools in the region north of
Porirua.
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