We continue to gather lots of input and information as we look at this initiative that would equip all students with netbook-tablets beginning next August. Our first pilot group of 5 students has been using netbooks since early September and they’ve blogged their impressions on the front page of the website. One of the real positives they’ve listed is how the netbook enables them to do homework any time, anywhere during the day, such as when they are waiting for evening activities or in between classes.

We’ve also been meeting with teachers by department to get their input and specific suggestions. One of the things that has been made clear is that we need a more robust program than Classroom Spy to allow them to continue monitoring student computer use in the classroom. Thus, tech ed teacher Cory Culbertson is currently leading us through an evaluation of other products that allow teachers to not only monitor student screens, but also to limit internet use and what programs they can use while in class. Cory will also be helping us to line up better security and print solutions going forward.

We’ve been talking with other schools around the country who have laptop initiatives already, including Hidden Valley High School in Roanoke, Virginia, Westside High School in Omaha and Putnam Valley Central School District in New York. They’ve provided us insights regarding types of issues to anticipate, real costs involved and specific software that they are using.

If we have a concern right now it is that we have yet to see the ideal netbook on the market. Our target right now is to get computers with 10″ screens and almost full-sized keyboards, 6 hour or better battery life, 2 gb of ram and at least an N280 processor. In addition, we would really like the units to have tablet functionality so that students can write directly on the screens. All of this needs to come in at under $400 per machine. There are a number of new machines coming out from Asus, Acer, HP, Lenova and others so we will be watching closely….