Next week is the next laptop roll out for the new year 9s. Their macbooks are coming preloaded with Lion. Our others run on Snow Leopard. Lion is more like an iPad and an iPhone so lots of students will easily adjust to the new OS. It also has a file sharing feature called Airdrop so files can be shared across the network. I am looking forward to helping with the roll out but, for us, it is a big commitment since we are a big school and so it means everything has to be just right before we can do the roll out. Our technicians and home group teachers help with the roll out and the students come along with their parents. There is then a facilitator. Someone like me who will help students set up their new Macbook. I did it last year and it was a very heart warming exercise and so completely different from anything else I have done as a teacher. It is a different way of connecting with students and their parents. This video lets you have a quick look at Lion. Its trackpad gestures are slightly different so you need to familiarise yourself with those.The person explaining it does not cover too much too fast so it is quite easy to see how Lion works in principle. I see the iPad similarity as a strength since the iPad interface is easy to manipulate and manage and the nested groups mean you can keep apps under control! The desktop feature which comes with Lion is common to all Linux operating systems. It can be very helpful if you are working on a number of things at once which you often are in a school. This video is a good starting place for Lion.
Filed under: classroom, e-learning, technology | Tagged: Apple, e-learning, iPad, Lion, LionOS, Mac, MacBook, MacBooks, one to one learning, technology, trackpad | Leave a comment »
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