Welcome to Our School, Here's Your Laptop

After months of planning, the time has come to hand students their new laptops. First impressions are everything and this is the best opportunity to make the best impression on the students, parents and community. Once a date has been selected for the distribution, the laptop initiative team needs to sit down together to firm up plans for the big day. Ideally, parents and students will be involved in the distribution day. This ensures that all parties receive the same information at the same time. One of the keys to a successful laptop initiative is parent support, so keeping the parents informed and involved is important.

Because our laptops were going to be given to incoming freshmen, our team made the decision to hold a matriculation ceremony at the beginning of the school year. Matriculation is a ceremony to welcome students to an educational institution. The superintendent and building principal officially welcomed each freshmen to the high school and handed them a laptop. As students walked off the auditorium stage, they were met by their parents. We had stations set up to pay the laptop insurance fee and sign the acceptable use policy. If students were unable to pay the fee or chose to not sign the policy, the laptop was recollected and held for them until the fee was paid or paperwork completed. An additional station was set up to sell jump drives and laptop bags.

Students also participated in a one hour laptop training. Basic information on using the Ubuntu operating system, proper care of the laptop and the acceptable use policy was presented to them. Because they will be using these laptops for four years, the students needed to understand the importance of taking proper care of their laptops.

The district communications director coordinated press releases, media invitations and updates to the district website to promote the matriculation ceremony and laptop distribution. The ceremony took place a few days before the official first day of school, which gave the students a chance to spend time learning about their laptop on their own before the school year officially began.

Guiding Questions: Orientation
How will the laptops be distributed to the students?
What training will the students need in order to use/maintain the laptops?
Who will do the training?
When will the training take place?

Guiding Questions: Student Costs
What will the student cost be for the laptops?
How will the district collect any fees/payments?
How will insurance be made available for the laptops?
At what point will students have to pay repair or replacement costs?
How will the cost information be communicated with parents?

Guiding Questions: Acceptable Use Policy
What modifications will need to be made to the acceptable use policy?
How will the students be notified of the acceptable use policy?
What will be the discipline plan for violations of the acceptable use policy?
What will be the plan for students who fail to sign or refuse to sign the acceptable use policy?

Guiding Questions: New Students
How will laptops be distributed to students who transfer to the district during the year?
How will new students receive the netbook orientation?
Where will extra laptops be housed?

Guiding Questions: Public Relations/Communication
What are the academic goals for the laptop initiative?
How will the district be evaluating the impact of the laptops on student learning and success?
How can the district webpage be used to communicate information about the initiative?
How can distict communications be used to share information about the intiative?
How will information about the initiative be distributed to local media?
Who will be the district contact person to address questions/inquiries about the initiative?
How will the district promote the initiative - will advertising or "advertorials" be used to build interest in the intiative?
What role will social media play in sharing information about the initiative?