Thanks for this…very succinct and powerful piece. It is the same for teachers…if they don’t have a level of administration rights for the devices they teach with, we are saying we don’t trust them either -perpetuating a power base that in this efficient and economic world can’t be sustained anyway.

I’ve linked to this off my regional blog…trying to get the message out.

Thanks again,
Vickie

I know it well.

I’d love to read whatever you turn it into…

As for locking down teacher laptops, it’s incredibly frustrating.

From an IT management perspective, there are a couple of valid reasons why laptops should have at least some degree of “lockdown” in place. Antivirus, version control, unauthorised or illegal software, etc, are some of the reasons that IT departments do this stuff. Managing a fleet of computers will always be a delicate balancing act between the security needs of the enterprise and the freedoms of the individuals.

The problem arises when the balance is too far one way or the other. In some places, restrictions are wound up so tight that they start to get in the way of actual productive work, and that, IMO, is a problem. IT loves doing it of course, as it means less trouble for them. Schools need to remember that the point of having computers in education is not to make the lives of the IT guys easy, but to make the learning potential greater for the students. (and staff)

At my school, here’s how we handle that… All staff are issued with a laptop that has all the software they would reasonably be expected to need. As well as that, software can be added by users by going to a “self installation” page on our network where they can just click an application they want and it silently installs on the machine. It works well. Staff don’t have local admin rights, so can’t add software by the usual installation process. By and large, this meets the needs of most staff who don’t want to spend time looking after their machine, they just want it to work. (I’d suggest that it’s very difficult to encourage innovators this way however)

For a small number of our staff who have proven themselves to be a little more tech-savvy, they can request to have all the restrictions taken off their machine, and be given full local admin access. They can install software, delete stuff, try new apps, basically anything they want. They are responsible for their own backups and file management.

The proviso is that if they screw up their computer, they can bring it back to IT and have it imaged back to a standard configuration. IT won’t reinstall their exotic software or try to salvage their lost files. They will give them back a working, standard laptop that has all the base software that everyone else gets. If there is tears and crying about lost work, they might also provide a box of Kleenex, but that’s about it. You took the risk of having full control of your computer, so you also have to wear the responsibility as well.

As far as I’m aware, this system works quite well. Those people who want more control can have it as long as they wear the additional responsibility that comes with that control.

Interestingly, most of the edtech innovation in our school also comes from this minority who manage their own machines (although to be fair, they were granted that access because they were already tech savvy.