[LINK] Rudd's vow, but cost of computers to hit states

[Tom Worthington]

At 06:11 PM 29/03/2008, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
><brd>Yet another poorly thought through IT project?<brd>

On the contrary I think the ALP's promise of computer for schools was 
carefully thought through, for all its deficiencies. The ALP made it 
very clear it was only offering computer hardware for secondary 
schools. I think support should be part of the offer, but it clearly 
wasn't. State Governments can rightly argue that lumping them with 
all the ongoing costs is not fair, but that was the deal offered. If 
the state governments did not think it a good deal, they could have 
said so during the election campaign and recommended people not vote 
for the ALP.

>Rudd's vow, but cost of computers to hit states Anna Patty Education 
>Editor March 29, 2008 SMH 
>http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/rudds-vow-but-cost-of-computers-to-hit-states/2008/03/28/1206207408009.html
>
>The State Government is considering using wireless laptops rather 
>than expensive cable-connected desktop computers to avoid some of 
>the extra costs they have been lumped with because of the education 
>promises Labor made before the federal election. ...

I am not sure wireless is going to reduce the cost much and there 
other ways, but clearly the purchase of the hardware is only part of the cost.

>Labor made an election vow to deliver a computer for every school child ...

No, the offer was only for secondary students.

>... The states have strongly objected to the huge extra costs, 
>running into hundreds of millions of dollars, for the cabling, 
>security, software licensing and maintenance ...

Schools could consider using thin clients, as the ALP proposal 
suggested, as well as Linux, open source and maximizing caching of 
data, to lower data costs.

>... costs like broadband access, rewiring and adding power outlets, 
>higher electricity bills, air-conditioning, security, insurance, 
>maintenance of the network and hardware ...

Broadband access, rewiring, insurance and maintenance are cost 
issues.  Higher electricity bills would not be a major cost if low 
power computers are used in correctly designed school buildings. If 
state and private schools build poorly designed buildings which 
require air conditioning and then select poorly design computers 
which increase the air conditioning load, they can hardly blame the 
federal government for their own bad decision making.

>"These are not insignificant costs; the cost of rewiring a school to 
>accommodate new computers will be over $100,000 for the average school." ...

The average school size in NSW is about 800 students 
<http://www.aare.edu.au/92pap/mckep92118.txt>, so that works out at 
$125 per computer for rewiring. That is barely enough to pay for a 
power socket. However, money could be saved with  low power thin 
clients, clustering computers and the like.

But some savings may be illusory. For example, the school could save 
on power points by using laptops which are charged overnight in a 
central facility. But that way you are up for large battery 
replacement costs, every few years.

I will be discussing this at the Open 2020 Summit on Thursday at ANU: 
<http://www.katelundy.info/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103&Itemid=34>.

ps: If we really are looking for a digital education revolution, then 
perhaps the students should be somewhere else, apart from school, for 
about 50% of the school week, with the learning integrated into the 
community. This should lower the cost of the school system by about 
25%. But this may be politically unpalatable, as parents would then 
have to pay for any needed child minding services for their children 
themselves, rather than using school teachers as cheap baby sitters.



Tom Worthington FACS HLM tom.worthington at tomw.net.au Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd            ABN: 17 088 714 309
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617                      http://www.tomw.net.au/
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, ANU