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Laptop Program for Students Summary: Concordia requires each student in Grade 7 through 12 to have an Apple laptop computer for use on a daily basis as part of the school’s Laptop Program for Students. For Use Beginning: Spring 2014 Booklet: Admin, Staff, Students Last Update: 1/2014 File Name: Admin Policy & Procedure Laptop Program Vision Information Literacy and Technology Literacy are essential for success in society. An internet-‐connected laptop, along with dedicated instruction and supervision, can open up a whole new world of learning and expression for a student. Policy Concordia requires each student in Grade 7 through 12 to have an Apple laptop computer for use on a daily basis. The Laptop Program is not available for students in Elementary School or Grades 5 and 6. Laptop Program Details Concordia maintains a laptop standard (see Laptop Standard), which, due to technology advances, may change year to year. Parents are required to provide each of their Concordia students with a laptop that meets this standard (see Laptop Purchase). After purchase each student must register the laptop with the Concordia Laptop Program before s/he may use the laptop at School. Upon acceptance of a laptop into the Laptop Program, Concordia installs a school administrative account (see Laptop Administrative Control) on the laptop, enters the laptop into the school records system, and affixes a name label to the laptop. The program provides the following as long as the laptop continues to be used as a student’s primary laptop for completing schoolwork at Concordia: • Access to school networks. • School software. Software is made available as needed by the curriculum. Software differs by grade level and might include iLife, iWork, Microsoft Office, Adobe CS4, Apple Final Cut Pro, Concentrate, Visual Thesaurus, Timeline 3D, or other specialized software as required for class work. Most applications are under site-‐license agreements and so must be removed when the laptop leaves the program. • Software upgrades as deemed appropriate by the Director of Technology. • On-‐campus Tech Hub (Room P235) for software & hardware issues and usage training. Note: The School uses many site-‐licensed software applications, which must be removed from the laptop when it is no longer used at Concordia. Each student must bring his/her laptop to the Tech Hub before s/he replaces a laptop already being used at Concordia and before his/her final day at Concordia so that staff may remove School site-‐licensed software. Laptop Standard A laptop used for study at Concordia must be maintained in fully-‐working condition and must be of specification, e.g., processor speed, RAM, disc space, sufficient to support the software applications used by the School in the manner used by the School. It is likely that a laptop over four years old will not meet this standard in which case the family must provide a new laptop for their student. Parents may check the age of a laptop, and also determine whether or not the laptop is still covered by warranty, by entering the laptop serial number on the Apple Warranty website at https://selfsolve.apple.com/ The current recommendation for new laptops is a recent lowest-‐level 13-‐inch Apple MacBook Pro laptop. For details, visit http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MD101LL/A (link valid as of May 10, 2013). Concordia allows, Page 1 of 2
but does not require, higher-‐level (more expensive) configurations of the 13” Apple MacBook Pro laptop. Parents may also purchase a Macbook Air for their students provided that the “hard drive” is at least 256GB. Laptop Purchase Parents are responsible for purchasing the student laptop. If a fapiao (official Chinese government tax invoice) is needed, parents must acquire the fapiao directly from the laptop vendor. Concordia suggests the following sources for purchasing the required laptop. Parents can order an Apple laptop online through Solution Keys at http://laptops.concordiashanghai.org . (Solution Keys is the company contracted by Concordia to staff the Tech Hub, which provides technical services to students and faculty.) Concordia can provide parents with a “Concordia Laptops Requirement” letter, which states that the school requires each family to provide an Apple laptop for use at school for each G7 to G12 student. Upon request, the School will personalize the letter with student name, student grade, and parent name. Laptop Administrative Control Concordia makes every effort to safeguard the wellbeing of, and to facilitate the education process for, all students. In the context of the Laptop Program, this means that the School creates a School administrative account on each student laptop, and records the hardware and software serial numbers of each laptop and affixes a name label to the laptop. Teachers and administrators are able to remotely view student laptop contents when the laptops are on campus and, when deemed necessary, may search the data on laptops (such as files and browser, chat, and Skype history, etc.) and on Concordia systems (such as email, photo/video galleries, class websites, etc.) and/or temporarily impound a student laptop pending a discussion with the student’s parent. Please see also the Concordia Student Tech Code. USB Hard Drive Purchase We strongly recommend purchase of a 500GB or bigger USB Hard Drive for exclusive use with each laptop. Students can use Apple Time Machine software, which comes with the laptop, to easily backup their data. USB Hard Drives are readily available at most stores that sell computers. Questions? Submit questions via [email protected] Page 2 of 2