Chromebooks for Education: A Student’s View

As a high school senior and an intern at Newmind Group I see the need for technology in education and the struggles that many people face with it. In school these days, not having a computer can put a student at a severe disadvantage. Teachers expect you to type papers, create slide shows, and accomplish other tasks that require a computer in your free time. This can be a struggle for students without a computer of their own.

2 major struggles that I’ve had include:

• Finding a device to work on
  While using computers at school or at a library is an option, it is inconvenient and the environment is not always conducive to accomplishing school work. Not to mention availability is always an issue when dealing with publicly accessible devices.
• Saving & Transporting Files
  You also have to worry about how you save & transport files. Every teacher that I know stresses the importance of saving every document three times to guard against data loss. Without a personal device I’ve had to email myself, save to a USB drive, or to my Google Apps account at my school. (That last one isn’t so bad as I can get to it anywhere I have internet access, which is what I’ll touch on in a little bit.)

The problem escalates as I look forward and begin to think about college, where a laptop/PC is considered a necessary tool for learning. A 2012 study by Google found that 86% of all college students supplement what they learn in class with digital media, today I would assume that number is even higher. A computer therefore becomes a necessary tool for a college student and therefore a necessary expense. The same study found that 45% of college students pay for all of their college costs (tuition, room, board, books, and other expenses). This means that most students will choose a computer based largely on the cost of the device, even if the device is not ideal for their needs.

As a student I love the features of the Samsung 303 Chromebook that I’m using. It is very light and has an average battery life of seven hours with constant use, or about three days when in standby, which makes it extremely portable. I am a pretty heavy user and usually have anywhere from ten to fifteen tabs open at a time while I check my email, edit documents, spreadsheets, and do research simultaneously. I mainly use my Chromebook for work so I am constantly editing spreadsheets, doing research, creating documents, and writing code. Despite this heavy usage, the Chromebook has always remained lightning fast.

The greatest advantage of saving my work in Google Drive, which automatically saves changes while I’m working on a document, is the ability to access it wherever there is an internet connection, with any computer, while still having it saved to my Chromebook for offline access. By using Google Drive I can share my work with any other Google user and collaborate with them on documents. When I collaborate with other users we can all simultaneously edit the document and add comments to communicate. I use the collaboration feature constantly when a teacher assigns a group project. In fact, my AP Government class actually used Google Drive to create a unified copy of our notes so that we could compare them and help each other. (I also used the collaborative features in Google Drive to get help editing this post.)

The compelling feature to many students may be the low cost, with the Samsung 303 Chromebook starting at $249 compared to a basic laptop that starts around $300. Most laptops/PCs that would be adequate for student use are closer to the $400-$500 range. A chromebook also has the added advantage of coming with an extra 100 GB of Google Drive cloud storage free for two years, a service that would usually cost $4.99 a month.

This table shows the cost of ownership of a Chromebook vs a low-end and midrange Ultrabook and Macbooks over four years. I chose to use Ultrabooks and Macbooks for comparison because they are the devices that are similar in size, weight, and battery life; aspects that are very important when you are carrying it all day.

Device:	Samsung 303 Chromebook	Dell Inspiron 14z Ultrabook (it’s pretty basic)	Dell XPS 12 Ultrabook (this is a midrange model)	Apple Macbook Pro with Retina Display 13”	Apple Macbook Air 13”
Longevity: (years)	2	2	3+	3+	3+
Cost:	$249	$549	$1,199	$1,499	$1,099
Extras:	100Gb Google Drive Storage**: $4.99/mo	Office 365 University: $79	Office 365 University: $79	Office 365 University: $79	Office 365 University: $79
Total: (Over 4 years)*	$738	$1,178	$1,278	$1,578	$,1178

* Totals assume the replacement of devices every 2 years.
** New purchases of Chromebooks come with 100Gb of free Google Drive space for 2 years, but I’ll calculate the cost as if I was paying for Google Drive Cloud Storage.

As I finish high school and move to college I know that I will be taking a Chromebook with me because of its portability, price, and features. Using a Chromebook will allow me to easily guard against data loss, and allow me to access my data through Google Drive from any computer with an internet connection. Google Drive will also provide a suite of applications for collaborative and creative use that is easily accessible and free. A chromebook will also be extremely portable at 2.4lbs with a seven hour battery life, while still saving me more than $500 over four years.

Protect Students With Web Filtering

Securly protects students on computers throughout the school while giving them safe access to 21st century learning tools like YouTube, Google and Wikipedia.

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Tyler Triemstra is a new intern at Newmind Group. He works on internal improvements to make the sales process more efficient, but mainly, he is learning a ton from the team at Newmind. He has a passion for technology and enjoys being part of a team that helps businesses use technology effectively.

Tyler is a senior in high school who enjoys reading, traveling, and volunteering. He can’t wait to graduate from high school and is busily searching for a college to attend.

IT at the Small and Growing company

This post was originally published to Daniel Jefferies' Medium blog feed.

“A company this size can’t afford mistakes.”

For the last 13 years or so I’ve been working on IT with great folks in small, mid-sized and large organizations all over the country. In that time I’ve noticed that just as businesses change as they grow so do the IT departments that serve them. As the business changes, the IT challenges change. Sometimes the IT department keeps up with these challenges and sometimes they get stuck in the ways of the past. I want to start today by looking at the IT needs of Small and Growing businesses which many times have no IT department of their own. In future posts I also plan to cover lessons learned in working with IT in Mid-Sized and Scaling businesses as well as Large and Transforming organizations.

Impact Athletic builds quality work surfaces and storage equipment for Athletic Trainers.

Impact Athletic builds quality work surfaces and storage equipment for Athletic Trainers. I’m a entrepreneur at heart. I love to meet people that are starting something new. Kevin Mcleod and his company Impact Athletic are great examples of this type of small and growing company. Like most small organizations they have no IT department of their own.

“I love tech, I love shiny new things, but I was absolutely frightened by what we had to tackle in IT.” recalls Kevin.

Like many small companies, Impact started out using whatever consumer technologies were at hand. Personal email accounts, a copy of Quickbooks and whatever hardware seemed to be the best deal at the local big box electronics retailer or online. This approach works great at the very beginning but as the company grows this “just use what you have” approach begins to breakdown.
Kevin realized very quickly that he needed an IT partner to get him set up with the right tools so his team could “move fast.” Kevin selected Newmind to be that partner and in Kevin’s words Impact had “infrastructure overnight.”

When I asked Kevin why he had chosen to invest in an IT partner he said, “A company this size can’t afford mistakes.”

I really like working with companies like Kevin’s but not all small companies his size make the smart decisions he did. I’ve noticed that they usually have some common challenges and some make common mistakes. Here are the challenges and mistakes that I have observed other companies making in IT during their small and growing phase.

3 Challenges

1. Can’t afford the IT help that they really need.
2. Need good IT to stay productive and win against larger competitors.
3. Often the owners of the company aren’t strong on IT and feel frustrated having to make decisions without advice from a trusted and experienced advisor.

3 Common Mistakes

1. Most business owners wait too long to find an IT partner that can be a trusted advisor and take the IT workload off the owner’s shoulders.
2. Many small companies develop defacto IT people. Sarah in accounting knows a bit about IT so all the questions go to her. Before you know it she is spending half her time on the accounts payable and half on IT. Her accounts payable workload is suffering and the IT work isn’t getting done very well either. She’s probably frustrated as well and thinking of leaving because no one appreciates all the extra work she is doing.
3. In the early stages companies tend to work harder not smarter. They hire more people to do labor intensive manual tasks rather than getting IT help to make the people they have more productive. From a cost perspective they end up spending much more than they would have if they had made a larger investment in IT at an earlier point in time.

3 Recommendations

1. Find an affordable IT Partner early in the life of the business.
   Your people will be more productive and happy and you will have more time to grow the business and fewer IT headaches to distract you.
2. Invest in the right tools for your team.
   Many small business owners have tight budgets. When it is time for a better email system, a customer relationship management (CRM) system or other tools they tend to drag their feet because of the cost. If you have an IT partner as a trusted advisor early on this can help you make an informed decision. They will probably tell you that to attract the right people you need the right tools. Failing to invest in the right tools can create a frustrating environment and make it difficult to retain your best employees.
3. Stay flexible.
   Look for an IT partner like Kevin did and sign a flexible agreement with them. Choose IT tools that are flexible and have short term commitments, a la carte pricing options and trial periods. Your business is growing fast and you need to be able to make changes quickly if needed. If you are a small business owner or manager I hope some of the information in this post validates some of the great decisions that you’ve made regarding your IT. If you see some mistakes you’ve made I hope I’ve given enough information to help you make corrections. If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me by leaving a comment or on twitter @heydjeff.

Daniel Jefferies is the founder of Newmind Group. Based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Newmind Group began as a small, regional IT company in 2003. Since then, we have opened offices in Charleston, Minneapolis, and Silicon Valley, and have grown in scope and size to become a national provider of cloud computing solutions for businesses of all sizes. Our specialty is moving legacy systems to more cost effective and reliable cloud based systems hosted by Google, Amazon, and Rackspace.

BYOD to COPE: The Mobility Spectrum

This is part 2 of our look at mobile policy strategy and the great mobility debate. Be sure to read the first post, "BYOD vs Standardization - Understanding Your Mobile Strategy," to explore device standardization.

Environment & History

Look around the office of 10 years ago, and you’d probably find basically the same place as today. Sure, we have better computers now, but those are basically the same boxes as before.  So, in terms of tech, what’s changed?  For that answer we need to look in our pockets.

10 years ago, if you needed your work email on the go, you got a Blackberry.  Spreadsheets Presentations?  ThinkPad.  Fast forward to now, and you probably have a device in your pocket that an do all of that, and faster.  Wireless devices - whether phone, tablet, laptop, or any of the hybrids in between - have become indispensable at work.


So how to balance the needs of a mobile business community with security concerns, financial overheads & employee morale?  If we imagine the different possible configurations on a graph, it might look something like this:

What are my Mobile device policy Options?

With BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), the risks of unmanaged devices accessing and housing company data are mitigated by IT implementing management controls.  When this happens on an employee’s device, it can negate the freedoms BYOD is championed for.    The amount of employee satisfaction drops sharply, due to feelings of being hijacked.  When implementing BYOD try not to mandate controls on the devices, but instead look to create data access controls. This will keep morale up and also productivity.

Using the COPE (Corporate-Owned Personally-Enabled) model, the sweet spot for installing management software and controls is larger.  Since the device (and mobile plan) is paid for by the company, and since employees can customize it to their liking,  most workers are more apt to graciously allow a moderate level of company management without that nagging feeling of being boxed in or watched over.

Further options

You’re not relegated to BYOD or COPE.  There are a plethora of other options you can explore them and find the best fit for your culture.  Here are a few:

• CYOD (Choose Your Own Device)
  A liberated form of standardization, employees select a device from an approved list
• CLEO (Corporate Liable, Employee Owned)
  Reverse BYOD, where employee owns hardware and company pays for service
• BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud)
  Not a mobility policy itself, but can be used to augment an existing setup

Criteria for Deciding

All the above are really different configurations to the same end: accessing data ubiquitously. Company culture and data access needs will be major factors in deciding how to form a mobile policy.  Here are some points to consider when shaping yours.

• What platforms can your IT staff support?
• What level of data mobility does each employee group need (CRM, financial, legal, procedural, everything)?
• What security requirements do you have for each type of data?
• How valuable is data ubiquity to your workers?
• How important is device freedom to your company culture?

Beyond these, there are bound to be company-specific criteria you’ll need to consider as well.  The best answer may end up being a full commitment for a specific model, or you may find choosing different models for different employee groups makes the most sense.  The point is to select the plan that best conforms to you.

Conclusion

As we all move forward into this tech-rich future, there will be new devices that again change the standard business paradigm.  To get the most out of these nascent capabilities, remaining aware of the full spectrum of options and how others are implementing them will be key to a future-ready company.

Part 3 of this series can be found here, "BYOD vs Standardization - SaaS makes it easy"

Luke Reynolds is a new member of Newmind's IT managed services team. Previously he worked with schools, not-for-profits, and businesses to help them acquire and deploy Google Chromebooks on the enterprise level.

Luke Reynolds enjoys writing, music, film, and any form of radical human expression. He's also a rabid proponent of Kalamazoo's local roller derby team, the Killamazoo Derby Darlins.