Right On

The Age

Wednesday June 9, 1999

RUYTON Girls' School principal Ms Prue Gillies has sprung to the defence of the laptop computer, presently being blamed for everything from learning woes to strained ligaments. Ruyton's long-standing and successful laptop program has become an integral part of the curriculum and students' daily routine, she says.

The school's emphasis is on laptops supporting learning, not driving the process, she says. Any student using an Internet service provider is able to have access to their files on the school network, and this will make it unnecessary to take a laptop home.

``If we abandoned laptops now, we would lose flexibility and spontaneity," says the principal, who believes the equipment has much greater flexibility than banks of PCs in a lab. She suggests an intranet network would need large banks of computers in every learning space if laptops are not used.

But Ms Gillies acknowledges security and health issues. Students may use a lightweight Toshiba model, the Portege, and the school is also investigating alternatives such as trolleys. ``To abandon laptops at this stage would seem to deny the many possibilities for innovation and flexible learning offered by current technological advances such as radio network links".

© 1999 The Age

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