Teach Secondary 13.5

Where can I find. . . ACCESSALLAREAS Your students are likely to be more familiar with tablets and Chromebooks than ‘proper’ computers – but, says RobWraith , they could really do with knowing both... C omputers really are everywhere these days – yet despite making frequent use of them on a daily basis, how au fait are teenagers and young adults with what they actually are, how they ought to be maintained and how to fix themwhen something goes wrong? Computing wasn’t even part of the National Curriculumwhen I attended school, only becoming mandatory much later in September 2014. Back in the day, students at school would have predominantly had access to the BBC Acorn, RM 380Z or (in rare cases) the Sinclair Spectrum. Myself, I remember using a BBC Acorn (Model B) in CDT, when it was wheeled out on a trolley once a week for around 30 minutes. It had no internet connection (though a nascent version of the online connectivity we know today did exist), nor was it linked to any kind of central server. Yet this fully self-contained, standalone computer was something that I and some of my friends at school greatly enjoyed using. It felt like a privilege to have access to it when planning our next projects. That machine would go on to kickstart my interest in computers, and later the WorldWideWeb. I wanted to knowwhat this machine was capable of and what could be done on it. It was an interest that would drive me to spend weeks at a time building my first game by typing out code published in a weekly magazine, which would eventually turn out to be a Lemmings clone. That was a genuine thrill. Letme take you back… Computers first began arriving in workplaces from the 1950s onwards, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that the first commercially viable computers were made available to the public – and even then, they were heavy and prohibitively expensive. Technological breakthroughs in the 1970s led to the invention of the microcomputer – a device category based around a self-contained processing unit and microchip that enabled the production of computers that were much smaller in size and therefore muchmore practical. The 1980s then saw the development and widespread adoption of more powerful ‘personal computers’, such as the IBMPC, which ran full operating systems and software applications. At the same time, the IBMPC standard saw competition fromApple’s Macintosh line, which ran an operating system specifically developed for the hardware – the descendants of which evolved into the computers we’re familiar with today. Advances in graphic cards, data storage, software development and the internet would fuel the rapid forward momentum that characterised the computer industry of the 90s, leading to further innovations in laptop form factors, and as the 21st century dawned, tablet devices and smartphones. They might be exponentially more powerful, but the devices we use today can be clearly traced back to technologies and standards first developed in the 1970s. In the early 2000s, a milestone was passed when sales of fully integrated laptop devices finally overtook those of traditional desktop PCs (which still typically consist of a bulky base unit connected to a separate monitor, mouse and keyboard). That gap grows ever wider to this day, with even laptops now increasingly getting edged out by mobile devices. Key advantages Does this mean we’re now fully in an era of ‘light’ computers – i.e. laptops, notepads, tablets and phones? Do we really need that residual knowledge of how to correctly configure desktop machines so that they run our full operating system of choice in the way we want them to? Or should our focus really now be more on how our students use Chrome OS, iOS and Android? There are certainly some key advantages to be had come from schools’ use of ‘light’ computers for most of their IT-assisted tasks. There’s usually a lower upfront cost for Chromebook-style devices that run streamlined operating systems, as well as their greater ease of use to consider, which usually ensures that the technology itself doesn’t obstruct the important business of learning. Then there’s the very welcome ability to prevent the installation of unwanted apps and lock in certain system settings. Another crucial factor is the inherent portability of ChromeOS and how, say, the wider Google for Education platform can be easily accessed via “Many companies still relyon traditional desktopmachines andoperating systems” 80 teachwire.net/secondary