Hi everyone,
I have a question for anyone reading this. Has anyone used a Dell Mini-10 (or something similar) to teach the online courses? As some of you may have read in my other postings, our newer laptop suffered a "camper accident" earlier this summer and we now have to replace this old hunk of junk I am currently typing on. I'm wondering if any of you have used the smaller laptops and what you think of them for teaching online?
Thanks,
Holly DB
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
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I have a larger laptop, but I think my post will be the same regardless. My Internet connection seems to be the most important aspect of effectively teaching my online courses. I need a LOT of Ram for my particular subjects, but the newer ones all come with that anyway. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a huge fan of working on my online courses with a small screen. It increases the amount of time that everything takes. I think a 13" screen would probably be the smallest I would go. If you've got a Costco membership, they've got some great deals on computers, and they have a good return/warranty policy. I'm an Apple guy, but if I wasn't, I'd probably get a computer from Costco. You might also consider the option of having a small screened laptop and an external monitor. 17" - 20" external monitors are pretty crazy cheap these days. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteSmall screen laptops are great for checking your classes on the go, but grading is tougher. I feel I need more screen space to look at the students' work. The second screen for home use is an interesting idea...
ReplyDeleteHi everyone, thanks to all of you for your thoughts on the smaller laptops. I should have mentioned that I use a desktop (with a honking big screen) at home the majority of the time, and the smaller one would be for those times that I'm traveling or don't want to haul the full-size laptop with (or my husband crushes the newer one we had with the slide-out of the camper...whoops, bet he won't do that again...)
ReplyDeleteWe did break down today and order a replacement for the larger laptop and I decided I could spoil myself and went ahead and ordered a mini for myself (and yes, both of them will be kept well away from any slides in campers!*smile*).
Holly DB
Hi everyone, thought I'd post an update. I received my new MINI yesterday. I'm thrilled as it is purple (my favorite color). So far, it seems to be working out okay. I haven't tried to grade anything on it (that's most likely going to be a task completed on the desktop most of the time). This is more for traveling purposes only.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I've noticed is that the smaller the computer screen, the more of the D2L desktop I'm able to see. Has anyone else noticed that if you are on a big screen that the items over on the right are missing (such as the "Edit Course" button)? Anytime we start a new semester I do have to go to a laptop or smaller screen in order to get the "Edit Course" icon so I can take out the menu items I don't use under our course navigation bars. I'm sure there is a setting on the desktop (where the bigger screen is connected) that I need to fix, I just don't know what it is. No wonder my brother considers me a "techno-peasant" (*smile*). And for those that are wondering, he was on the phone with me for about an hour last night helping us get the new MINI connected to our wireless router.