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Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Improving the Student:Computer Ratio
When Greg Young, technology director at the Dallas, Texas-area Rylie Family Faith Academies, began working at the school, he had an enormous challenge. He had to figure out how to buy enough computers to serve every student.
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Tuesday, August 05, 2008
CDI Computer Dealers Helps Virginia School District
From RedOrbit.com
CDI Computer Dealers Helps Virginia School District Provide Technology Resources for 4,700 Students Adoption of 300 Refurbished Computers Provides $230,000 in Savings to Louisa County Public Schools and Enables 2:1 Ratio of Students to PCs

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Friday, March 28, 2008
CDI Doubles Capacity for Recycling and Reselling Information Technology
CDI Doubles Capacity for Recycling and Reselling Information Technology Markham, Ontario, March 25, 2008 – CDI Computer Dealers, Inc. (CDI), one of the largest independent re-marketers of IT equipment in North America, today announced the opening of a new, 64,000-square foot processing facility in Toronto that more than doubles its capacity to recycle and remarket technology assets.
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Poll
What prevents you from reaching all your technology goals for the year?  





Results

Question #6 - Detailed Answers

6. If there are other features, concerns or comments about keyboards and mice in general please include them here.

1 Optical mice with centre scroll button is important for us and should come standard. Ergonomics is also important so having a keyboard that's conducive to preventing repetative injuries would be bennificial. What are the leg adjustments like?
2 Goof weight -- I find the light weight keyboard and mouse feels cheap.
3 Especially in the education field we have children of all ages using these computers. The quality of both the mouse and keyboard have to be such that they can take an average constant use of 6 to 10 hours a day 5 days a week. Even without abuse the constant use does cause issues. I have to admit that all of the equipment that Southern Local School District in Racine ,Ohio has purchased from CDI has performed to an excellent standard.
4 Keyboards are so cheap to replace that sometimes quality is given up for quantity. An ideal keyboard would be one that could withstand relatively moderate abuse.
5 dust and grunge are the worst keyboard problems we have in a fleet of 1400 PCs
6 If there were an easy method to clean all the dead skin and other materials that get caught in a keyboard, that would be fantastic, but I am uncertain as to how to go about this. I guess that is what engineers are for!
7 We use SpeedSkin keyboard covers to teach keyboarding skills. Some built-in functionality to prevent the students looking at their keyboards would be great.
8 Due to all the excess cables, it would be wonderful if the mouse and keyboard could be wireless. However, in an educational institution, this would be nerly impossible. I believe the mouses, especially, would constantly disappear. Also, no cables for keyboard or mouses should be make with the "curly" cables. These constantly are tangled!
9 I think a nice feature would be backlighting. Often the labs are very dark with the lights off.
10 All Keyboards and Mics must be USB
11 Back-lit keys on the board for darker computer labs during presentations and lab work.
12 Will there be a small sized keyboard appropriate to teaching students 3rd grade or younger keyboarding?
13 Usb access at the keyboard - for easy flash drive hook Laser mice only - kids like to steal the balls A laser that can read any surface - most laser mice will not track on a smooth surface.
14 Mouse built into full size keyboard.
15 It is good to have quality optical mice- 2 button with scroll wheel a must. We have tried some lower quality mice that "feel" cheap and very light but they do not last long before we need to replace them.
16 In our educational environment, there is little drinking or eating around the keyboards, so there isn't a large cost associated with replacement for these reasons. Depending on cost, the antibacterial option could be a good one for schools.
17 In our school environments, we find it very hard to get any consistent cleaning of keyboards by caretaking staff. We therefore tend to replace keyboards fairly often. At $10 to $15 each, it isn't worth the labour involved to scrub them, or if we do, we do it 'en mass' after collecting 100's of keyboards. Based on cost..... The anti-microbial and spillproof features wouldn't be as big a selling point.... even though we know they would be beneficial.
18 Adjustable heights
19 It'd be great if there was a Mac version as well
20 With keyboards, a more reliable way to tilt the keyboard would be nice and multiple angle would be a bonus. Mice designed with primary kids in mind would be handy. Some of the mice are too big for K-2 graders to comfortably use.
21 It would be great if you considered a keyboard where the feet don't break of come off. I like the tilt of the keyboard, but sometimes they close up when I'm typing.
22 Hotkeys
23 I would like to see a keyboard where the keys cannot be pried off. Some of the little darlings like to snap off the keys for fun.
24 If there is a way to hightlight Alt-Ctrl-Delete this would be helpful for all windows systems. We always mark them keys for our lower grades. I think the color black works best.
25 I would like to see a keyboard and mouse set to where the keyboard is wired but the mouse is wireless with a dockstation.
26 It would be great if we could figure a way to food from slipping down into the keyboard. Or if it does if it could fall out onto the desk.
27 I look at keyboards as an item to swap out easily and with little cost effect.
28 The anti-microbial and spill-proof are great features - especially at the K - 8 grade levels.
29 Price! Price! Price! That is the #1 concern for me. I'd rather replace with a cheap unit ($5-$8) and have it last 1-2 years then spend $15 for one that is good for 3 years. Odds are I will come out ahead with the cheaper models.
30 wheel on the mouse...
31 Easy to clean would be a nice feature
32 Keyboards that are compatable to both Apple and PC clones.
33 I prefer the oem keyboards/mice, Unless we specifically have requested it, we have been receiving the lowest quality kb/mice that I have ever seen. We received a batch of workstations last year, and the keyboards/mice were actually on the outside of the packing foam and served as packaging material. I made a phone call to our Sales Rep and several broekn KB/mice were replaced...but within weeks the rest of them began to fail. I don't need kb/mice that are high end. Just sturdy and functiional.
34 It does not need a lot of mutimedia or other types of buttons, most of them are not used in the educational setting.
35 Color preference Black keys....look cleaner, neater. Black mice as well
36 It would be nice if the keys could not be removed by students That is my largest issue.
37 n/a
38 Our keyboards gather much dirt and debris under and beneath the keys. A keyboard that was easy to clean, or one that prevented dirt from being trapped would be feature I would consider in a purchase decision. With mice, a common problem we encounter, is students stealing the mouse. They can easily slip them into their pockets. A mouse that had some kind of lock attachment would be an asset, or mice that were specifically programmed for an individual computer, therefore stealing would be futile.
39 Affordable optical mice is essential at the school level as students remove the rollerballs from regular mice...
40 lighter, slimmer, sleeker, the better... metal is better than plastic, and keys - make them so they don't pop off or can't be pried off by students.
41 HP had talked about a washable keyboard??
42 Optical mice are a must
43 If the microbshield is not toxic to the environment nor the user, what a grand idea.
44 Color coding letters (vowels, consonants) on the keyboard is nice. No one makes a keyboard with lower case letters. It is definitely needed with younger students. Keyboards with no letters is also needed to teach keyboarding. Using the speed skin covers is a pain. Euroguys distributes a mouse that is a rolling ball with two click buttons. It would be great to get that mouse attached to a keyboard.
45 No space between keys where the dust would collect.
46 A nice feature to have on a keyboard would be to have keys that CANT be popped off, or were very difficult to. Many of the schools I work for have issues with students popping the keys off and stealing them.
47 Keys cannot be taken off the keyboard. USB ports that lock in the mouse making it difficult to disconnect a mouse and walk away with it.
48 Remove all balls, only optical mice should be used in schools.
49 good number pad, and maybe volume controls for the speakers, etc.
50 smaller mouse size for primary grades Buttons on mouse marked with a "L" or a "R" or color coded Keyboard comes with a card stock version that can be deplicated and laminated so that the students can practice at their sesk or at home on a keyboard replica that is exactly like the real one keys color coded so that all of the keys that would be pushed with a certain finger would have the smae color Ctrl Alt Delete keys color coded
 
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