Schools swap notebooks for Netbooks

An education taskforce in South London announced today that it will provide 100 children in three primary schools across Brixton with Psion Netbook wireless computers.

The project, backed by the Lambeth Education Action Zone, is geared at improving literacy and numeracy at the schools and will be trialled for a year.

The taskforce said Psion's Netbook was chosen for the project because it is more cost effective and portable than a laptop computer.

Launched late last year, the Netbook is a mini-notebook around A4-size, which is based on Psion's handheld operating system (OS), Epoc.

The instant-on feature and long battery life, as well as the stability of the Epoc OS, also matched the needs of schoolchildren, many of whom will be using computers for the first time, the taskforce said.

"Having a good grasp of computing principles from an early age is essential to all-round education. Technology can accelerate children's progress," said Dr Tim Coulson, project director, Lambeth Education Action Zone.

"Our aim is to give children in Lambeth the opportunity to develop literacy and numerous skills using computers, and this announcement with Psion goes some way to addressing that," he said.

Coulson downplayed fears that the Netbook could be stolen from children. He said it can be easily and securely transported in a school satchel.

"In pilot projects where children have taken computers home, there is evidence that children are better than adults because they don't do things like leave their laptop on the Tube," said Coulson.

Charlotte Chipping, aged 9, said she preferred the Netbook to a PC because it was easier to send messages. She enjoyed writing and sketching using the device, but admitted she had not yet discovered its maths program.

The Netbooks used in the project are fitted with PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) ethernet slots and a Compaq flash slot. In addition, some of the children have GSM PC Cards to allow internet access.

At first, information will be transferred between devices using an infrared link, but it is hoped that the project will be expanded so that a classroom-based wireless Local Area Network can be set up.

Psion is working with Acorn developers to port educational applications onto the Netbook to add to the word processing, graphics and office programs already available as standard.