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Episode 18 on student users.

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Students of course comprise the greatest number of IT users in schools.

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When considered together, K-12 students represent a group with a very wide range of skill sets and needs.

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The youngest students have emerging literacy and numeracy skills,

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and their hands are too small to fit full-size keyboards in the manner they were designed to be used.

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Even if their hands did fit, they're not yet typist so their ability to use computers can be very limited.

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But they tend to be very curious technology users and they're anxious to learn and to use the devices that they know are used by others.

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Technology used by those younger students tends to be highly prescribed by their teachers.

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They often use websites intended to facilitate learning academic skills.

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They use applications for artistic creation and for electronic books, among other things.

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Teachers will often integrate computing devices into centers in their classrooms when students have choice about what they study.

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Of course, many primary teachers are very cautious about using computers in their classrooms.

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As there are many other valuables and necessary skills that students must learn when they're at this age.

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While the youngest students in our K-12 schools are just learning to read and write, the oldest students are adults.

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Most of them turn 18 during their senior year in high school, and they are likely to be engaged in independent research and design projects,

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and many of them are taking classes in which the curriculum is designed to give them experience using the same software that professionals use.

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They tend to be creators of information with the school IT as well as consumers of information.

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The specific resources each needs depends on their plans for post-graduation as well as their coursework.

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So it's very likely IT professionals are going to be asked to configure different devices for different students.

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Standardization has many advantages for those who manage IT.

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If all users have the same permissions, then we need not configure and manage different organizational units.

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If all devices need the same software, then we can use imaging to deploy changes.

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While standardization can ease the work of technology management, it may prevent students from being able to do what they need to do.

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It is reasonable for school and technology leaders to consider the nature of students and their learning needs,

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as well as their teachers' needs which are grounded in their students' needs, when making final configuration decisions.

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No, actually that's not correct. It's essential that they consider these needs when making those decisions.