We have contacted the school technicians and they told us: “We are thinking about upgrading the school computers/networks. However various software might not work on the upgrade and it could cost a lot of money, but we will definitely upgrade the computers within 3 years.” This is optimistic feedback for us, as there will be a definite change within three years.
The school computers are now installed with Windows XP; currently there are no computers with the Windows 7 operating system. Most viewpoints from people we have come into contact with are very positive. Students tell us “It’s a worthwhile project you’re getting yourself into”. Teachers have a more sensible approach to us and explain to us “It’ll be an expensive price to pay”. We believe this won’t get into the way of success. Surrounding schools in the local area don’t have Windows 7 so we believe it will make our school more exclusive and will bring more academic students to the school. We have researched different viewpoints by having ‘1 to 1’ conversations with teachers, students and technicians.
Shops like Amazon,PC World and currys stock windows 7 (professional) . All selling at the same price £168-£169. We asked pupils around the school if they liked the idea of upgrading the school computers, and 70% of people agreed they are for the idea. The other 30% told us that pricing would probably be a issue. We later asked the students and teachers if they were for the idea if pricing wasn’t an issue, and they all replied saying they’d definitely want it. So it is apparent that the operating system is wanted at <School name> pricing is an issue. We have started an online petition () because we believe to capture the attention of young audiences we must be in front with technology.
We went to see the technicians and they are aware of the release of the new operating system. They aren’t aware of the specific price so we researched for them.
Our campaign is to upgrade Windows XP to Windows 7. We plan to launch questionnaires, online petitions and have meetings with governors. We chose questionnaires because we can back up what we think with evidence when confronting the governors etc. Online petitions were chosen because we believe that it will make it more exciting when signing up to a petition when on a computer as the younger generations are more experienced with using computers. We believe the petition will be more accessible by other people if on a website. A board meeting will be necessary to negotiate prices and how we will go about succeeding in this campaign. We hope the students of Clayton will ‘get behind us’ and support us on our campaign, we will aim this at the students because they are more likely to support us, because they aren’t as worried about money as the teachers.
Windows 7 has its advantages. According to ‘www.bizzle.com’ Windows 7 has a ‘intuitive design which will make it easier for students to engage, and will improve grades’
Our aim is to get Windows 7 on the school computers (To get something changed in our school). However if the technicians tell us that this will be feasible in 3 years, and they assure us that it will be installed by then, then we will be pleased in the result we have achieved. We will know when we have succeeded in our campaign when a teacher, headteacher, technician or governor assures us that the change will happen and offer us a time.
To resolve the matter we could write a formal letter to David Cameron asking for funding from the government. We could also launch fund raising events to raise money for this big event, because the teachers are worried that it could cost too much money.
I feel strongly about this issue because I believe students should be experienced with new technology because if they go for a job then they be familiar with the Windows 7 GUI. If they do attend a job and they don’t know how to use the soon to be popular operating system they will be left an embarrassment and could even lose their job because they don’t know how to use it.
Our rough outline will be to gain popularity by various forms of media like questionnaires, petitions, posters and assembly’s. This is to get our campaign well known so that people will start campaigning for us. We think it is morally unfair that students can’t be given better chances in my life. The school could be able to fund such things with a bit of fund raising and help from the community. Another way of raising awareness of our campaign would be to get a poster pasted of all of the school wallpapers (on the school computers) to boost knowledge of our campaign. The order we shall do this is to firstly boost awareness, then to start getting petitions, lastly meeting up with school governors to discuss plans.
If successful we shall contact newspapers boasting what we have achieved. This will prove to people you can achieve whatever you want with some effort.