Roncalli College requires all students to come to school equipped with a digital device to support and complement their learning. In order to meet the changing nature of the digital world, students with their own device are able to practise the digital skills required to be self managing, collaborative and innovative learners. Having a device provides them with the tools required to maximise learning opportunities as they occur, utilising the wider learning community, whilst also providing easier access to resources and information, both inside and beyond the classroom. Much of the classroom work the students experience does make use of digital tools in addition to traditional classroom activities; the two are not mutually exclusive but complementary. The College’s approach is to use digital tools when the time and task is right to do so. Students are not expected to be using their devices for every minute of the class, for every class.
We strongly recommend laptops, either PC or MAC, but are happy in the Junior College for students to use a Chromebook or Netbook. We do not recommend Tablets such as iPad's as suitable devices to use.
As students move through to the Senior College Chromebooks/ Netbooks are not always suitable for all classroom demands. As a result, we highly recommend a device with a full operating system such as Windows or MacOS so they can effectively complete work in these subjects.
Specific subjects that such a device would be recommended would be L1-3 Calculus, Statistics, Music, Art, Media, and Physics. If a device is well managed it should last a student approximately 3 years.
To manage a device it is best to fully charge it at home overnight and leave the charger at home, transport it in a protective case, ensure the device is not overloaded with personal music, images, and video files and has the appropriate Anti-virus software.
Junior College Chromebook
Full size keyboard Battery Life: 5-8 hours Screen size: 14 inch or larger Hard Drive: 64gb eMMC (or SSD)
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RAM: 4GB minimum Wi-fi: Dual band wireless 3 year warranty recommended Mic and Camera |
SD card slot USB ports Protective case Insurance is essential |
Approximate cost for a device of these specs is around $500
Senior College Laptop
Full size keyboard Battery Life: up to 10 hours Screen size: 14 inch or larger Hard Drive: 256GB SSD RAM: 8GB |
Processor: i5 or similar SD card slot USB ports Wi-fi: Dual band wireless Anti-virus: Download AVG free |
3 year warranty recommended Mic and Camera Protective case Insurance is essential |
Approximate cost for a device of these specs is $1000
We are a Google school, and your student has a College Gmail account that gives them access to a range of Google Digital Tools. These are all cloud based so there is no need to download any software.
We recommend Google Chrome as the browser to use on all devices.
Windows 10 S
If your device (or you are purchasing a device) has Windows 10 S as the opertaing system installed you will need to switch out of S mode in order to instal Google Chrome.
In partnership with Microsoft, Roncalli College also provides access to download Microsoft Office 365 on up to five devices whilst they are enrolled. Go to www.office.com and enter your student email and password to access Office 365 and then download the specific Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications.