The netbooks should be used in various scenarios :

Submitting in-class assignments or any other assignments- Students should be able to complete their research on their netbooks and hand it in to the teacher electronically.

Lectures: Teachers could use Prezi or start a Google Doc to lead a discussion in the class.

Working with current software: Working with current software requires more CPU usage and thus would be beneficial for students to use netbooks, which in contrast are more powerful than school computers

Or any other LAN activity (i.e. Quiz) that the teacher would organize that would be require all students to have a computer.

This is my blog for the IDC4U1 course : )