Apparently, the idea of every student having his or her own laptop is not just a cooky idea of one Cobb County Georgia School Superintendent, but an actual initiative that is gaining momentum across the nation. Some school systems have actually already introduced such a program and many more are giving serious consideration to the idea.
In his weblog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity, Wesley Fryer made a post on March 15, 2008, entitled Podcast237: Unleashing the Transformational Power of One-to-One Computing in K-12 (COSN Panel). Here he provided the opportunity for interested parties to here the discussion at the recent COSN (Consortium for School Networking) 2008 Conference held in Washington, D.C. on March 10, 2008. The panel session explored the best practices for beginning and sustaining a one-to-one laptop computer intiative. Mr. Fryer warns that the 1:1 program must be intelligently implemented and the success of the program in individual school systems relies heavily on the existence of leadership. He is a great advocate of this initiative and praises it greatly for its tremendous potential to move students forward into new models of 21st century literacy.
Fryer, Wesley (2008). Podcast237: Unleashing the Transformational Power of One-to-One Computing in K-12 (COSN Panel). Retrieved March 24, 2008, from http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2008/03/15/podcast237-unleashing-the-transformational-power-of-one-to-one-computing-in-k-12-cosn-panel/ .
In a March 21, 2008 post entitled Scarcity and Collaboration: An Argument for 1:1 Initiatives, Ben Wildeboer promotes the 1:1 concept and provides an argument for doing so. He discusses the dilemma faced by educators in schools all across the nation. In many schools, probably still in the majority of them, teachers have to sign up to get the laptop cart so their students can have use of a computer on a specified date to complete a technology-enhanced project. He points out that among other problems this process creates, the practice does not promote technology sharing and expertise among teachers. This is primarily because, consciously or sub-consciously, teachers know the more "technology savvy" their cohorts become, the more likely they are to begin signing up for computer time, therefore, escalating the computer "scarcity" issue. To avoid the computer scarcity issue and promote sharing of technology expertise among educators, Wildeboer's solution is to provide a laptop for each student. Refer to link in citation below.
Wildeboer, Ben (2008). Scarcity and Collaboration: An Argument for 1:1 Initiatives. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from http://sustainablydigital.edublogs.org/2008/03/21/scarcity-and-collaboration-an-argument-for-11-initiatives/.
As alluded to earlier in this post, a Cobb County Georgia school superintentent by the name of Joseph Redden came under fire and subsequently resigned his position in 2005 due to his promotion of the 1:1 concept. There are many angles to the story, and perhaps the deal he made with the laptop provider to procure the 17,000 laptops was in question; however, some believe it was a great loss to Cobb County students when the deal fell through. In his weblog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity, Wesley Fryer made a post on August 24, 2005, entitled Joseph Redden Moves On From Cobb Schools. In this post he expresses his utter disappointment of the outcome of the laptop purchase initiative. He suggested that Joseph Redden was a man of great vision in the advancement of technology-learning who suffered undue criticism for his attempts to promote 21st century learning. He quoted a Cobb County insider as saying ".... The powerful efforts of a very few evil, dishonest men won out in the short term. As a result, the children of this county have been robbed and will suffer substantive disadvantage when they enter the global job market. In my opinion a criminal act has been perpetrated! The citizens of Cobb County will look back on this time when they are frantically trying to catch up with the children every place else on earth."
Fryer, Wesley (2005). Joseph Redden Moves on from Cobb Schools. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2005/08/24/joseph-redden-moves-on-from-cobb-schools/.
Source: Atlanta Parent Magazine
Monday, March 24, 2008
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2 comments:
I have been following for years the state-wide (can you imagine) imagine initiative that the State of Maine initiated 7 or so years ago. Initially, through agrant from Apple they distributed laptops to every 7th grader. This, of course, also led to installing wireless networks and uplinks in all the public school districts in the state. They have extended the program recently and I plan to study the overall impact from the viewpoint of families in the rural areas. As I understand it, the progam truly energized the rural areas of the state in particular and became something of a phenomena where families would drive near the schools (with the wireless uplink) on weekends with their 7th grader in tow so everyone could explore the power of the internet!
Great selection of current literature and blogs on this topic.
When my brother was taking courses at what is now Georgia Highlands in Rome all students got laptops and I thought it was a great idea. While we had a home computer my cousin, also a student there, did not, and this action by the school helped to close the "digital divide" for the student population. Implementing such programs in elementary, middle, and high schools could be even more beneficial, because students will have the advantage of growing up with these technologies at their fingertips, not just in the computer lab or media center at school.
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