Laptops and on-line learning a viable idea!
Posted by achayefsky on February 2, 2008
I was just reading a discussion on the 85239 forum regarding 1:1 computing and laptop initiatives. I am creating a link here to two items:
1) A write up on Empire HS in Vail USD, Tucson. Wireless, paperless (virtually no printers), textbook-less and a phenomenally successful educational environment. An important distinction may be that Vail has 3 HS. Not all are in this configuration. One is traditional. Not every student, not every teacher and not every administrator thrives in all environments. If MUSD were to implement such an initiative, perhaps there would be a school within a school model. After all smaller schools, more green schools are the 21st Century Educational model.
Empire HS website: http://ehs.vail.k12.az.us/news.php?c=000
Article on laptops vs textbooks at Empire HS
Great Schools
2) Link to my blog about a tour Gina Pinch and I took of a wireless 1:1 computing elementary school and Empire HS, October 2007.
For our students to remain competetive and successful in the Global Economy and 21 Century Work force, we must be exposing them to and teaching them incorporating 21st Century tools and using 21st Century Skills.
1:1 laptop initiatives are an enormous undertaking for every stakeholder, but possibly not in the way you may be thinking. Most people think money, if you do away with purchasing textbooks, often obsolete as soon as they are printed and expensive software that are simply textbooks on-line there is potential for a huge windfall of fund.
The shift has to be in purpose and outcome of education - a philosophical and environmental change from the top down and the bottom up. There is no single perfect answer to all that challenges American public education, but all ideas should be welcomed and discussed openly and examined for the value that may be there. Only then can we, parents, community members and educators craft the best possible opportunities for our students. Innovations should not be scorned but rather considered carefully.
While laptop intiatives may “save trees”, the end game is and must always be the educating of our children (our citizens) in the best and most competitive and appropriate ways possible. If you would like to know more about 21st Century Skills, email me.
21st Century Learning - Core Subjects & 21st Century Themes
