The Issue:

What is our position on laptops, are they unnecessary, inevitable, or essential?

My Comments:

Let me tell a true story. About six years ago I researched 1:1 computing at great length and turned in a 30 page report to the school board. I looked at schools with laptops for every student in an elementary classroom, others with laptops for all the middle school kids, and talked with technology directors at high schools where four grades used laptops. I researched one of the earliest adoptions at a school in Australia and of course visited about five schools here in Texas using laptops, some for years.

Here is the surprise. The schools with comprehensive programs that were properly funded, that adequately prepared the teachers, parents and students, that had on-site repair abilities, and that had administration support showed a lot of success. Those schools that were missing any of these key components had varying degrees of success or failure.

Here are some of the critical questions people miss.

If students can only type 12wpm, is the computer viable for taking notes?

When new staff comes into the district, is there the same level of training as when the program was first put in?

When new students come in, is there the same level of training as when the program was first put in?

When it is budget cutting time, will the administration protect the laptop funding?

Do the administrators understand that the laptops will only last for three to five years?

Is the true cost of maintaining these machines calculated in, or will the existing staff be expected to "handle" it?

If you lease the equipment for three years, what happens if the budget does not support a renewal at that time? (This sure argues for purchasing.)

We just upgraded from 11mb wireless to 54/108mb wireless. Is the cost of upgrading the backbone figured in, or is it expected to stay adequate for the increasing media uses forever?

There are many more questions, in addition to these, that need answered before the project begins for it to be successful. What we need to be careful of is promoting an idea in our schools that will not be funded sufficiently. Many laptop programs were effective. Nevertheless, when I studied them, most of the failures were due to lack of follow through. For example, the schools had the funding stopped or slowed to an ineffective amount, new staff and students did not receive the proper training, the maintenance was allowed to fall off - usually from a cut in the technology staff, there was a change in administration to those who do not see the benefits, or the novelty wore off and the students did not feel like carrying in home every day anymore.

I wonder how many schools look at successful programs and try to do the same thing on the cheap? This is my worry with Open Source. If you switch to Open Source today because your budget was cut, what will you do tomorrow when it is cut again? If the administration learns that they can always cut the technology and you will find a way to make it work, when will they stop? If you use Open Source to save money and then use the saved money to further the integration efforts of technology, then we have moved forward. All the rest is backpedaling.

What is my position?

I believe that a 1:1 laptop initiative is essential to quality technology integration, if you want the integration to be at the student learning level. I do not believe that this means they need to take it to athletics. Nor do they need it all day every day. And when critical thinking training is centered around group work, you do not always need 1:1 on a student level. With group work, it is 1:1 on the group level.

I believe that before you can have 1:1 computing your students must be ready. If they cannot type 40+wpm, how will they keep up taking notes with the computer? If they do not know how to work the productivity software, how will they produce their work? Do you have digitizer tablets for them to input drawings and complex math and science formulas? Do you have portable batteries for those rooms with poor electric? Are your desks ergonomic enough for the laptop or are you promoting repetitive stress injuries?  

Yes, laptops are essential to quality technology integration - but only for all students after you have the school, staff, students and administration ready.

I believe that a 1:1 laptop initiative is inevitable in education. Technology is getting smaller and smaller every year and the laptops are starting to come closer to desktop pricing. At some point, the economics of the situation will allow a laptop to be almost the same price and at that point, the mobility factor will justify all laptop purchases.

However, I do not believe that is what will lead to 1:1 computing in schools. It will help. What will make it succeed is if schools will allow students to bring their laptops from home to school. When the laptop becomes a ruler, although a more expensive one, parents will purchase it. I already have a number of students who are bringing their laptops to school. When students come to register this year, I will have information on what they need to do to bring their own laptop to school. We have students with $400 iPods, $400 cellular phones and more in their pockets and purses. How cheap do laptops have to be before they will buy one for at home and school? When their parents will buy them a new car, do you think a $1000 laptop is devastating? For now, this is only the upper level students. Yet in time prices will allow a majority of our students to afford these. How many will the district then have to have available for checkout to reach all students?

Yes, laptops are inevitable in education - barring some new and better technology.

 I believe that a 1:1 laptop initiative is unnecessary in education if it is only a fad without the long-term funding and administrative commitments.

Lemoyne S. Dunn, Ph. D. of the University of North Texas: {Try leaving your laptop, PDA, AND cell phone at home one day and see how you feel (naked is the word that will probably come to mind) and how productive you are that day. (Count how many times you reach for it.) Now tell me, unnecessary, inevitable, or essential?}

Look around at the current grants. What a great idea - let us have our middle school students use laptops all-day and 1:1. Then we send them to the High School, which is still using TRS-80s in their labs. (Maybe this is a little exaggeration.) Now I am not sure I would wish to use Dr. Dunn's term of "naked" when discussing high school students, but I sure bet they understand her point. Do we have the cart before the horse? At one school I visited, they were handing out laptops in middle school to students who could not type and it was taking them longer to type their notes than if they wrote them. Is that the way we use technology to improve instruction? I really think this is why the 1:1 studies have such mixed results.

Do we approve of giving cars to people who did not learn to drive? Do you want your next flight to be piloted by a "hunt-n-peck pilot? And how many of us want to drive around in an old car that needs a tow-truck every two days? What about switching and using one of those classic reel lawn mowers? You know that they are very friendly environmentally and promote exercise for the user.

Yes, laptops are unnecessary if they are not supported and implemented properly.

So - what can us under-funded technology departments do. A lot!

Start a pilot program for laptops that requires students to type 40+ wpm and that they have to prove application competency - BCIS graduate with a 80 or better. Allow students to bring their laptops from at home. Require that they have an updated anti-virus on it. Make them agree to allow you to search their computer. I believe that we need to lay out the requirements for a laptop program that will work. Then we start to put students in it where they can succeed.

Quit giving in on budgets. You will lose from time to time, but do not keep going in the wrong direction. Technology needs more money - do not waste it on fads and big names, be careful of consultants who "sell" product (That is not a consultant - it is a salesperson!), use Open Source to free up money for additional products, and find businesses who will collaborate with you.

Most importantly - build a system for your district that rewards the teachers who support the integration of technology. Many people in many districts helped me create just such a system. If your administration cannot support something similar, then they probably do not have what it takes for 1:1 computing. You can find my product @ http://www.dirkdykstra.com/WorkExamples/TechPoints.htm. Feel free to use it and modify it. Just do not sell it and become the next Bill Gates without putting me in for a cut.

We are technology directors/coordinators/leaders and we need to lead. If we look back and no one at our school is following, then perhaps we are at the wrong school - but perhaps we are the only chance some students have. This should be about students and equity. For many kids we are their only hope for success in tomorrow's world and we need to be there for them. This especially applies for those of you at little schools where your program is one of very few options available for them. Do not give up! Yes, even if it seems no one appreciates it! If you can no longer stand it - then move to where you can make a difference for students.

For those of you who did not fall asleep reading this book, good luck with all you do!

Dirk D Dykstra