WebedtecH

There’s an excellent data gathering exercise over at Tech4Teaching about 1 to 1 laptop programs. I don’t know all the statistical details of the survey, but some items jumped out at me:

The majority of schools allowing 24/7 access require some form of parent payment, whether parents purchase directly from the vendor, through the school, or via lease payments.

I’m curious as to how those programs requiring parental financial investment were launched and positioned to the families. How does it handle those with financial limitations? Does it create a situation of “have’s” and “have-not’s?”

The programs with mixed laptop environments are primarily independent schools with family purchase of hardware (and family choice). Most of these schools set some sort of standard – antivirus, software required, minimum hardware – and parents make the purchase, either independently or from a specific vendor.

Establishment of a recommended standard for machines brought into the school is an excellent idea to maintain a standard level of access and compatibility. I have to ask though…what level of support is provided by the school?

A number of schools have laptop program models which are either optional family purchase and/or have choice of platform. As someone who’s taught in a 1-1 Mac school and in a 1-1 PC school, I can’t imagine laptop-optional or mixed-platform being very effective models for significant integration. I know I could teach in a mixed-platform classroom, but the level of integration, beyond using web-based tools, would be lower than in a classroom with like platform access. (Note: The MacBook with dual boot would likely bridge the gap pretty well.)

The use of web-based tools is an excellent solution to this situation. Applying technologies that are platform independent open up experiences for the students as well as give them access to the same materials no matter their location. This is one of the reasons the new low-cost solutions such as the Asus eee PC are becoming popular.

Tech4Teaching Blog » Blog Archive » Laptop Survey – Final results are in