| 1. | 1/7/2008 9:43:00 PM | The main concern of our parents and faculty are students using time unwisely on the laptop. We are an Apple school and recognize with the iTouch technologies that a tablet may be in the near future. Really like the design of tablet and capabilities .... don't know if we can wait. |
| 2. | 1/8/2008 1:52:00 AM | Make sure you have extra equipment in case of breakdowns - computers, bricks, cables, etc. This way students and staff can continue working with minimal interruption. |
| 3. | 1/8/2008 2:05:00 AM | Lausanne Laptop Institute is a good place to network.
If you are looking for a consultant to help you, I'd recommend Educational Collaborators (I am a consultant with them but there are many talented collaborators who might help you evaluate your program.) They are not very expensive and collaborators are currently working in schools. Contact Alex Inman - www.educollaborators.com alex@educollaborators.com |
| 4. | 1/8/2008 4:01:00 PM | important components to include: ample prof dev for faculty; a position that is at least 2/3 time focused on working w/faculty & students on tech usage within the curriculum |
| 5. | 1/8/2008 7:10:00 PM | We chose not to go with a laptop program with students leasing from us. We have provided wide access to computers and encouraged parents to purchase laptops for their children if they wish. We have found this to be a very workable program.
All staff were given an MacBook to use for their teaching and were trained to use their computer to interact with the SMARTboards in every classroom. It was well worth the investment.
The second most important thing we did was hire an on-site tech. support person so that staff and students had all day support. |
| 6. | 1/8/2008 9:02:00 PM | Please share results -- we're at a nearly identical stage...enough onsite laptops to practically be 1:1. |
| 7. | 1/9/2008 2:00:00 AM | Invest as much as you can in providing "on the spot" support--don't have your integrationist also booked with teaching responsibilities. It is better to have one person completely available than two partially available people. Nothing stops a teacher from innovating faster than having the support person say "oh--I'm not available 3rd period" to help with a new idea. |
| 8. | 1/9/2008 2:30:00 PM | How to encourage students to use laptops to engage in class, not to disengage from class. |
| 9. | 1/9/2008 7:02:00 PM | Let the curriculum determine the platform. We buy intel Macs for hardware because we can run Mac software for photography/graphics publications, and multimedia, and Windows for internet and word processing. |
| 10. | 1/9/2008 8:49:00 PM | Stick with one platform; consider the tablet PC; reimage every year |
| 11. | 1/10/2008 6:34:00 PM | Encourage the students responsibility and creativity |
| 12. | 1/13/2008 6:36:00 AM | Plan, plan, plan. And continually evaluate. Build teacher ownership and buy in FIRST. Involve students and parents. Once established, don't lose the momentum.
Good luck! |
| 13. | 1/14/2008 5:10:00 PM | If technology is not rock solid, available without exception, teachers will not use it as a core tool. In my experience, schools lack the infrastructure expertise needed for the curriculum to benefit from the technology.
We use students to beta test, quality assurance, train teachers, repair laptops, sit on the technology committee of the board and teach classes offered to the community. The student voice is critical to our success. |
| 14. | 1/15/2008 2:13:00 PM | We prefer tablets over laptops and we also use wireless networked projectors in each classroom. The combination has allowed are teachers the flexibility to interact and collaborate within each class with students. |
| 15. | 1/16/2008 2:56:00 AM | Create time for teachers to develop small learning communities where they can share and showcase their experiences with the use of technology in the classroom. Create a safe space for teachers to share challenges as a component of a plan to encourage innovation. |