"Just using the technology"

This is our first year of a one-to-one laptop program in our school. Lately it seems that I am being told a story by a teacher or a student and I realize that it would have been different without the technology. Everyone is "just using the technology" and they don't even realize how it has impacted their learning.

The stories that I hear contain information about better communication between students, between students and teachers but the people telling the story are focusing on the results not the technology that made it work. This reminds me of the impact I experienced in industry when email became widespread. Can you imagine writing a memo, photo copying it and having it placed into the mail box? We don't do this in the "real world" anymore so why would this be the way we communicate in school?

I have heard of students emailing teachers questions about their assignments and getting answers that have helped them to complete the assignment. This has allowed students and teachers to communicate with out having to search the halls of the school to find them to ask a question and get an answer.

Students are starting to take advantage of their own down time. I have seen some students look to see what they would be learning about in their next class by looking at the teacher's moodle site. Sometimes they have even began to think about or complete the do now before they enter the classroom.

Students are now able to carry almost all of the resources for all their classes all the time! It's all in the laptop. This has allowed students to review information or jot down a thought about a topic at anytime during the school day.

The challenge now is to invision what would our school look like today if the technology went away?

Impact of Laptops,Email,Moodle on one students learning over the Holidays (Breaking down the Walls of the Classroom)

One student shared with me her story of how the laptop changed their Holiday break. She traveled home to vist her family over the break. This ment that she had to travel to another county. Due to the extended travel and cost she was going to miss several days of school in December and January.

In the past she would ask her teachers for all the assignments she needed to complete while she was gone. This did not always work very well. The teachers had to prepare what they planned on covering during this time. This was a large amount of information for teachers to pull together and prone to errors. Resources might be missing, assignments might be confusing, assignments might have changed based on what happend in class. If the student got confused about what was required she might not be able to complete follow on assignments.

This year was very different for her. She took her laptop with her during her travels. Teachers emailed her information about the class or when assignments needed to change. She was also able to keep in contact with the class and ask questions of the other students in class in addition to the teacher. She was able to access the class moodle sites and pull additional information as needed. In past years she needed to make sure she had every possible resource with her, which was not always possible. This year if she was missing something she was able to use the internet, her classmates or the teacher to get those resources when she needed them.

This also had an interesting affect on teachers. In the past they needed to prepare everything that the student might need. This year they could send the information in real time to the student as if she was in the classroom. This year when she returned to school she only had a couple of assignments that she needed to make up. Her stress level about returning to school was much lower. 

Technology had enabled her to extend the classroom walls and include her in the work that was happening in school. 

One final thought/question.

- How does this impact the "seat time" requirements of the traditional classroom?