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Perhaps the weakest area of the typical one-to-one computing plan is the complete absence of leadership development for the administrative team—that is, learning how to manage the transition from a learning ecology where paper is the dominant technology for storing and retrieving information, to a world that is all digital, all the time. Leaders must be given the training to: Craft a clear vision of connecting all students to the world’s learning resources. Model the actions and behaviors they wish to see in their schools. Support the design of an ongoing and embedded staff development program that focuses on pedagogy as much as technology. Move in to the role of systems analyst to ensure that digital literacy is aligned with standards. Ensure that technology is seen not as another initiative, but as integral to curriculum.

Support teachers in using technology for professional purposes. Provide teachers with support for securing interactive digital content. Encourage teachers to partner with students to integrate technology into learning. School principal must lead by example. Embed technology integration into teacher and leader evaluation. Support student acquisition and use of technology in schools. Work with students to develop responsible use policies. Secure appropriate permissions from students and their parents.

Support teachers in using technology for professional purposes. Provide teachers with support for securing interactive digital content. Encourage teachers to partner with students to integrate technology into learning. School principal must lead by example. Embed technology integration into teacher and leader evaluation. Support student acquisition and use of technology in schools. Work with students to develop responsible use policies. Secure appropriate permissions from students and their parents. As schools put these building blocks in place, they will be able to work to

The student-teacher faces a rowdy class. “We’re not going to have that kind of behavior in here,” she says. “It’s too loud in here to move on.” The students don’t pay much attention. A boy in the back row, wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, slumps his shoulders. Another student waves his hand aimlessly. “Nah, just stretching,” he replies, when the teacher asks if he needs something. Scenes such as that aren’t uncommon in urban classrooms, but in this case there is one critical difference: These students are avatars—computer-generated characters whose movements and speech are controlled by a professional actor. Each of the five characters—all with distinct abilities, personalities, and psychological profiles, and even names like “Maria” and “Marcus”—were created as part of the TeachME initiative at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando. There, teacher-candidates can practice in a virtual classroom before ever entering a real one. Real-time classroom simulations like TeachME, supporters say, offer promise for a host of teacher-training applications. Through them, candidates could learn to work with different groups of students, or practice a discrete skill such as classroom management. Most of all, such simulations give teachers in training the ability to experiment—and make mistakes—without the worry of doing harm to an actual child’s learning. “It allows the teacher to fail in a safe environment,” said Lisa Dieker, a professor of education at the University of Central Florida and one of the designers of TeachME. “Real kids, trust me, will remember in May what you said to them in August. You can’t reset children.”