I like this. It will be interesting to see what pans out and what does not. How many of these emerging technologies will happen a little more quickly than predicted?
Ten years later, each seventh- and eighth-grader in Maine public schools and every grades 7-12 teacher has a laptop paid for by state taxpayers, at an annual cost of $11 million
And, through the Maine Department of Education, 60 percent of Maine high-schoolers have laptops, paid for by local property taxpayers. That's a total of 72,000 laptops, according to the DOE
...but do students get to take the laptops home? What is their acceptable use policy? What user agreement do they use?
Writing test scores have improved
schoolwork more interesting
A 2009 study by David Silvernail of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern Maine showed that laptops helped students become better writers, boosting writing test scores statewide
math skills have jumped
Educators credit the method of teaching math in middle school: laptops, no textbooks.
In 2001-02, Freeport Middle School's eighth grade passing rate on basic math tests was about 50 percent. In 2009-10, it was 91 percent, math teacher Alex Briasco-Brin said
Used this in class. It's fun, the kids like it, and it's easy.
They'd throw their wallet at the problem. Those kids came in with professional-looking documents,” Robinson said, compared to plain-looking reports from students whose parents did not have as much money.
Having laptops means all students can do the same quality report, regardless of their parents' income, “because they all have the same tools,” Robinson said.
This sort of echoes the helicopter parent problem mentioned at the in-service, when parents alleviate stress by either doing the kids' project, or offsetting problems with dollars. It comes down to an issue of educational equity.
“I got used to knowing when to go on Skype: after my homework is done; when to go on Facebook: after my homework is done. As I got better, my grades started to go back up,” Trevor said.
At FETC, Verizon Wireless claimed to be able to block sites through the coverage they provide. That was specifically for cellular handhelds in class. Does the same hold for wireless access? Could it?
Learning happens best when you make mistakes
“Part of it is supervision, he said. You don't hand the keys to your car to your teenager without rules.
In Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff", the Mercury astronauts mentioned what it was that launched those rockets. It was funding. "No bucks, no Buck Rogers." It's the same everywhere.
'I want this device to be an extension of their arm, a routine way to learn,'”
Here's a great blog, written by the same guy that won edublog of the year last year. I haven't gotten to a chance to read all of the subsequent content, but I'm betting it will also be good!
I've never seen one done quite like this. It would be a neat addition to the wiki, perhaps a group one. It does what Diigo does, along with many other sites, but this seems laid out very conveniently.
Welcome to The Art of Education. This blog is a collection of thoughts, comments, insights, and information concerning education and educational leadership.
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TEDtalk "Why work doesn't happen at work" by Jason Fried: Thoughts on work theory and productivity. This isn't a critique of our wonderful administration :-) It's a person who put into words something that so many of us have thought to ourselves.
What about the use of cell phones in class?
bic - 11 Oct 2010 - 11:00:10
Now this is my opinion, but they're not big enough. Nicholas Negroponte says that students should not be learning about their works through a keyhole... - dfw