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ore than a decade ago, schools began investing heavily in laptops at the urging of school boards and parent groups who saw them as the key to the 21st century classroom. Following Maine’s lead in 2002, states including Michigan, Pennsylvania and South Dakota helped buy laptops for thousands of students through statewide initiatives like “Classrooms for the Future

Classrooms for the Future

Many school administrators and teachers say laptops in the classroom have motivated even reluctant students to learn, resulting in higher attendance and lower detention and dropout rates.

videogames (arguably one of the most sophisticated forms of information technology to date)

five leading-edge thinkers in the field: James Paul Gee, J. C. Herz, Randy Hinrichs, Marc Prensky, and Ben Sawyer.

power-performanced learning

It’s this transparency that lowers the barriers to entry and participation.

reputation is a significant resource

What’s the downside to open source?

In the United States, Maine has led the way with its laptop program, which has made students more enthusiastic in the classroom, but not necessarily resulted in better test scores.

More than 80 percent of instructors say the laptops help them make lessons more personal to students, make it easier for students to study problems from the real world and to dig deeper into certain topics,

Many teachers who were surveyed also said that students using laptops are becoming better at combining information from multiple sources and expressing their thoughts. Students in the program report that they understand the material better.

This technology initiative provided every student with a district-owned laptop computer for use during the school year, both in the classroom and at home. In addition, all six district buildings are wireless environments.

The second phase of the program implementation included intensive and ongoing training of the faculty with the goal of integrating technology into all curricular areas. As a result of the faculty cross-curricular training, students receive instruction in the use of applications and resources in the context of the learning environment, rather than in isolation. In addition to content instruction, students simultaneously are able to expand their digital literacy, further develop curiosity and creativity, and benefit from the experience of teaming and collaboration with peers, both locally and internationally.

Community support for the initiative has been an important part of the successful implementation.

This alignment is important because well-designed learning spaces and enabling technologies encourage students to spend more time on campus, increasing engagement and improving retention.

They appear to prefer learning-by-doing rather than learning-by-listening and often choose to study in groups. Much to the consternation of adults acculturated to lectures, they become impatient in situations where they don't feel engaged.

While many student attributes may be important to educators, five characteristics seem particularly applicable for learning spaces: Digital Mobile Independent Social Participatory

These spaces will be flexible and functional and pay greater attention to aesthetics than traditional 20th-century classrooms. This design concept extends beyond the places normally designated as "academic" such that the entire campus can become a learning space.

Educators must create structures that support this learning. Space can have a powerful impact on learning; we cannot overlook space in our attempts to accomplish our goals.

A room with rows of tablet arm chairs facing an instructor's desk in front of chalkboards conveys the pedagogical approach "I talk or demonstrate; you listen or observe." A room of square tables with a chair on each side conveys the importance of teamwork and interaction to learning. (See Figures 1 and 2.)

A classroom always has a front.