A one-to-one ubiquitous classroom?

That is every child has a laptop.

Different people have different stances on how to go 1:1. Do you have the students buy the laptops, does the school buy the laptop, or does the state (like in Maine) buy the laptops. There is one thing most agree on, that is that the computer is a new tool that we need to be using. We need to allow students to use this tool in their learning. They are already using it to learn, we're just slowly adopting it in schools. With programs like the One Laptop Per Child program just getting started could the computer be the equlizer for the world?

Here's my thoughts on the subject (if you care :) ). I believe that each child starting in 4th grade should have their own laptop. That this laptop, in a perfect world, would belong to them, it is a personal extension of their schooling. Just like the PeeChee of old. We all had to buy the PeeChee but it did not take us long to customize that PeeChee to our liking. Whether is was drawing on it, putting our name on it, adding stickers, or throughout the school year adding notes to it. I was ours...it was personal.

Students today feel the same way about computers. I encourage you to watch the next time a student goes to the computer lab, or takes out a school owned laptop. The first thing they do is customize it to their liking. Change the desktop picture, change icons, the way the mouse works, etc. They personalize it, they see it as their machine.

Schools such as mine struggle with this. Each time a student takes out one of the laptops from the cart they change something, soon things are moved to places that they can't find it. We tell the students again and again not to change any of the settings, but to them, it's what you do. You customize it.

This is why I strongly believe the laptops have to be owned by the students. They need that personal ownership that allows them to customize it so it works the way it needs to work for that student. We all like different colors, like different ways things look and feel and for this generation that also means the computer.

I believe that if schools are not thinking of going 1:1 at this point in history, then they will soon become extinct. Especially in the high school and middle school where so many of our students already use the Internet and computers on a daily bases. When our students come to school they have to 'disconnect' from their learning networks. Facebook, msn messanger, etc are where they learn. Where they connect with others, and when they go home it's the first place they turn to for help with assignments.

How many of your students check out a book for research before checking the Internet? How many are watching more YouTube videos than TV? Education is behind, we no longer engage our students in the manner in which they learn. Have a watch of this video from The Fischbowl:



These are my feeling on 1:1. What are your's? Is it a no brainer? Or is it just me and my geeky friends who see the "writting on the wall"? :)

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