A Better Way Than Unplugging Our Kids
An op-ed in response to a May 4 New York Times article entitled, "Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops."
By Leslie A. Wilson
Introduction from Marina Leight, Publisher, Converge
The NY Times article dated May 4 glosses over significant points about technology integration in schools. It makes a giant conclusion based on little evidence and a thin premise.
The New York Times recently reported on Liverpool School District's decision to abandon its seven year-old one-to-one laptop initiative because it found that some students were misusing their laptops, the district's network and the laptops experienced breakdowns and student test scores had evidenced little change. Given these results, we were not surprised by the district's decision to unplug its students. However, we submit that these problems represent less a failure of education technology than a failure of the district's implementation of its laptop initiative. We urge Liverpool to reconsider.
In our four years of experience with Michigan's Freedom to Learn Initiative, which provides approximately 30,000 students and 1,500 teachers in grades three through12 with laptops and comprehensive professional development, we encountered many of the same problems that Liverpool faced. But we did not throw in the towel.
Instead, we proactively addressed expected problems based on our experiences with a handful of pilot sites before our program's official launch. Before the laptops arrived, our teachers and administrators received intensive professional development including training on how to organize effective classrooms. Parents/caregivers participated in a mandatory pre-deployment orientation that included home/school communication opportunities and safe computer use.
We also crafted and implemented laptop user policies, firewalls and other safeguards that addressed many of the issues that seem to have stymied Liverpool's administrators. If any of our students are caught using their laptops to view pornography or to hack into local businesses, they receive swift consequences. As a result, most do not violate the rules twice.
For one-to-one initiatives to succeed, we have found that a number of factors must be considered, honed and incorporated into programs, including:
* effective leadership;
* comprehensive professional development for teachers/administrators/technology staff/parents & caregivers;
* strong public relations and communications;
* formative and summative evaluations;
* appropriate infrastructure/hardware/software standards and performance capacity; and
* plans for sustainability and replicability.
It appears from the article that Liverpool's program lacked many of these elements. Had they been present, Liverpool's program might have succeeded and the article might have taken a substantially different tone.
We take issue with some of the broad conclusions that the article drew from Liverpool's example. Unlike Liverpool, we have seen in Michigan real academic results from our one-to-one initiative. Dr. Stephen Ross of the University of Memphis' Center for Research and Education Policy, which studied Michigan's program for two years, concluded: "Our research shows that there is a high level of proficiency in which Michigan students, at all socioeconomic levels, were using state of the art technology to solve meaningful and authentic learning tasks which are essential for today's workforce and economic development."
We dispute the article's premise that improved student test scores is the sole measure of success for one-to-one initiatives. From our perspective, that premise ignores the value of inculcating within our K-12 students technology skills and knowledge that will help them succeed in today's global economy. In fact, Dr. Ross's study found that students participating in the program have greater advantages than students who did not participate with regard to developing the knowledge and skills needed to achieve success in the 21st century workforce. Complete results can be viewed at www.ftlwireless.org.
While we understand and empathize with the challenges that Liverpool's administrators faced in implementing their program, Michigan's Freedom to Learn initiative is proof positive that laptop programs can succeed -- if properly implemented. We urge K-12 educators not to give up on meaningful instructional technology integration in the classroom based on Liverpool's experience. And we urge Liverpool to rethink its approaches and policies.
Meaningful technology-enabled teaching and learning can and does improve student achievement and will give tech savvy students a decided edge in a very competitive job market. Unplugging our kids is the wrong way to solve student discipline, network and test score problems.
Leslie A. Wilson is Director of Freedom to Learn, Michigan's one-to-one teaching and learning initiative. The One-to-One Institute, of which Wilson is President, is a national not for profit organization whose mission is to serve states, districts and schools with their development and implementation of one to one initiatives. www.ftlwireless.org and www.one-to-oneinstitute.org
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