Laptops

Andrew Zucker has led an effort to document the movement of putting laptops computers in the hand of student and teacher.  He studied the laptop initiative in Henrico County, Virginia, Denver School of Science and Technology, and many other sites.  His comments below are drawn form a wealth of research-based experience.  We're delighted to have Andy participate in our blog, and look forward to other contributions over time.  - Mark W.

 Laptop Programs for Students

Laptop programs are proliferating around the world.  Pennsylvania provides class sets of laptops to over 500,000 high school students; Uruguay is buying hundreds of thousands of laptops for schools; Venezuela has ordered more than 1 million; and Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia) provides each student with a "thin client" terminal connected to a computer.  In a recent article published in Science, I and Daniel Light discuss this remarkable trend and the research on these programs.

 The most impressive laptop program I studied is at the Denver School of Science and Technology, a public charter high school.  Students and teachers use the laptops frequently for a wide range of academic subjects.  Computer software is used to help assess students' work and provide nearly instant results.  The school uses an electronic physics textbook so students can interact and conduct experiments directly from the "book."  The evaluation data we collected about the program are impressive.

But education policymakers should understand that laptops and networks are not enough.  For laptops to help schools become more effective, instructional materials and tests will need to change, new teaching techniques must be learned, and administrators need a compelling and practical vision of how technology will be used.  Computers are necessary but are only one piece of the comprehensive change schools require.