Here are the comments I received regarding purchasing laptops for
teachers. Many thanks to all of those who responded. Also, many people
offered phone numbers and invited me to call them if we needed more
information. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
Our school which is K-8 has provided laptops for the teachers for the
last 5 years. We have found them invaluable for working integrating
technology into the curriculum as it makes it that much easier to
explore if you do not have to seek out a computer. Each teacher has a
school e-mail account so there is a lot of communication with other
faculty members which might be put off because of conflicting schedules.
Some of our text books have software included and teachers can take
their laptops home to work with the software. We also have software,
Grade Minder, that ties into the main server and helps create grade
books and report cards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ll the teachers in our school district were issued laptops about 6
years ago. Unfortunately, we did not plan very well. We should have
been on a rotating replacement schedule where every year, starting in
about year 3, 1/3 of the laptops are replaced. We now have very aging
laptops (they are very slow and hold practically nothing) which have
been updated as much as possible. We are still operating on a Windows
95 system which is slowly becoming obsolete. The laptops are breaking
down at record speed and replacement parts are very dear and really, the
laptops at this point are not worth repairing.
Our technology committee is now contemplating replacing the laptops
with desktops and the teachers should be surveyed very soon regarding
this issue. We have teachers who love their laptops, mostly because it
is portable. They may have a power point presentation stored on it and
it is much easier to hook a laptop up to a CTX than unhooking a regular
computer, moving everything, etc. Other teachers hate their laptops
because they are slow, subject to many breakdowns, cannot hold a lot of
software, the batteries are shot so the poratbility issue is really
moot, and are experiencing compatibility issues with new software and
operating systems. Personally, I feel we should replace the laptops
with desktop models. The laptops are very expensive and, I feel, are
not made to be used as the teachers use them. Desktops are more
powerful, faster, larger and reliable. I also feel that most teachers
have a computer at home so the object of taking the laptop home to do
work is pointless.
Sorry for the long e-mail, but this is an issue, at least in my school
district, that is under a lot of disussion recently. Just be sure that
you have a plan in place for the future years. No computers last
forever and if your district has a committment to technology, they must
also make a committment to replacing the computers or laptops as
needed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every teacher in our school has had Apple computer Titanium laptops for
2
years now and everyone is going great guns in tremendously creative
ways. However, every student from 3rd grade to 12th grade also has a
laptop computer, but theirs are Apple "clamshells." imacs.
I can't tell you how much we truly enjoy our computers for school work.
Please check out my website. My students come to the Library with
their
computers and they know my site about the Newbery's, Caldecott's, etc.
inside and out. It has made a tremendous difference here. For
instance,
my 3rd grade students just left with their laptops. They are all doing
a
PowerPoint presentation about the Library..... how they know the
skills
for Dewey Decimal, etc. I love it! :-)
------------------------------------------------
Lower Dauphin gave laptops to everyteacher about 5-6 years ago..
Wonderful.. Improved communication. Gave alla chance to learn
technology.Internet use for lessons. Marvellous tool. Dr. Miller's
decision was very innovative at the time.. He basically said..get on the
technolgy train or leave... Lots of workshops and training.. Older
teachers had harder time. Some have never really adjusted. In my 2
elementary buildings..all are on board.. Teachers were to take them
home..User with families... He fighured if he gave us the tool we would
use it.
He was righjt.. MAde it very easy for teachers to become computer
literate.. I think it is the way to go.. He used $$ from Great Lakes
consortium??? A great plan. Good luck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lower Dauphin High School did this in 1997. The principal is Mr.
Appleby.
Contact them for their experiences. I was a long term substitute at
the
time. I loved the laptop!
------------------------------------------------------
Only our special ed teachers have laptops which were provided through
a
grant. The main function is for IEP's. Happy Holidays!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
We have laptops for all of our teachers and have had them since 1998.
Actually, we just got them new ones this year. I think it would be
better
if we talked in person to answer all of your questions. Give me a call
and
I'd be happy to talk to you about how we have gone about it, etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am a computer teacher in a K-5 building in central New Jersey
(Howell).
Our district bought laptops for every regular classroom, specials, and
basic skills and resource room teachers. The Macintosh ibooks have 2
purposes: by day they are an additional computer for the students to use
- in addition to the 4 macs in each classroom. They are wireless so
they are a great enhancement for easy access to the Internet and to
print from anywhere in the room. By evening, they go home with the
teachers if they so choose. We use Easy Grade Pro for grades, and
Classroom Publisher for our planbooks - and these programs are often
worked on at home. Teachers also make up worksheets for upcoming
classes - and can experiment with software to become familiar with it on
their own time. (Students NEVER borrow them).
Probably the biggest downfall is that some teachers (like a
traveling
music teacher) do NOT have a laptop and would love one, while some of
our more reluctant computer users have one but rarely take them home or
do their own work on them. But that's probably true in any situation.
Our classrooms all have projectors (honest!) - an unbelievable boost
to
teaching - if we had bought our laptops a few months after we did, we
could have hooked them up to the projection device and could demonstrate
right from there. Now any mac that we would buy would be projector
ready. When we have staff development days, everyone who has one
takes their laptop - then their notes are "with them" back in their own
building - and if they are learning how to use a special program or do
work on the internet, they have the bookmarks already set from their
classtime. Kids have some trouble with using the touchpad. Mice
could be purchased and used, but that hasn't happened yet.
When the district purchased them with grant monies, once the purchase
was complete no more money was allotted to purchase more. We've opened
an additional classroom in my building, so the one I had used is now
part of the classroom (I've purchased my own iBook anyway so I'm not
deprived...) Hope this information helps -- looking forward to seeing
your "hit"posted.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here in Michigan all full-time teachers received laptops, desktops, or
equivalent technology from the state in June of 2001. . .yes, that is
correct!!! All full-time teachers! It was many millions of dollars!The
purpose was to improve teacher knowledge of technology and therefore
hope that they would use it more and keep up with change. I must say
that I think it has helped with many people but the biggest need is
still in-servicing for them. I think in my district we have made many
advances but we also have had a very pro-active technology team leading
the way and very good financial and otherwise support from admin and the
school board. Still we have huge gaps in the actual usage of technology
in the learning.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We purchased a few laptops and they are borrowed through the library.
Teachers use them for meetings after school, weekend courses, or any
reason they wish. We have several floating teachers and no faculty room,
so laptops are portable and go wherever they are needed. They have held
up very well. The down side is that they are not networked and so
teachers cannot do grades or save work to their network folder. We even
allow students to borrow them if a good reason is given. We are
requesting more for next year as this has been a good experience for us.
Good luck.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our teachers get a laptop after training and moving into new
classrooms
that have the wireless technology. They are used for everything from
attendance, email for school communications, classroom presentations
with their Proximas, etc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have let our teachers take their computers home for the summer and
we do have laptops for teachers and staff to take home but not a
widespread issuing of laptops. The criteria is that it must be insured
by your home owners policy(or renters) We have not had any problems.
People use them to get their work done at home or in the case of
laptops, if they are going to a conference, their computer is down at
home.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We provided laptops back in the days of Mac Powerbooks. Everyone was
very excited the first year and learned how to use them. HOWEVER, I
think our district purchased a "closeout" model because they were out
of
date very rapidly and finally last year I wrote them all off of our
inventory completely. They lasted maybe 5 years. I would say it's a
large investment and hardware has come a long way in the last 8
years.... but be aware that they will soon be out of date and considered
very slow and
frustrating.---------------------------------------------------------------------------We
are giving teachers the option when they are in line for a new computer
for a desktop or a laptop. Those teachers who like to do a lot of work
at home are choosing laptops. We also have our grading system on
computers, so teachers are able to do that from home with a laptop. We
use many laptops with projectors for teaching. I have had a laptop for
3 months - the great part is that I can create a Power Point lesson and
just hook my laptop to the projector without transferring it to the
server or another computer. As a district supervisor, a laptop is
wonderful for me to do much of the department work at home, as well as
being able to take my laptop when I go out for observations.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have undertaken a two year project to get a laptop in each classroom
teacher's hands. Right now we are 80% there with the remainder to be
done in 03-04. All administrators have had laptops for 2 years. All
staff receiving a laptop receive a day's training.
1. We use them to do our integrated electronic gradebook; teachers can
work at home or at school which is a huge reason for implementing
laptops.
2. Teachers use their iBooks for lesson plan design and
implementation, daily attendance, lunch counts (elementary only),
student progress reports, etc.
3. We have a ton of staff using LCD projectors with their laptops to
improve student achievement through a variety of instructional
processes; including PowerPoint presentations, Streaming video through
the IU 13 IMS, etc.....
Our student Information System is PowerSchool. Teachers can access
their gradebook anytime/anywhere and they can access studetn demographic
data anytime/anywhere.
All alptops are Apple iBooks with Airport cards installed and all have
CD/DVD players. For some staff we included the Superdrive to allow CD
burning.
I have yet to see a negative to having staff use laptops.
Our instructional technology coordinator would like to propose laptops
for every teacher for next school year.
Could you please email me directly if your school has given laptops to
teachers?
What was the criteria or reasons for the decision to provide laptops to
teachers?
What are they doing with them? How have laptops enhanced teachers'
abilities to do their jobs? Do you have any examples of cutting edge
technology use or integration? What are the benefits? What are the
downfalls? I would appreciate your responses. Thanks.
----------------------------------------------------------------
In my school the teachers took an inservice course. Those that
completed
it were given a laptop, however, my principal, who also took the
course,
used the laptops as a roving lab for the classrooms. They are
connected
with airport so they are wireless and if the students pair up then a
whole
class can use it at once. There were problems but since I am not the
tech
person I am not familiar with them. Teachers do use the portable lab.
Hope this helps.
------------------------------------------------------------
We have been pushing for laptops for all of our teachers at the high
school. (The elementary teachers have chosen to stick with desktops.)
We've gotten some through grant $, and the district has been buying
about 10 a year. By the end of this school year, more than 1/2 will have
laptops. I did research on laptops for teachers for a grad class I took
last spring for my instructional technology specialist certification; it
will give you some good ammo! You can read my paper at
http://www.keyknox.com/bwit/laptop%20Project.pdf
----------------------------------------------------------------
Kiski is a laptop school, leasing a laptop for each teacher,
administrator and student. We could write books to answer your questions
completely, but here are some succinct answers.
What was the criteria or reasons for the decision to provide laptops to
teachers?
We wanted to integrate technology into the curriculum. If you want
to do that, you need to provide your faculty with the tools and training
to do so. We provided laptops for teachers one year before they were
required to integrate them into their classroom activities so they could
learn how to use them effectively.
What are they doing with them?
All teachers and students can log onto the school academic page on
the campus-wide network. Teachers make assignments, use the network to
access Internet when appropriate for curricular needs, use laptops to
access Senior Systems, an administrative system which allows grade
recording, student rosters, scheduling, etc.
How have laptops enhanced teachers' abilities to do their jobs?
Obvious ways, like any other teaching tool - ability to use
PowerPoints, eliminates some paperwork, student assignments can be
e-mailed, and received by e-mail, allows teachers to change methods of
teaching, etc
Do you have any examples of cutting edge technology use or integration?
All classrooms are wired so that each student can connect to the
network. We use a NT T-1 line out to our ISP. Lots of neat things happen
here, too numerous to list.
What are the benefits?
Students learn through a variety of modes, allows us to teach
information (literacy) skills including the technology of today and the
future, teachers are better able to keep up with the students
technologically.
What are the downfalls?
Occasionally there is a reticent teacher, who resists moving into the
21st century. Occasional technical problems, network is down, ISP has
trouble, students sometimes try to download forbidden material,
Good luck. You can check more about our program at
http://www.kiski.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Last year our principal purchased laptops for each teacher. He
installed
Windows Office and a grading program that most of the teachers use.
Most of
the teachers use it as a portable way to transport grades, notes,
lessons,
etc. They can work at home: put the grades in, develop a lesson,
construct a test or quiz, create a PowerPoint presentation, access email
(it has ports for connecting to phone line and built in modem).
Everything they used to do on paper, they can now do on the laptop. When
they get to school they can connect it to their classroom computer and
download what they
need.-------------------------------------------------
Our classroom teachers recieved laptops at the beginning of this year,
most are using them and I have seen more technology use, but I think
that if the teachers had a projector they would have used them more.
Just a thought but it is going well.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Our staff of about 100 middle school teachers originally had all
desktops.
About three years ago our principal decided that laptops would be
better
because we could take them home to work, hook them up for powerpoint
presentations, take them with us to meetings, workshops and
conferences, etc. She sold her plan to the school board and the
technology department gave us all laptops and redeployed our desktops
(which were then only a year old) elsewhere throughout the district.
We all liked the portability of the laptops and used them just as she
had
envisioned it. The downside was that they are very fragile and were
constantly in need of repair and replacement parts. After three years,
the technology department could not afford the maintenance any longer.
This year they gave all of the middle school staff a new desktop and
took
what were left of the laptops and redeployed those to fill in for
machines
that had met their demise on student laptop carts.
Our district has provided a lot of technology inservice and I think
that
we have done a very good job of integrating the technology into our de
curriculum. Teachers are p[articularly fond of the student laptop
carts
(we have one cart of about 10-15 computers for each academic team in
the school plus additional carts for our science program). Again these
laptops are a mixed blessing. They're wonderfully portable and
versatile
-- we have wireless cards for them so that they can be used almost
anywhere in the school -- but they're easily damaged and very expensive
to maintain.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
We do not give laptops to teachers as they all have at least one
computer in their rooms. We do have three laptops that may be signed
out for two week periods of time that teachers can use for conferences
or in their classes with a projection screen or smart board.
---------------------------------------------------------------
We have a core group of teachers who had the "original" laptop
computers.That group passed their computer onto another teacher and were
given new laptops. Members of the core team were then given IPAQ
computers with keyboards and synchronization software. They were also
assigned the task of designing individual web pages for themselves and
for their departments. One downfall is that they are portable and many
teachers took them for "their own." They were taken home, which is
perfectly acceptable. But, the computers need to be brought into school
at least once a week so that the virus software can be updated. We
communicate with each other. Use them for our own personal use,. But,
they do belong to the school and must be checked out of the building
during the summer vacations. We are each liable for the laptop we were
issued.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Our principal went out on a limb this year technology-wise and took
out all 30 computers from the library and replaced them with 3 carts
(15 in each cart) of wireless laptop computers. Around the school
"hubs" were placed in the hallway ceilings as well as in the library.
Students coming into the library to work can check out laptops for
use ( in the library only). We have a record, then, of who used
which computer and for how long. However, teachers are
allowed to take the laptops out of the library for use anywhere in
the building, i.e. while covering study hall or for meetings, or
whatever. The laptops are all networked to district programs and can
print to any printers in the different locations throughout the HS.
I didn't know if I'd like the set up in the library, but it is
working out excellently. Even though faculty members haven't been
"given" a laptop, this method makes technology so accessible,
flexible, and convenient for teachers, plus, it puts the library
smack in the middle of being THE place to go for information access.
Through grant monies (I think), we've purchased 3 additional carts of
laptops that teachers can check out as classroom sets.
Instead of laptops for every teacher, our administrators has
been toying with the idea of PDAs for every teacher. I was one of a
pilot group last year that received and used PDAs. We had to
report how using them would be beneficial and effective for teachers.
The HS computer guy developed a website called EduPalm when we
initially looked into purchasing them. It's an excellent site and was
featured in NEA Today. I've been working on a sister site called
pdalibrarian.org You'll have to check it out. On the site, I wanted
to organize and provide easy access to only FREE book downloads for
PDA users to use for reading or educational purposes.
Your district might want to consider these options as well as the
outright buying of laptops for every teacher.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our district gave Book laptops to middle school teachers this year. It
has
proven to be a wonderful tool for them. Our district has about 8500
students in 16 buildings. We have four middle schools.
The laptops were given to teachers during a one-day summer academy.
The teachers had to attend that day to receive training on how to use
their laptops and how to set up their email, etc. In addition, the
tech
department provides regular after-school and in-service day trainings
for
teachers on a wide variety of topics.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Our instructional technology coordinator would like to propose
laptops
> for every teacher for next school year. Could you please email me
> directly if your school has given laptops to teachers? We are in our
second year of "personal" laptops for the high school faculty What was
the criteria or reasons for the decision to provide laptops to
teachers? I'm not sure..we were probably told, but I quickly forgot!
> What are they doing with them? Our teachers submit grades via the
network (although not all of them keep all their grades on their
laptops...many maintain paper copies as well!); the majority of memos,
notices etc. from the principals come via e-mail. How have laptops
enhanced teachers'
> abilities to do their jobs? Along with word processing , internet
access, e-mail and access to MAcSchool (with student schedules and
information), the laptops have Power Point, I-Movie, internal CD-ROM/DVD
so many teachers have created lessons using these technologies. The
computers can be cabled into the television sets or projectors in each
room Do you have any examples of cutting edge
> technology use or integration? ??? What are the benefits? One of
the biggest benefits is that teacher's can take them home create tests
etc. then return and print at school. Many of the computers teachers had
at home did not "talk" to school hardware and so home to school disks
did not work. Also, teachers were "forced" to learn the teachnology and
join the 21st century :) . The laptops are virtually "ours" with no
restrictions on what software is loaded, what you do with them etc. What
are the
downfalls? I would appreciate your responses. Thanks.
As the librarian, I use my laptop for keeping budget, correspondence,
orders, checking on students whereabouts and am trying to (never quite
enough time!) create some lessons in Power Point.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The teachers of students in grades 7-12 were given laptops 4 years ago
as the beginning of a laptop program. At the time we were very cramped
for space and some teachers didn't even have a desk. The computer lab
was usually busy and afforded them no privacy to create tests or grade,
etc. It was the first step of a gradual laptop program which leads to
every student having a laptop. It was felt here that this was would
give more students computer access rather than building more computer
labs. Acceptance has been universal and now the big demand is for data
projectors as they create web pages and integrate databases and Internet
information into the
curriculum.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My school district has given laptops to all itinerant
teachers art, music, library, gym who travel to more
than one bldg. All other teachers have desktops.
Reasoning was one of equality.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am from Greater Latrobe Junior HIgh School, Latrobe, PA. We have
had
labtops for about 5 years. I use mine all the time. I can also sit
out
in the library and babysit the kids and do wordprocessing. The
INternet
connections makes it easy to do my librarya ordering with Follett. We
are
piloting a program for the teachers to do their grades and
electronically
mail them to the main computer for report cards. Must teacher do
their
grades now and pass out referrals. I myself see the advantage of very
quickly updating my units as I see a mistake or need a change.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
When our school went Global Access (major infusion of computers,
automation in the media center etc) we purchased a laptop for every
full
time certified teacher. They would be able to take them home, but we
anticipated using them to provide floating classroom lab opportunities
during the school day so they were to be in school during the day. We
found as soon as you mentioned the need to take responsibility for the
laptop and provide security for it a significant % of the staff wanted
no
part of using them. Didn't want to be responsible.
Teachers did use them to created report card comments at home. They
used them for email from home and some actually created materials for
their classroom instruction. One thing we ran into was staff/spouses
who wanted to put a variety of additional software on them (browsers,
printer
drivers, games etc.). They were very miffed to find the hard drive was
not available to them and we had a variety of security factors in
place.
It was a benefit for teachers who did not have their own home
computer. It provided access to software we had on the lab at school
etc.
Not sure it was worth total investment, but there were no specific
expectations shared and left to their own devices some made good use
and others didn't. In a very few years they were limited in what they
could do compared to desktops at school and many home computers. There
are a lot of things to
consider.----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, our school district gave all of our faculty laptops about 5 years
ago.
Great decision!! Many of our teachers were semi-computerphobic before
this. Our district also provides ongoing computer classes to meet our
changing needs as we become more comfortable with the computers. As
these computers become obsolute, they are allowing teachers to decide
what kind of computer they would like for a replacement--laptops or
desktops. We use our computers for everything. On an administrative
level it is used for grade input, communication with faculty and
parents, daily attendance, etc. Our teachers also maintain a web page on
our Districts web site They are used to produce tests, handouts,
powerpoint presentations. And the list goes on. This has been one of
the best decisions our school district has done in the 15 years I have
been here. I haven't seen any downfalls, but support and continuing
education is very
important.----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I worked briefly in a school district that issued laptops, and they
didn't
work well. I was there for three months and had a working laptop maybe
two weeks of that time. The idea was good, but you will need extra
computers for when they don't work. And make sure everyone always saves
everything to disk, not to the hard drive, for the same reason.
--------------------------------------------------------------
My school district set up competency tests for the teachers in word,
powerpoint, internet, gradebook, and internet. If you passed all
those
tests, you took the operating system test. If you passed that test,
you
could apply for a laptop. The application asked how the laptop would
be
used in the classroom, etc. All teachers who received a laptop must
particpate in a laptop study group on their campus for one year.
Teachers who received laptops also received Lexmark laser printers.
The district is now working on level 2 competency tests, which include
tests on excel and access (and probably other things, as well). I don't
know what the incentive will be for teachers who pass level 2.
The laptops and printers were part of a grant the district wrote and
received. The laptops replace the pcs that the teachers were using in
the classroom, and the existing pc becomes a student computer in the
classroom. Teachers are able to take work to and from school this way
(gradebook letters, etc.) Hope this helps. If you need any other info
or you would like a copy of the tests, write me back.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Diane Greenholt, Librarian
South Western High School
Hanover, PA 17331
Diane_Greenholt@swsd.k12.pa.us
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