So you say you want a revolution: reflections , one year into a school laptop scheme.

[Kieran Ryan]

We're offering our thoughts, warts and all, on the pros and cons of laptop schemes in school; our school introduced such a scheme at the start of the school year and we thought it might be useful to share the experience with colleagues who may be preparing to introduce similar schemes.

We intend to offer an honest description; it is easy to be evangelistic about one-to-one connectivity (and we were both very enthusiastic about the scheme), but there are clearly issues which need to be addressed and perhaps unforeseen consequences of such schemes which become clear only with hindsight.

Our focus is very much on teaching and learning rather than the technical issues inherent in introducing laptop schemes. So, such issues as student inattention, the difficulties of navigating existing curricula in new ways and implications for classroom relationships will be addressed; questions about online security and simple issues about access to information can also be covered.

We're both still very positive about the experience; we hope to show how one-to-one connectivity can enhance learning, and how it is only one part of a wider picture involving thorough digital literacy education for all students. We'll also offer practical ideas about useful Web 2 applications, as well as those which have proved less useful in our particular context (I'm looking at you, Twitter...) We can offer advice on the use of wikis, ning, social bookmarking, google docs, youtube and many other interactive applications. Hopefully, there'll be a useful mix of detailed advice and general, more contextual reflection. Basically, we feel that one-to-one connectivity will soon be commonplace in schools and that it is going to affect everyone in education to some extent or another; we hope to help people prepare for and avoid a few of the difficulties we faced.

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to post them here and we'll strive to offer answers either here or during the presentation.

[jenniech]

Can you video tape your presentation?

[Kieran Ryan]

Well, we're neither of us very photogenic, but I'm sure we can arrange something. Isn't there a Ustream channel being set up, or did I dream that?

[Peter Woodhead]

I think the 1 2 1 issue puts the whole issue of why technology in our classrooms into sharp focus. The more I talk to teachers and students involved in 1 2 1, the more I sense the need for fundamental reforms in curriculum design and practice - as well as the learning environment. The questions is . .Are we ready for this and how far are we prepared to go?. With a 1 2 1 programme do you still need classes and classrooms and timetables where learning is divided up into parcels of time and space?. What strikes me is that 1 2 1 is fundamentally about personalizing the whole learning process but is this possible within the current structures which defined learning?

[Kieran Ryan]

Absolutely! This is where Iain and I hope to get to in this presentation - it's sort of 'the elephant in the room', the issue which often gets skirted around because it's too big to deal with! Laptops and so on are nice to have, but whilst we operate within 20th (or 19th) century strictures, we're simply using them to do old, increasingly obsolete things more quickly. For many of our students, I'd guess their laptop is little more than a very expensive pen / filing system. I think that's one of the most obvious things I noticed after the introduction of the laptops; that students do not need to master these skills in order to do very well in our current assessment system, and there is no actual formal 'reward' for mastering them; indeed, allowing them the freedom to learn through enquiry can be an actual hurdle to getting them through those assessment hoops in a timely fashion. Something is very wrong here!

The thoughts on 'system redesign' from (amonsgst others) David Hargreaves address this very issue - it's not that kids need connectivity alone, it's that the whole system is no longer fit for purpose. Allowing kids to connect to the world simply shows up the REST of the educational system for the anachronism it is! Interesting stuff on this issue at this weeks iNet conference - see here (although I'm sure you're aware of it!)

So - the presentation starts off with thoughts about the laptop scheme, but it'll end up by asking those (rather uncomfortable) questions about what schools and teachers are actually for in a world where information and expertise is so easily available. That's why we're talking about 'Revolutions' in the title. Man the barricades, comrade!

[nepaliain]

Lots of groups within the ESF are already looking at exactly this issue. Timetabled spaces have been provided next year with subjects back to back. For instance, English sit back to back with ICT/Media Studies so as staff can exploit this relationship creatively. Not the solution perhaps but a start...

[Kieran Ryan]

The presentation is HERE.

[Howard Stribbell]

Here's the Clusty link:
http://clusty.com/
H

[nepaliain]

Thanks Howard. The online library that I mentioned was Questia. Check out www.questia.com

[Dianne Mckenzie]

I would have liked to have seen your presentation in RL - my own presenting prevented me from doing so.

So much stuff is possible with a bit of enthusiasm and motivation to make it work. Time can be made if it is a priority. Do we have to make time to use a pen and paper in our lessons? No - it is a tool we have used and mastered to help us learn - the same with technology. When it is seen as a tool to enhance learning, it can become a priority. It is a mind shift that needs to happen - "shift happens"