SLA

In response to Winnie Hu's article on why 1:1 laptops aren't effective:

Ms. Hu:

This letter is in response to your article, “Seeing No Progress, Schools Drop Laptops.” As a student at the Science Leadership Academy, I disagree with your take on laptops in schools. My school has integrated laptops and it is a wonderful opportunity. Our school, however, is very different from the school highlighted in your article. It is a new school, with new curriculum designed around laptops. Everyone gets a laptop, and the only payment is a fifty-dollar insurance policy that covers the entire year. We also have good laptops, and they do not break down, except for the occasional line across the screen, which does not affect the performance of the computer. Our school-wide laptop program has helped scores of students get more involved in learning and take initiative in the classroom.

There are many flaws with the program set up at Liverpool High. For one, they need better laptops. Good laptops don’t break down at the rate theirs seem to be. Something is wrong with the machines. As for inappropriate usage, there is a program called remote desktop that allows teachers to view students’ computer screens and current applications. They also have the power to lock screens, quit programs, and shut down student computers. They can take over a student’s computer if necessary, using their computer to completely control the student’s. This invaluable program cuts down on misuse in class. As for teachers not being able to find a way to integrate laptops, that’s because there is none. They have not changed the curriculum. If you are still teaching the curriculum that was developed with textbooks as resources and no laptops, of course laptops will not fit in to it. There’s no space for them. New curriculum needs to be implemented in order for the laptops to have any practical use at all. On the whole, you can’t start a laptop program only half-heartedly. Everyone has to be committed to making it work, and be willing to make changes in curriculum, among other aspects of school, to create a space for new technology.