The Effects of One-to-One Laptop Program on Help-Seeking and Homework Completion

Many students prefer to abandon rather than seek help during their homework. However, seeking support is recognized as an effective learning strategy to complete assignments. Technology-supported classroom could have a beneficial impact on this strategy and, therefore, on homework completion. This article aims to compare students from a one-to-one laptop program to others studying in a traditional classroom environment on their 1) help-seeking strategies and 2) homework completion frequency. Quantitative analyses tend to confirm the initial hypothesis. However, they reveal the necessity to sensitize students regarding the appropriate use of technological tools to ensure their beneficial impact on learning.

One-to-One Technology and Student Outcomes: Evidence From Mooresville’s Digital Conversion Initiative

This article uses a difference-in-differences strategy to evaluate the impact of a one-to-one laptop program. Teaching practices changed with the introduction of the program, and the district worked to make wireless Internet more accessible in the community. We find that while short-term impacts of the program were statistically insignificant, math scores improved by 0.13 standard deviations in the medium term. Time spent on homework stayed constant, but students spent more of their homework time using a computer. We also investigate the impact of the program on other measures of student behavior as well as heterogeneity in impacts. A limitation of this study is that we cannot distinguish which aspects of the program were most important in improving student outcomes.

Examining Dilemmas of Practice Associated With the Integration of Technology Into Mathematics Classrooms Serving Urban Students

This article contributes to research on contextual influences on technology integration in urban mathematics classrooms through an investigation of five middle-grade teachers’ participation in a laptop program. Drawing on activity theory, findings illuminate teachers’ dilemmas and coping strategies in their efforts to integrate technology. Dilemmas of practice included (a) determining the role of technology, (b) meeting misaligned expectations, and (c) gaining knowledge and skills despite limited professional development. Coping strategies included (a) integrating multiple institutional goals, (b) breaking rules, and (c) redistributing instructional responsibilities across colleagues and students. Implications for administrative practice, teacher education, and future research are discussed.

THE IMPACT OF A UBIQUITOUS MOBILE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT ON DESIGN ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Providing students with a ubiquitous mobile computing environment is a key component of UOIT’s teaching and learning strategy which offered a unique opportunity to build its programs from the ground-up with a laptop program at its centre. While ensuring that its use was considered in every aspect of curriculum development, five undergraduate engineering programs curricula have been developed at the University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science (FEAS) with a laptop-supported mobile computing environment at its heart. The laptops are equipped with a suite of program specific software. The focus of this paper is on the pedagogical benefits that have been achieved in design engineering education at FEAS as a result of the students’ ubiquitous access to the latest CAD/CAM/CAE and productivity tools. The laptop program enables improved delivery of design engineering training along with the opportunity of implementing novel teaching strategies.

Wiring Watkins University

This case describes the “wiring” of Watkins University (a fictional name for a real Midwestern university) between 1997 and 2003 as the university responded to competitive pressures in the higher education market. After describing the University and the competitive challenges it faced, the case takes the student into a strategy session between the organization’s CFO, CTO and Provost as they review progress on four key initiatives: Web based teaching, student laptop program, a Web based ERP implementation and a proposed “one card” system. Questions are raised as to acceptance of the technology, the impact of these initiatives on the organization’s strategic posture and competitiveness, IT budget planning, and future steps for the organization to take.

Laptops and Teacher Transformation

Since the first 1:1 laptop program was introduced in 1989 at the Ladies’ Methodist College in Australia (Johnstone, 2003), there have been numerous studies conducted on the benefits of 1:1 computing with school-aged children. Bebell (2005), Fadel and Lemke (2006), Livingstone (2006), and Russell, Bebell, and Higgins (2004) have all reported on increases in student achievement especially in writing, analysis, and research while Stevenson (1999) has noted improvement in standardized test scores. In fewer than twenty years, 1:1 computing programs have thrived in North America, Europe, Australia, and South America. The clear benefits to the students using laptops have been well documented to the extent that the professional literature demonstrates myriad advantages to using laptops in the classroom. As this study will show, there has been little discussion in the professional literature on how using laptops in the classroom affects the teachers. To this end, this chapter will outline my research findings with 12 laptops teachers who are transformed through technology. For the purposes of this chapter, I will define 1:1 computing classrooms as learning environments where every person in the classroom has a laptop computer with wireless Internet and printer capabilities for at least fifty percent of the day.