TQ# 9 – Grant Proposal for one Laptop per Every Child program

(Note: We should remember that very few grants are given for technology per se.)

Educational goals:

School District A is herein asking for funds, which we will match, to implement a plan to distribute one laptop to every child in our high school, grades 9 to 12. We have very well thought out educational goals with which a solid core of teachers and administrators are in agreement. Over the course of the last 6 months, first our principal Mr. Harry S. and then a core of 35 teachers have met and discussed their interest in providing every student with his/her own laptop for in school use. We have seen the increase in student motivation and positive attitudes to school work after last year’s addition of two computer labs in our high school building as well as the new policy at that time to allow students to check out those laptops when available and use them at school in classes. We heard comments from students like “now I do not have to go to the library to work on something, but can work on it here and now when I feel the desire” or “I can check an Internet page to further my research right away on something my teacher is talking about.” (c.f. experience on the NYC schools in English classes In OLPC in NYC”; retrieved from http://olpcnyc.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/57/, June 23, 2009) More than these comments, teachers and administrators here in the high school have been seeing a new sense of ownership of learning on the part of our students. When we talk about ownership of a physical computer, we are really talking about ownership of learning.

We also know that every teacher here recognizes that the computer is indeed a tool and how teachers direct students to use that tool makes all the difference. Thus, we realize the potential for students with their own laptops to sit in class and surf the Internet to sites other than those around which the lesson is wrapped. In other words, we recognize the fact that while the Internet opens up a vast arena of research possibilities and the digital world allows for a new realization of skills building like visualization, modeling, and archiving, it can be used educationally or not educationally. Teachers see students today using those laptops they have checked out of the lab in classes that run the gamut: they are writing their papers and revising better in their English classes, they are being assigned mini activities to go on the Internet and look for positions for and against an issue. Here, when they see that not everyone agrees on an issue and that choices are many times not so easy to make, we see them getting very excited. In short, we see students learning to think!

Implementation plan:

Our plans for implementation are as follows. We are even now working with vendors to isolate the machine that will create the best mix for us. The computers will need to emphasize the best combination of a lighter weight, with speed and battery life. We have looked at Apple and Dell minis so far. As for software, we will extend our licenses a bit to the M.S. office suite as well as some applications we now use educationally. There will not be any need to purchase applications other than the ones we already use. Students at the high school level need the standard fare of productivity applications and the Internet. Speaking of the Internet, School, District A already has a robust wireless network in place in our high school that has proven itself over the course of the last 3 years to be stable and fast, as evidenced by a record of 5% outages during a span of 2 years. The laptops will be ordered and distributed along the lines of the following schedule: every student in the 12th grade will receive his/he own laptop after Christmas break of our following school year. We will make careful observations about this program before proceeding to the other grades. Teachers will be given extensive training on how to implement the laptops substantially into every part of what they do. This training will occur in October of the new year (September is too early, with all that is usually going on at that time) and will continue right up to before Christmas break. Training sessions will occur for all teachers on a weekly basis and on a staggered basis and will be conducted by fellow teachers, those known for already using technology in their classrooms to a significant degree. The training will be discussed/laid out at the end of this current school year and this will be done in cooperation with the tech director of our high school as well as with the technology oriented teachers mentioned above. The training will focus on some or all of the following areas: technological aspects of using the machines, training on certain applications, and training on specific ways to integrate the computer into actual class lessons or activities. Concrete and specific techniques and advice will be emphasized. The distribution of laptops will happen all at once in January and before this students and parents will be informed about their responsibilities concerning care and use of the machine, and the Acceptable Use Policy reiterated. Students will not be allowed to take any laptop home at this time.

Evaluation plan:

The plans to evaluate this implementation will proceed as follows: we will initially isolate, through focus groups, areas that teachers might still be uncomfortable with concerning the implementation and try to allay them. In the first 2 months after distribution, we will send questionnaires to teachers and students focusing on different aspects of their experience with the machines. We will also conduct two focus groups with teachers and one with students at this time focusing on concerns with technology, the downside and benefit of certain software, and ways having one’s own laptop is benefiting one’s educational program and learning experience. The focus groups will allow some direct interaction and Q and A. A rubric that might be used in this regard appears below. The rubric will be roughly the same for summative and formative evaluation, but questions focusing on specific benefits and drawbacks with be emphasized in the summative evaluation. At the end of our academic year, test scores from some of the vehicles normally used for reading and mathematics assessment and testing will be employed Extended quantitative testing (at beginning of second year) in reading and writing and math and social studies will be conducted by a local firm hired for this purpose

Possible Rubric:
1. The degree to which you experienced hardware concerns with the computers: NEVER experience a problem; OCCASIONALLY had an issue; MORE THAN TWICE had an issue; MANY TIMES had problems.

2. Your degree of technology savvy: VERY INEXPERENCED and ill-at-ease; somewhat EXPERIENCED and comfortable; VERY ADEPT

3. The degree to which you experienced usability issues with computers: ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD how to do something; RARELY had problems, but always figured it out shortly thereafter; SOMETIMES had a problem and could not get an answer until too late to have desired effect; EXPERIENCED SEVERAL ISSUES/PROBLEMS

4. The effect on your ability to teach: BENEFITED RARELY if at all; BENEFITED SOMETIMES, but not worth cost; BENEFITED TO POINT where laptops should be purchased; BENEFITED a GREAT DEAL and cannot do without them

5. For students: the effect on ability to learn: BENEFITED RARELY if at all; BENEFITED SOMETIMES, but not worth cost; BENEFITED TO POINT where laptops should be purchased; BENEFITED a GREAT DEAL and cannot do without them.

6. How beneficial do you see laptops in general? (directed to teachers an students):
· Advantages of their use: state three or more
· Drawbacks to use of the laptops in classrooms; state three or more