The world is becoming more technology oriented and the Hampton-Dumont High School is taking the hard drive by its cylinders.  The 1:1 Laptop Initiative would essentially give every student in grades 9-12 a personal laptop computer to use in school and at home.  The H-D School Board approved the 1:1 Laptop Initiative on February 11^th for the H-D High School beginning in the fall of 2010. Some may wonder how much money the students have to pay for the laptop, and the answer is they pay nothing.  The money for the project came in from a grant from a lawsuit against Microsoft and H-D has received about $80,000 to spend on laptops and technology.  Money aside, the laptop project will put Hampton-Dumont High School on the map and into the future of technology.

Principal Trent Grundmeyer is very excited about this new endeavor.  Mr. Grundmeyer learned about this project while attending Buena Vista College and being introduced to a campus-wide wireless network.  He believes that with the wireless Internet in class, he had the resources to learn about any topic at his fingertips.  “No longer will students be required to remember what all happened in World War I, rather they will know how to utilize their resources to find this information,” says Mr. Grundmeyer. This project has been shown in fifteen other Iowa schools to be very successful and will put H-D in front of the academic pack in North Iowa.

“The laptop initiative will increase student responsibility, 21st Century skills, writing skills, presentation skills and technical literacy”, says Mr. Grundmeyer.  He also believes that it will decrease behavioral issues within the high school by giving students a daily responsibility to take care of a personal laptop.  Mr. Grundmeyer also stated that this initiative will also benefit teachers.  Teachers will now be able to integrate videos and visual effects into daily lectures and PowerPoint presentations.  Teachers will have an advantage just like the students, being able to utilize Internet resources and find the best information to pass along to students.  Ninety-two percent of teachers support the 1:1 Laptop Initiative and believe that this will help prepare students for the ever-changing future.  Business and Technology teacher Mr. Steve Ritter says that this project is great and he thinks it will give every student an equal opportunity.  He also believes that students must embrace the new technology in order for it to benefit them.  Freshmen Demi Monaghan says “I am not completely interested in the project because I am not too into computers. However, if I learn more about computers, I would be all for the project.”  In response to what Demi feels, Mr. Grundmeyer plans to have a student and staff help desk able to assist students with basic computer questions.  Staff will manage it but students will be involved in the learning process and help integrate their knowledge into high school advisory classes.  The students that participate in the help desk would hold “Tech Tuesday” sessions in their advisory each week, teaching every student new tidbits and shortcuts on their laptops.

For all the positives, there will be some negatives to this initiative. There is the possibility that the Internet server may go down at some point, but the school is going to be bumping up their bandwidth, which should make the likely hood of a crash slim to none. And if students treat their laptops poorly, the school can take the students laptop away. If a students’ laptop breaks, they will receive a loaner while theirs is sent into Apple for repairs. Another commonly asked question is if the students can use these laptops for personal use. Mr. Grundmeyer says yes, within reason. The laptops will have built in filters, which will continue to block sites like Facebook, Youtube, etc. Mr. Grundmeyer is considering allowing students to access these websites after four o’clock.

Another commonly asked question is if the school will be ready by the fall of 2010 for this seemingly elaborate project and where did this money come from. “The laptop initiative will definitely be ready for distribution and introduction at fall registration time,” says Mr. Grundmeyer.  H-D is currently putting on the finishing touches with Apple on the contracts. Students will have to attend registration with their parents, attend a training session from Apple, and finally receive their laptops.

So ready or not, H-D is headed into the land of technology. The initiative is the latest and greatest to hit the high school, and many students and teachers are looking forward to the education and knowledge it will bring. It’s possible that more school in North Iowa will come to H-D to check out how students use their laptops, and follow our lead.  Mr. Trent Grundmeyer is always happy to answer any questions, so give him a call or email him for more information.  Also, check out the school website for in-depth research and links.

The 1:1 Laptop Initiative is being brought up in schools all across the United States.  The idea is even being explored at Hampton-Dumont High School.  Providing one laptop per student could be a big undertaking.  But with the correct usage, personnel, and administration, the 1:1 Laptop Initiative can work.  I use a laptop daily in school, and it really does help me learn.  I have the Internet at my fingertips and am able to research without moving to a special computer lab or waiting until I get home.  The 1:1 Laptop Initiative has been proven very effective in schools in the United States, increasing student accountability, and student productivity.

It has been proven in schools across the country that providing every student with a laptop, the productivity in class has gone up.  These include providing every student and teacher with portable laptop computers with up-to-date software and access to the Internet through wireless networks at school (Penuel, 2006); and, a focus on using laptops for teaching and learning to meet certain goals (Bonifaz & Zucker, 2004) such as increased equity of access to technology, transformed quality of instruction, increased student engagement, improved academic achievement and technology literacy, increased economic competitiveness, and enhanced home-school connections. (www.iste.org)

Laptops, when used correctly can stimulate a different type of learning.  No more would we be sitting in class with paper and an overhead.  Paper notebooks will be old school and online and internal collaboration between students and teachers will be at an all time high.  Getting rid of the notes machine and moving to laptop based study will help in getting rid of text books.  We will not have lectures anymore; instead we will have multiple study guides and utilize our Internet resources to find information.  Text books will now be online, where students can quickly lookup parts of reading or study guides in a matter of minutes.  Notes will be in the form of think bubbles where student will type their notes and make them so they can truly understand what is being taught.

Some would think that giving students a laptop in school would wreak havoc on the internet.  Parents think that students would have access to sites like Facebook, Twitter or MySpace.  In reality, this is no where true.  There are already blocks in place to keep students off of restricted web sites, and with these laptops, the tech administrators will know exactly who is using the computer.  With the current system, all students need is another student’s password to access their account.  That is easily accomplished by either guessing it or watching as they type it.  With this new system, the computer name or identifier cannot be changed.  Therefore, for students to mask who they are, they would have to physically use another student’s machine.  Chances are that all students would be using their machine at all times or at least keep it on their person.  If the system is set up correctly, students can only access the school network, including Internet, from home or work and be on the same blocking system as the school wireless Internet.  Therefore, administrators have total access over who can go to what sites.  Also, the administrators can easily monitor students’ activity in real time using Apple Remote Desktop.  They can terminate applications or chat with a student letting them know the proper uses to the school issued laptops.

The entire world is changing.  Society is changing and we need to adapt to it.  In a study, society is changing very rapidly, and the people of communities adapt very quickly to it.  But in schools, usually because of money, they adapt very slowly.  It is sad to see this because technology is going to be in our everyday life soon, and we need to start teaching computers and word processing at a young age and incorporate it into everything we do.  Otherwise, we are stranded.  Technology is the future, and it needs to start in the place where we spend eight hours a day for over twelve years.