1-to-1

When a school implements 1-to-1 devices the benefits to students far outweigh any barriers that a district may face. Benefits to students include: *being allowed to explore their own interests during free time. *completing or participating in class no matter where they are--I've had students FaceTime to participate in a class discussion while they were away at a 4H activity. *checking their grades at any time. *taking the responsibility of having a device ready to go for class. *having access to information in the classroom—you don’t have to reserve computer labs or library time. The biggest barriers you face (other than money): *working through the first few years when students (and their parents) will think of the device as a toy. *the illusive “same page.” Staff, community members, and administration will all have different ideas about how to best utilize the technology. And there will be meeting after meeting about how “we all need to get on the ‘same page.’” This could be about what websites should be blocked, can we use social media in the classroom, or how everyone should be going paperless—anything really. GET ON THE SAME PAGE! The “same page” does not exist. Teaching will change when everyone has a device. The most important change I have seen is about the information itself. For example, I do not worry about students memorizing dates in a history class. They can look that up on their phone--it's always with them. Instead, I am teaching them to think critically about the information they find online. Does this seem accurate? What makes it credible? Can I find this fact anywhere else? Is this a primary source? I think that the benefits of a 1-to-1 initiative outweigh the barriers. They help students—not having devices for each student can hold them back. School boards should support the endeavors of schools looking to make these changes. And it would be nice if we could all get on the “same page” with that…