Collection: Providing Access to Portable Tools

NCIP Profile: Learning with Laptops

Switch to Acrobat .pdf version
(To access this file, you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader software. )

Schools Address Implementation Issues

In an ideal world, students who need computers to write effectively would have them in their classrooms, at the public library, and on the kitchen table at home. In reality, schools must find ways to make a limited number of computers widely available for as many students as possible.

Because laptops can help students with learning disabilities write in different settings, some schools are implementing programs in which students are given access to these portable computers.

Portable laptop computers can provide students with disabilities access to writing in many settings. Once a school decides to establish a program in which students are given access to laptops, however, teachers and administrators must grapple with a variety of implementation issues. Three key questions that must be answered are: What criteria should be used to decide which students have access to laptops and for what purposes? What systems will be used for scheduling and managing the use of laptops so that they can be used in a variety of settings? And finally, How will the laptops be kept secure and in good working order?

The solutions will vary and depend upon a school's available resources, its organizational structure and curriculum, and the needs of its students. The story that follows provides an example of how one high school addressed these issues. Also profiled are other school programs that have successfully dealt with a variety of implementation issues that arise when students are given access to laptop computers.

Lightweight and portable, laptops can be carried from class to class as easily as bookbags.

Examples of how several different schools are using laptops:

• Laptops to the Rescue at Shrewsbury High
• Dock 'n Roll: Laptops on Wheels
• Round-the-Clock Access
• Project PULSE: One Student, One Laptop

 

[ beginning of profile | next page]

[Collection Table of Contents]

[ Home | Library | Videos | Tour | Spotlight | Workshops | Links ]

ŠEducation Development Center, Inc.