Day 2 of 1:1 Laptops

The 1:1 netbook intro has been a rollercoaster ride. Staff and students understand the engaging power of all things on the internet that is 2.0. I have shown them ietherpad and Edmodo that can be used as collaboration tools. We have created things using Notebook Recorder and Audacity on the laptops, much to the delight of students. I did a demo with grade 1 students yesterday. It was so exciting to see how quickly and easily they logged in. One little girl was rubbing the side of her netbook saying “Come on little bud.” in an effort to get it going faster.  All are genuinely excited to have new outlets of expression.

There is a ‘but’, things aren’t as smooth as they should be. The seemless learning environment has not yet been achieved. The wireless connection is flakey. In a class of 25 students I can get 18 online right away. When I get five more another five students lose their connections. Student accounts aren’t syncing up so the things they create are often not saved.

On the bright side the admin and teaching team are on top of the whole thing. Students here are super patient and very polite when things aren’t working. They try to do their own trouble shooting and only call for help when they have exhausted all their options. The administrators are working with tech support constantly to fix things up.

Next year they are pairing with 2Learn.ca on a digital leadership program. This is a new wireless network/1:1 laptop school and they are quickly getting the barriers out of the way.  I am very excited about the future of this school and all the possibilities for the staff and students.

This entry was posted on 1. June 2010 at and is filed under 2.0, 1:1 Laptops, Engagement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.