Two thoughts on the home internet thing:
First, that's something you want to look at in the planning stages of a 1:1, because the percentage of homes with internet access (or even high speed internet) can affect how the 1:1 is implemented. One of the reasons for a 1:1 is to take learning outside the classroom and outside the school day, and that can't happen if lots of your students can't access the internet at home. Second, if you find that a good portion of your students' homes don't have internet access, the school may want to partner with a local internet provider to help remedy that situation. At our rollout, representatives from our local ISP set up a booth and offered a deal on high speed internet for new customers. Many people took advantage of that deal. Right now we have very few students without access. --- Timothy A. Limbert Technology Coordinator Newell-Fonda CSD 712.272.3324 --- http://newell-fondatech.blogspot.com iChat/AIM: tlimbert65 Twitter: limbert65 Skype: limbert_65 From: info-tech-ow...@aea8.k12.ia.us [mailto:info-tech-ow...@aea8.k12.ia.us] On Behalf Of George Tuttle Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 8:22 PM To: info-tech@aea8.k12.ia.us Subject: [info-tech] 1:1 Techs, I've been blissfully retired for 2.5 years and have missed most of the conversation and debate associated with 1:1. When called back about a month ago, our district was already committed to 1:1. During the past month, I have reviewed some of the information associated with this commitment. As a classroom teacher, I would have loved to use the immediate feed-back and evaluation that is possible with 1:1. There are many other positives. But I see one possible negative. From the comments that I have heard during the last couple of days, it sounds like most let the kids take the units home. How about the kids with no internet access at home? At first blush, it looks like this creates an even larger uneven playing field for the disadvantaged. Is this a problem and if so, how has it been addressed by those already involved with 1:1? I'm concerned about this and definitely need some help with this one. George PS: I have to respond to emails at night at home because I haven't taken the time to create a school email address (don't plan to stick around that much longer) and we block hotmail at school!! What a world we live in!! PSS: Several schools have called and asked if they could attend the meeting tomorrow at 10 AM (PM for Lance) Anyone's welcome!! I really need help in getting up to speed on this 1:1. I really appreciate Scott and Jason taking the time and will share their expertise with everyone.
