September 2006 — Features
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1-to-1 Computing :: Teaming Up to Go 1-to-1
Districts are discovering that the secret to implementing a good laptop program is finding a good partner.
ANY TECHNOLOGIST WILL TELL YOU there’s more than one way to create a 1-to-1
computing environment. But how do you create one that works? Some districts are finding
that the key to launching a successful program quickly and easily is partnering with others.
In the case of Texas Public Schools, these others have included everyone from vendors to a
public agency. At Cincinnati Country Day School, district administrators joined with a solution
provider to provide good deals for parents. And at Catskill Central School District (NY),
school officials teamed up with a local vendor to lease equipment that can be refreshed
whenever the hardware becomes antiquated. Each method has met with great success.
What makes these partnerships work isn’t exclusively good technology, but a combination of good technology and great service. Joe Hofmeister, technology director at Cincinnati Country Day School, says this one-two punch is essential to any successful partnership, and can be the difference between a revolutionary endeavor and a colossal waste of money and time. “Sometimes in the IT business, it isn’t always about IT,” says Hofmeister. “The sooner an educational organization realizes that, the more quickly it will recognize the value of finding equal partners who want to make a difference.”
A Good ‘TIP’
One could argue that the mother of all laptop programs is the Technology Immersion Project in Texas. Launched in 2004, TIP is a public-private collaboration between the Texas Education Agency and school district, consulting, communications, research and evaluation, and vendor partners. The effort grew out of state legislation that called upon the TEA to implement a pilot and determine the conditions under which immersive technology holds the greatest potential for improving student achievement. Currently implemented on 29 campuses in 22 different school districts (with more to come), TIP is transforming the Lone Star learning environment.
The program pioneers an entirely new concept in educational technology—total immersion of faculty and students in technology. TIP steps beyond 1-to-1 computing experiments and completely envelops participants in technology and professional development. It also includes an evaluation component (see “Evaluating TIP: Year 1”). According to Anita Givens, senior director for instructional materials and educational technology at the TEA, TIP bundles six critical areas of technology resources into a single package for both teachers and students. Laptops and tablet computers form one of these six areas. The others are:
- productivity tools (software)
- online content resources
- online assessment tools
- comprehensive professional development
- technical support
Setting up the technology for a program this broad certainly wasn’t easy. The TEA secured roughly $16.5 million in various federal technology funds to support immersion implementation and opened the program up for standard vendor bids. Instead of submitting requests for proposals for the six critical areas separately, Givens and her colleagues decided to solicit bids for the project in its entirety. Very soon after, 17 different vendors replied. Ultimately, the TEA settled on one package from Apple and two packages from Dell, one for the Inspiron laptop and one for the Latitude, which is slightly more expensive.
