Journal 8

Fitting the Pieces Together: Successful Technology Integration with Laptops
By: Patricia A. Yost

This article explains how an initiative to integrate technology into the classroom through a well thought out plan became a model of success. The author describes the process of successfully integrating technology into the classroom by introducing laptops. The program started off two and half years ago as a pilot project with eight sixth grade teachers. The success of the program can be contributed to a combination of the following: the availability of equipment, teacher readiness, ongoing professional development, pedagogy, and the resource and lesson database. Each played a key part to the success of the program.

Having the equipment was of course played a major part of their success. But without willingness of the teachers to use the laptops as instructional tools, the program wouldn’t have such a successful outcome. Another key element in their success is the 3 year continuous professional development program that was required of teachers who opted for the laptops. To ensure further development and continuum of learning, after learning new technological examples from teacher workshops, teachers are expected to implement newly learned technological strategies into their own lessons.

Do you think the Ongoing Professional Development has any downfalls?

The ongoing professional development is a great idea to create comfort for teachers just being introduced to idea of technology. However, are the kids of a first year teacher not given the same learning experience as a student of a second or third year teachers. Students of the second and third year teachers have more access to laptops, have more interactive lessons, and multimedia available to them. On the other hand the students of the first year teacher are introduced to least amount of technology into lessons.

Why is the database so beneficial to teachers?

The database allows teachers to share lessons with one another. This is another way of promoting continous learning and creativity. They are able to reflect on one another’s work which also creates a sense of community among teachers. The database also allows a teacher to find relevent information to download and include it into their own lessons.