November 15, 2006 Webinar
Ed Tech: What’s Now, What’s Next...
America’s Digital Schools: A Market and District Perspective

Question and Answer Session Recap:

Questions around the definition of Student Appliances (SA)
Does this include IPods?
Hayes: We didn’t include IPods in our definition of SAs, but we intend to include them in our next survey. By Student Appliances we are referring to the concept of a $100 laptop or the Ultra-Mobile PC (which is currently too expensive, but holds potential); we are looking for something with a display for a kid’s eyes.

Do you have data on stolen, durability and of stats on servicing laptops?
Glassberg:We had little theft issues the first year as this program was so well publicized in the community. We did, however, have some theft problems with kids who took their laptop home, so we instituted a rule that parents had to sign laptops out for students to take them home. For technical support, we had a Dell person on-site and got extended warranties for all laptops. All laptops are collected at the end of the school year and re-ghosted over the summer. This also helps to cut down on technical problems.

What do you think of Educational CD-based software?
Brown: One size doesn’t fit all schools, and for the foreseeable future, we need to meet consumers where they are and help bring them along. Much legacy technology exists.

Hayes: People increasingly want the more current data that they can obtain by going to Web sites rather than a static file.

What is the difference between Student Appliances and tablet computers and laptop PCs?
Hayes: A laptop PC has the biggest form factor and a robust operating system and basic tool software. The tablet PC has most of the capabilities of a laptop plus it has the ability to write formulas, symbols, and other free-hand writing directly on the tablet display. A Student Appliance may well have a different operating system (Linux is mentioned frequently because of cost savings) and is expected to be at a much lower price point. It may well use open-source software rather than the current standard licensed applications.

Do the student appliances need to cover all curriculums or be specific to a curriculum like a graphing calculator?
Hayes: We visualize Student Appliances as providing full functionality--more like a laptop than a graphing calculator. In our model, graphing calculators and other specialized devices, such as digital cameras, would be part of the robust mix, but the student would still have one primary, general-purpose device. However, most Student Appliances and laptops can run a variety of graphing calculator programs.

Can you give some brand/model numbers of products that are close to the definition of a Student Appliance?
Hayes: MIT Media Lab’s $100 laptop, others include the Intel Eduwise laptop, the Nova5000 from Fourier Systems, the WebDT 366 device from DT Research, and the Nokia 770 from Nokia.

Jeanne: You mentioned something about an MIT $100 laptop. Can you give more info or a URL where we can read more about it?
Hayes: Just Google ‘Nicholas Negroponte’ and you’ll get 950,000 hits! Go to his project’s Web site at www.laptop.org for more information.

Are there certain subjects and/or school levels (elementary, middle or high) where technology as an instructional tool is particularly embraced?
Glassberg: I would say that elementary schools are the best place to start--there’s lots of excitement around learning. In our district, the kids get laptops in 4th grade. It’s like a rite of passage and gets the kids very excited.

Brown: In general, technology is introduced more in middle school and high school, but I would agree that it’s better to start earlier.

How do you manage the type (inappropriate information) of content students have access through Internet use?
Hayes: This is a thorny question that has many possible answers. Check with www.cosn.org, www.iste.org, and other Web sites from associations that grapple with these issues.

Glassberg: There has been some inappropriate use by both students and staff. We have a clear and strong policy for both employee and student use of laptops and another policy related to Internet access on district-owned computers. Parents, students, and staff must sign a form indicating they have received and will abide by district policies before they are issued a laptop. Students who violate the policy are disciplined at the school level. Staff who violate the policy are disciplined as well. There have been more discipline issues with staff than students.

Mr. Brown, is Pearson going to use its capability to grade both multiple choice and extended response items in its company's texts K-12 so that we may begin the process of testing on demand for proficiency grading? This would remove time as a variable.
Brown: New technologies/software solutions need to be developed to address extended response and short answer open-end items and we are working on it. We have some capability to do extended response already with WriteToLearn from our Pearson Knowledge Technologies unit. Multiple choice is not a problem. The other two are a lot harder than most folks have expected.

If publishers and districts are on the sidelines, who is it that would be in the center taking the lead?
Hayes: This is a great question. It is our hope that publishers and districts will work together more in our common interests. An issue such as Internet 2 that Chris Brown raised needs cooperation among these two groups to get K-12 in the picture.

Does wireless solve the bandwidth issue?
Hayes: No, it doesn’t. Wireless is a transmission method, not part of the bandwidth solution.

What are we going to do to influence policy decisions in order to improve broadband connectivity in schools?
Hayes: This is a big question and one that we believe needs both publishers and educators to work on together, perhaps through existing educational associations.

Brown: As I mentioned on the call, I hope we can mobilize awareness around Internet 2.

Why are you expecting such a huge increase in bandwidth needs? Is it because you expect most students will be getting their curriculum content in a digital format from an ASP rather than from their teacher and a textbook?
Hayes: Yes, the move to digital content will be a big driver. Consider this: If a high school with 1,500 students and 1,600 computers is implementing 1:1 computing: We believe that these computers would be accessing the Internet for 35% of the school day. More significantly, there will be peak demand at the start of class periods and at other predictable times of day. If the school hosts student-created projects on their Web servers and also hosts online learning for students, parents, and the community, then they would need 52.5 Kilobits per second per student. However, administrative applications will also drive this.

The full ADS report has several scenarios and more examples than we have room for here.

What about measuring academic performance in online courses?
Glassberg: We don’t use online course work. But looking at basic measurements, expulsion, and formal measures of student achievement, there has been significant improvements. How much is attributable to the laptop program? It’s hard to say. Funding for the program started in the lowest-achieving schools.

Brown: Research and evaluation literature on efficacy and effective studies: Districts should ask for the clinical stats and run their own evaluation in the district – effectiveness studies – look at short-term outcomes as well as longer term impacts – this will be key.

Is there a nationally unified end result expected or desired, such as better educated students, higher test scores with total integration of technology into education? In other words, what is the goal expected to be achieved?
Hayes: Excellent question. John Bailey, former head of the U.S. Dept. of Education’s educational technology division (and now at the Gates Foundation) believes that technology’s (and therefore ubiquitous computing’s) key feature is its ability to help differentiate instruction so that we are teaching kids just what they need to learn and don’t know yet. In addition, many believe that laptops are a tool that will engage students and give them access to learning methods to which they are already accustomed to in the rest of their lives. In the bigger picture, the belief is that technology will assist authentic learning with current, lively materials that students can learn to judge and function with 21 st century skills. There is much literature on the goals and objectives of 1:1 computing initiatives. See Henrico County Schools, Virginia, Maine Education Department; and Michigan State Board of Education.

Glassberg: There should be two expected outcomes. First and foremost, student achievement should increase. Second, technology will allow students to master standards through hands-on, personal research. This strategy creates an excitement about learning that goes beyond mastery of a set of standards. It also allows students to go as deep into content as they are capable of going. Third, students should be comfortable with technology.

Hello, Arnie. We have no seed funds available to support one to one and very little hope of getting external funding due to our demographic profile. Do you think a lease to buy program would work for us?
Glassberg: I wanted to use the QZAB funds we received to lease the laptops, but there were legal issues that precluded me from doing that. I think leasing is a great idea because it resolves the issue of outdated equipment. However, you have to be prepared to set aside an amount of money every year in order to make lease payments. You also have to assume that amount will go up some each time the leases expire and new equipment is leased. You also have to accept that there will always be a payment. In the long run, I think leasing is a good way to go.

Would a non-profit institute that assesses the universe of digital curriculum and provides extension services to schools be of value?
Hayes: You may be referring to the proposed eSATS program in Arizona, which would establish a digital institute. See http://azelearning.info/home/mod/resource/view.php?id=3.

Would a K-12 ADL Co-Lab that focuses on standards for K-12 be of value?
Brown: I think it would be of value. Let’s explore it.

To what extent is SCORM adopted? Is it a likely requirement in the foreseeable future?
Brown: It is not well understaood and adopted as yet. It is a new standard--last year or two. It must evolve as digital learning objects evolve. It’s a funny thing, we need standards that are stable in key respects and yet evolve with the technology.

Glassberg: Our laptop program has resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of cooperative learning and project-based learning. Kids are constantly helping each other with both the content and the technology of the work they are doing.

What percentage of school districts use an LMS? Will availability of open-source LMS programs, like Moodle or Skai, increase adoption of lMS's by school districts?
Hayes: The America’s Digital Schools 2006 study did not cover Learning Management Systems; however, we will examine these systems in depth in the ADS 2007 study. I do expect that LMS programs like Moodle will increase adoption of learning management systems by districts.

With the 1:1 laptop or tablet initiative, how often do you suggest rotating the equipment (3, 4, or 5 years), and do the students/parents keep the equipment at the end of the rotation?
Glassberg: It depends on the usage. We started replacing the initial round of laptops after four years. The elementary kids tend to be less hard on them than the middle and high school kids.

Originally, my vision was to give a child a laptop in 4th grade, replace it in 8th grade and let them take it to college/work after graduation. That turned out to be too expensive because it would require purchasing a new set of laptops for every incoming 4th grade class. The kids are “issued” rather than “given” laptops. They are mainly kept at school unless special permission has been given to take them home.

Can you define accessibility, which educators listed as one of the priorities for digital content?
Hayes: What is Universal Design for Learning? Here is an excellent summary from www.cast.org Go to their Web site for more in-depth information.

In today's schools, the mix of students is more diverse than ever. Educators are challenged to teach all kinds of learners to high standards, yet a single classroom may include students who struggle to learn for any number of reasons, such as the following:

Teachers want their students to succeed, but a one-size-fits-all approach to education simply does not work. How can teachers respond to individual differences?

What impact do you foresee the 1:1 environment having on the use of cooperative learning in classrooms?
Hayes: One of the major tenets of the 1:1 computing movement is that empowering students and changing the classroom model away from a ‘sage on the stage’ will increase cooperative learning. In fact, that is one of the positive outcomes mentioned by many educators, including Alice Owens of Irving School District in Texas, who presented with the ADS Team at NECC.

About the ADS report: Do the districts surveyed represent all states?
Hayes: The survey was balanced geographically so that all four regions of the country were included. We had a slight over-representation of districts from the South, while the West was slightly under-represented. We may not have responses from every state, but we’re close!

Could you tell me where to get the full study report?
Hayes: Go to the MDR Web site, www.schooldata.com, and you can place an order directly there.