There are so many different ways to go 1:1 and in my opinion no one right way to do it. There are so many variables that need to be considered that 1:1 programs can look drastically different from one school to the next and still be successful.

Here are a few of the things we discussed:

Money:

It’s always the elephant in the room and the problem with dreaming of endless possibilities without considering the cost leads one to believe that the dreams can become reality and in many cases it is just not financially feasible to fulfill our wildest technology dreams. As much as we want to say money is not a factor…..at some point it always is.

Infrastructure:

In many countries in Asia this can be the most frustrating part of the whole plan. We all read, watch, and see the amazing things that are happening on the web. However, to do those amazing things you need a web connection. In developing countries like Vietnam the Internet is expensive, unreliable, and most of the time just plain frustrating. BISVietnam currently has a 2MB Internet line for 1600 students. Think about that the next time you want to complain about your Internet speed.

You can not consider going 1:1 without looking at the cost and feasibility of it from an infrastructure standpoint. Money put into your infrastructure is always well spent but it also means every dollar that goes towards infrastructural improvements is dollars taken away from learning devices. Finding the balance is important.

One thing that I stress is do not spend money on you infrastructure for the future. Support the here and now.

If a school spends money building up an infrastructure that looks to support learning years from now then you’re wasting money. You might know what you will need two or three years from now…but you don’t need that today. The chances are the infrastructure your school will need in the future will get cheaper and faster.

Example: You know you’re going to need more server space as students store more and more data on the Intranet. Calculate how much storage you’ll need this year and next year. But only purchase what you need for this year. By next year the cost of the same storage will be cheaper and faster.

In the end support what you need, not what you want.

Intranet vs The Cloud:

Really what this should say is Internal Cloud vs External Cloud. Based on the infrastructure that is available to a school, you may need to consider building your own Internal Cloud. Basically turning those old folder heavy Intranet servers into web accessible servers. By making your Intranet Servers accessible via a web browser you can essentially create your own cloud on your campus. You can install programs like WordPress, Elgg, Drupal, and a host of other open-source software that essentially creates your own Internal Cloud system. 

This is a common process in China where access to many cloud services is blocked by the government. If that’s the case, or you don’t have a fast reliable Internet connection then building your own cloud is an option. Shanghai American School is a great example of a school building an internal cloud. Check out there Online Community Portal

At ISB, my current school for 23 more days, we are slowly making the transition from an Internal Cloud to an External Cloud system. When I arrived four years ago we starting building our Internal Cloud system as it was faster and more reliable. As the infrastructure of Thailand has improved and we’ve been able to purchase more bandwidth (20MB when I arrived and 100MB now for 1800 students) we’ve slowly moving to an external cloud. 

Exchange Mail Server to Google Apps – 2011-2012

Hosted Moodle to Externally Hosted LMS – 2012-2013

Internal Hosted Blogs to External Hosted Blogs – 2014

Or something like that. By moving these services to the external cloud we trade servers for Internet speed and reliability. As our speed and reliability increases so can our reliance on the external cloud.

Learning Devices:

Of course this is where we all like to discuss our options. What devices are right for students? 

The only way to answer this question is to first identify what it is you want students to be doing with the laptops. What kind of experiences do you want them to have, what skills do you want them to gain and what creative products do you want them to produce? 

By first identifying what we want students to do at different grade levels we can then choose the device that meets those needs. 

Again…dreaming here can be dangerous. We must realized and understand that in developing countries we don’t always get the lastest and greatest technology and not every company is currently supporting devices in every country. In Vietnam’s case Apple has no support in Vietnam as of yet. Sure, you can buy Apple products, but any support needed on those products has to be sent out of the country. Coming to the realization of what’s possible and what learning devices you have access to is not always fun…but again is reality. 

Ownership:

Ownership is something I think we spend to much time and effort on….as basically you have two options. 

1. School Owned

2. Parent/Student Owned

This decision comes down to two points.

• Can the school afford to own all the laptops? 
  • If the answer is no…then Parent/Student owned is your only option
  • If the answer is yes….then you need to think about and understand your community

• Will the school community support a laptop program?
  • Have we done work with the school community in helping them understand the reasoning behind a 1:1 program?
  • How can we move our school culture forward?
  • Can our community afford it?

Administrators must know their community and be willing to hold community sessions to educate the community on the benefits of a 1:1 program. This decision is a school based one. Both options work…it’s picking the best option for your school that is important to success. 

In the end, you can look around at what other schools are doing or have done but that will only get you so far. Every school culture and situtation is different, hence there is no one way to roll out a 1:1 program that is magical and perfect. They all have their positives and negatives. At the end of the day make a decision and just do it!

The COETAIL Program or Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy, is a 5 course 15 graduate credit program started by Kim Cofino and I in 2009. The program, only available to educators outside the U.S., continues to return positive results with 86% of educators who have taken the program saying that the coures and the learning have had a positive effect on their teaching practices 6 months after they finish the program. The fifth and final course asks educators to take everything they have learned in the first 4 courses and apply it to their teaching. We push the educators to try to use technology in a way that redefines the learning experience using the following definition:

Redefinition: The computer allows for the creation of new tasks, inconceivable without the computer.

As usual the TAS educators rose to the challenge and presented some fantastic learning examples as well as some failures....which in itself is a success. Here are a few highlights. 

Nancy and Kathy put together this fantastic video for their final project. You can read about their reflections on their blogs.

Allison Nave has done a great job of sharing and reflecting as she flips her middle school math class.

Nyoli had her Algebra students create a Google Site for review purposes. Students don't want the site public but she outlines the learning and the process.

Barb outlines making book trailers with elementary students in the library and collaborating with Tara our librarian here at ISB.

Scott and Laura reflect on using iPads with 1st graders.

Steve talks about using Google Docs with 2nd Graders.

Jennifer teaches music through creating a sound track for a movie trailer.

It was great to see teachers stretch themselves on these projects as I encouraged them to push themselves and the technology so far beyond what they though capable that they failed.....and we had a few "successful failures" as Michael called it in his presentation. That's a term I could get use to using.

If you are an educator outside of America and you are interested in the COETAIL program. Head over to the About page where you can read about the program and put your name on the list to get more information. Our plan is to start another cohort in September.

But tonight I'm closing everything else to reflect on some articles lately that I can't get out of my head. 

Some rights reserved by nojhan

Wikipedia has its first 1 million editor. Stop and think about that for a minute. That's pretty amazing that someone would take the time to sit down and make edits....for free...for others to use. What worries me most is Wikipedia is seeing a decline in the number of editors yet the website is as popular as ever.....and all I can think about is are we creating a generation of takers and not givers? How many teachers have taught the true meaning of giving on the Internet.....or actually given themselves. We all take, I haven't met a teacher yet that hasn't gotten a resource from the web, yet very few share and give back. The generation in our schools today are some of the heaviest users of Wikipedia and I hope that we're challenging them to give back at least some of what they are taking. Wikipedia is a project waiting to be using in every subject I can imagine. There has to be away to use it in our schools. 

Many schools, including mine, have expectations that students put in community service hours. I wonder if there is a way to count Wikipedia editing as community service. I'd love to be on that interview:

"What community did you support?"

"A community of about 1 billion people."

TED-ED launched their new site recently which has some interesting features and an interesting twist to the flip approach. I need to dig into the site more to see how it all works but from the readings I've done and exploring the website it looks be be a pretty useful resource. But teachers will be the ultimate judge of that! 

And lastly the Internet officially received its own Hall of Fame. Great to see those who invented this thing be recognized. It has been fun to read through some of their bios. It's great to see people like Raymond Thomlinson who years ago looked down at his computer keyboard for a symbol that would separate the username from the domain host. He needed a symbol that wasn't in use yet and choose the @ sign. Forever changing the world of communication. There is a great article that I re-read every once and awhile called How the Web Was Won that talks a lot about the pioneers of the Internet and the early days. A great historical read if you are interested. 

Who do you give your attention to?

I talked about the 1-9-90 rule that researchers see emerging. That is that 1% of us create, 9% of us curate, an 90% of us only consume information. After the presentation I asked students to write down the top three things that get their attention.

CC 2.0 by Stephen Poff

The idea of the Attention-Economy is not new, but I felt that students needed to know about it and needed to think deeply about how they spend their time....specifically how much time they spend consuming vs creating.There is another part of the Attention-Economy that I think we as educators need to pay attention to. That is when to ask for someone's attention. Over the past couple of years I've been playing with this idea of attention myself. Being in Thailand and having most of my readers in the United States I have found that the time my blog posts go public has a direct correlation with how many people read my blog posts. If I publish my blog posts in the middle of the night U.S. time I get almost 50% less people reading that particular post, 50% less tweets about it, and therefore less feedback on my ideas. 

Because the pace of information is so fast, by the time readers in the U.S. wake up my piece of information is history. 

Based on what I have learned playing with my own blog posts, I've started to transfer over to e-mails at school with pretty good success...and this is really what I want to share with you.

Do you pay attention to the timing of your e-mails?

I haven't come across a school yet that does not rely heavily on e-mail to get things done. Which means we all get a ton of e-mail during the work day and sometimes even more after hours.

When you send that e-mail to your staff could be as important as the e-mail itself.

Case in point:

I needed to send out a survey last week to staff. The administration had asked that I send it out right after an e-mail that they were sending out to staff about e-learning and our school's expectations for teachers.

There was nothing wrong with this....except the timing that the administration sent out their e-mail was all wrong. Teachers were in the last day of finishing up grade reports (never a good time to send e-mails) and second, the e-mail came out around lunch time when many teachers were working on their grades. As I talked to some teachers later on, some admitted to me of just deleting the e-mail, "It wasn't relavent to me at the time." While others don't even remember receiving the e-mail in the first place.

Teachers' attention was focused on something more important and therefore other less relevant information is missed.

Instead of sending out my e-mail of the survey at that time....I waited for the right time. Tuesday at 2:00pm, two working days later and 5 minutes before the end of the day I sent out the survey link in a quick two sentence e-mail explaining that the survey consisted of 7 questions should take 2 minutes at most and would really appreciate their time and effort.

Over 50% of the staff filled the survey out by 2:30 that same day. Here's what I've learned.

Timing is everything:

CC 2.0 by DylanHartmann.com

Send e-mails just before teachers have a break to put that e-mail at the top of their inbox. Very few people answer e-mails from the bottom up even though that would be chronologically correct. Things at the top get noticed, so try to plan and send your e-mails a few minutes before a break, lunch, or right before school gets out. These are times when teachers check their e-mail. 

People appreciate short:

This is why every administrator should be on Twitter. To learn to write short, concise e-mails that get to the point quickly. If you need your staff to read something longer, put it in a Google Doc and link it to the e-mail. We read documents differently then we read e-mail. Use the right form factor for the information that needs to be communicated. 

Subject Lines are Important:

You have one really good chance to sell your e-mail and that is the subject line. It honestly could be the most important part of the e-mail. Make the subject purposeful...make me want to click on the e-mail and not just pass over it.

Be sensitive to teachers attention:

Before sending an e-mail think about what has teachers attention at the moment. Are grades due? Is there a holiday coming up? A special schedule? Much like we tell students to "think before you post" we need to "think before we send". 

Attention is a valuable commodity and we all get frustrated when we feel like our time is wasted. By making a few simple adjustments in the way we think about communicating could help all of us focus our attention in a much more productive way.

Doesn't he know better than to give a test on game day?

As if the professor actually cares that there's a baseball game today. 

Man on first, lefty at the plate........Why is Chief Seattle's speech in 1854 so significant?

Focus....you have to finish this test!

It is always hard to concentrate on game day. I glance over at my friend Ryan, our back-up shortstop sitting next to me, our eyes meet and he shrugs. 

Lefty at the plate, man on first...curve ball down and in...........1854......I have no idea.

Really there should be some sort of rule about giving tests to players on game day. The school might call us "Student Athletes" but in our minds we are "Athletic Students". 

The bell rings and I turn in my blue book and walk outside and wait for Ryan. 

"That was brutal!"

"Yeah.....at least it's over"

We walk across campus to the locker room on a rare sunny day in Bremerton, Washington. 

We're an odd couple Ryan and I. No one would ever guess a farm boy from Spokane who wears Wrangler jeans, a cowboy hat, boots and a belt buckle would become friends with a Filipino who wears baggy jeans 5 sizes too big, a baseball cap a little crooked, and listens to grunge and alternative rock. 

But we have one thing in common. The love of baseball. We talk the game constantly whether it's situations, pitch counts, our latest practice or our favorite topic, the Mariners. 

"You think we'll see any action today?"

"You might" I say as we walk across the commons "but I threw a pen session yesterday so I'm on charts."

"Doubt I will either...a day game on four days rest. Maybe as a pinch runner but that's it."

We're not the best players on the team, Ryan doesn't start many games and I'm a relief pitcher who tops out at about 78mph. Not enough gas for the community college league we play in. 

We make our way to the locker room and get changed for the game and then take my truck to the ball field about 20 minutes away. Although we know we're not starting, the preparation is the same. We spend the 20 minute drive in silence knowing once the uniform goes on the mental preparations begin. I'm lost in thoughts of pitch counts and pitch selections while Ryan runs through play situations in his head. 

The game goes as expected for Ryan and I. I spend the game sitting on a bucket of batting practice balls spitting sunflower seeds and charting pitches. Ryan sits next to me on his own bucket with a stop watch. Timing everything from the speed of pitches to the catcher's throws to second base. A split second can mean the difference of a stolen base or an out....and nobody catches the small details better than Ryan.

It's not all glamour this game. You never see a pitcher charting piches on TV in the big leagues. They have staff people that do that. But here at the community college level if you're riding the pine sooner or later you'll find yourself keeping charts. 

By the 7th inning, although we'll never admit it afraid to jinx the team, our minds start praying that these last two innings go fast. It's not helped by the fact that the third person of our group has just shown up in the stands, coming straight from work. She slides in on the end of one of the bleachers with her Mariners sweatshirt on under her jacket and her hair pulled back in that signature ponytail.

I nudge Ryan with my elbow and give a toss of my head in her general direction. Ryan sees her sitting there and gives the slightest of head movements acknowledging that he sees her. 

As the last out of the game is made we break our silence.

"What do you think......can we make the 5:30 Bainbridge?"

"No way...we still need to pack up and drop my truck off at my place.....we're better off taking the 6 o'clock Bremerton."

"Yeah...but the Bremerton is an hour ride we won't make first pitch."

"Yeah...but if we try for the 5:30 and miss it we miss the first three innings."

We part ways and work as fast as possible to clean up after the game. Another shot you'll never see on TV. The players raking the field and fixing the mound after a game. But here in community college we're both player and grounds crew. 

Ryan heads to shortstop and I head to the mound. Everyone knows these are our areas and everyone stays clear. Ryan and I built this mound from the ground up on a rainy Sunday for 5 hours with coach one weekend. I know this mound better than anyone and quickly work it back into shape. 

On another wet and rainy weekend, Ryan and I resodded the entire infield with new grass, and yet another weekend remixed the dirt for the infield. Ryan knows every bump, ever rock of the shortstop position and using a rake quickly smooths it out. We might not get a lot of playing time on the field but we still respect it and honor it the way a baseball player should. 

We quickly put our rakes away grab our bags and hustle out to the parking lot. She's there at her car waiting for us. 

"We'll never make the 5:30 Banbridge...we still need to drop my truck off at my place and change our clothes." I say with a smirk on my face. 

"What if we left your truck here and you guys changed in the car? We have to pass back by here after the game anyway so we can pick your truck up then."

Ryan and I look at each other with that look that communicated, why didn't we think of that? And at the same time, We knew there was a reason we hung out with her. 

We pile into her car and head to Banbridge. 

Ryan and I change in the car in a similar scene that you've seen in the movies. Body parts being bent in all sorts of positions, clothes flying everywhere, and laugher erupting from all of us. By the time we hit the ferry terminal in Bainbridge, I've transformed back into my Wranglers and flannel shirt and Ryan into his baggy jeans and baggy sweatshirt. We both opt for our college baseball hats with the big OC for Olympic College embroidered on the front. After all, a cowboy hat doesn't go over too well in Seattle.

We quickly park the car and sprint down the plank and jump onto the ferry just moments before its whistle blows and sets sail for Seattle.

"Told you guys we'd make it." she says out of breath but in a tone to remind us that this is her town.

Mt. rainer from the Ferry

It's an unusually warm May day, so we elect to sit out doors at the front of the ferry. As we slowly gain speed she pushes Ryan and I apart and sits between us. She promptly turns sideways laying her head on my shoulder and kicking her feet up over Ryan's lap. I swear she never could sit like a regular person.

"So....didn't see any action today huh fellas?"

"No....we saw loads of action today......we just weren't involved in any of it."

She laughs and Ryan and I bump fists over top of her.

As we sit there with the smell of the ocean filling our nostrils and the wind from the boat gaining speed forcing us to turn our hats around, we see our destination come into view. 

space Needle and Seattle Skyline

The whitish gray top of the Kingdome standing out like a beacon south of the city. Off to our right Mt. Rainer stands clear and tall over Seattle slowly turning purple and pink with the setting sun. Off to our left and north of the city the Space Needle rises like a watch tower among low buildings. We sit there in silence for the longest time just taking in the view and the smell of the ocean as the ferry makes the 35 minute crossing of the Puget Sound.

"Who's pitching tonight?" 

"Randy Johnson!" Ryan and I say in unison as if the answer was rehearsed. 

We return to silence as I wrap my arm around her shoulder as I can tell she's cold. Ryan hugs her knees close to his chest to keep her warm on his end. 

As the boat slows to dock in Seattle, the skyline of the city sits in front of us slowly turning the same purple and pink of Mt. Rainer as the sun makes it's way lower on the horizon. 

"Some day we're gonna live right there." I say pointing to a new condo building with a big NOW RENTING sign and phone number on it.

"Yeah...wouldn't that be the bomb if we could afford to live there?"

"We can live there....the three of us together could afford it."

"There's no way! No way we could afford that.....seeing I'm the only one with a job." She reminds us with a chuckle. 

"I bet we could....Ryan....write down the number....how much do you think the top floor of that place costs?" Ryan always has a pen on him usually with reminders scribbled all over his hand...so one more phone number won't hurt.

"With that view? More than two baseball players with no jobs can afford." Again reminding us of our employment status.

"I'm not talking now" I say, "but in the future...seriously....the three of us could afford it together."

"That would be too cool.....could you imagine us all living in Sea town?" Ryan says spinning his hat around but leaving it just a tad to the left of straight. 

"Some day....I'm telling you...some day we're all going to live here. We're gonna live here and walk to games whenever we want. No having to run for a ferry!" 

"Keep dreaming boys!" She says as she sits up straight and the ferry pulls into the dock. 

It's 6:05, an hour before the first pitch. We exit the ferry with the rest of the passengers dressed in their Mariner garb headed to the game. Once off the ferry we quickly separate from the crowd with our quick pace and make our way to the Kingdome. We order a soda and popcorn and find our seats just in time for the National Anthem.   

Ryan and I at Safeco Field

As another baseball season begins today with my beloved Mariners taking on the Oakland A's in Japan, I'm reminded of this boat ride. We had probably close to hundreds more just like it over the years as we made our way from the Olympic Peninsula to the Kingdome and Safeco Field. Each ride would be basically the same conversation. This idea that some day we would all live in Seattle and be able to walk to Mariners games whenever we wanted. Ryan and I envisioned leaving work in our ties and throwing on a baseball cap to catch an afternoon game or owning season tickets for those seats we could never afford. As we prepare for our move back to Seattle, where that girl and I now own a condo that has a view of Safeco Field and Ryan owns a condo just 7 blocks from us, I'm reminded of all those conversations we had on the ferry about these days to come. The days when we would all be living in Seattle, and just a quick walk from the ball park. 

safeco and mt Rainer from our Condo

So to my wife and to my best friend....may our dreams of 16 years ago see the light of day....and just remember I told you one day we would do it!

 In two weeks time I have to give a presentation to our high school student body. I always struggle the most with what to talk to them about.....them being kids in general. I've got about 15 minutes to inspire them to use technology in ways that really matter. 

Thanks to the Kony 2012 campaign I have a starting point to talk about this new world that they are going to create. I believe this generation could be the greatest generation since the great WWI generation years ago. They have the ability to connect and communicate in a virtual way that can bring real impact to the world. We are already seeing it happen: The 2008 Presidential U.S. elections, Arab Spring, London Riots, Occupy Wall Street, Stop SOPA, and now Kony 2012 just to name a few of the larger movements where social networking has had a direct impact on world changing events. 

....and the great news is....this generation is just getting started. 

They have older generations running scared. From Iran to Syria, China, Thailand and most of the western world, governments and generations are fearing what is to come when this generation decides they have had enough, can connect, communicate, and bring about change in the blink of an eye. 

I read a new term the other day:

Slacktivism: The word is usually considered a pejorative term that describes "feel-good" measures, in support of an issue or social cause, that have little or no practical effect other than to make the person doing it feel satisfaction. The acts tend to require minimal personal effort from the slacktivist. The underlying assumption being promoted by the term is that these low cost efforts substitute for more substantive actions rather than supplementing them, although this assumption has not been borne out by research.

I am still feeling my way around this new term and not sure I totally agree with its ideals. The cases I stated above are all cases where the rally cries within social networks saw real change in the world. Retweeting or reposting the Kony 2012 video is good for spreading the message, but what are you and I going to do in the real world that really matters? That's what this will come down to. 100 million views on YouTube mean nothing if nothing changes for the better out here.

And then there is our generations, any of us born before 1980 basically, who for the most part do not understand all of this. I have heard on more than one occasion "I don't get it" from people, and instead of helping this generation understand the power they possess, we fear it, run from it, and then turn around and punish this generation for using tools that are as much a part of their generation as the TV, gaming console, and microwave oven were to ours. 

Some rights reserved by Yaniv Golan

Social Networking can be scary if we don't teach students the amazing power that lies within those connections. Today I read this article about a girl in Minnesota that is suing the school district over her Facebook privacy. Now I don't know the details and I'm sure it's not as bad as the article makes it out to be, it rarely ever is. But the point is, could the school have handled this in an educational way? What if the school had been teaching social-networking rather than cursive handwriting in 3rd, 4th, 5th grade? 

And then there is the part of the article that talks about potential employees being asked to hand over their Facebook password during interviews as part of the interview process. 

A number of prospective employees have complained that they were forced to hand over their passwords to Facebook and Twitter when applying for jobs.

Really? Do employers really have that much to fear? If they do then they have bigger things to worry about than an employee's Facebook page I would think.

Or what about this bit about university athletes: 

In an recent investigation, the TV station MSNBC found that many university sports departments now require students to "friend" their coach, giving officials access to their "friends-only" posts.

The University of North Carolina handbook reads: "Each team must identify at least one coach or administrator who is responsible for having access to and regularly monitoring the content of team members' social networking sites and postings.

Could we view these as educational opportunities rather than potential threats? Gee....a university teaching students how to use their social networking connections for good...there's a thought!

Then there are guys like HeeJin, an American Idol contestant, who may not be the best singer of the group, but is leveraging his twitter account and the connections to stay in the race. Whether he really knows what he's doing or not he's trying to use those connections to bring about change....change for himself in this instance but real change in the world for sure. 

So this is the direction I want to go with my talk in two weeks. I know some faculty on my staff will be upset that I won't warn the kids about sexting, or about spending too much time online, but they're 15-18 years old and the last thing they need is another person from the older generations telling them what they should and shouldn't be doing rather than getting them excited about what is possible for them and their future. 

The danger lies in not educating them on how to use these connections for the better. Instead of scaring them into not using them at all....can't we help them understand the power of an update, the power of a connection and use it to do amazing things in the real world? 

What would you recommend?

MacBook vs ChromeBook

Laptop vs Tablet

Tablet Laptop vs Tablet Slates

The problem is that's not the right question to be asking. Don't get me wrong, I know what everyone is asking and dealing with. There are a lot of compelling options out there right now and at the end of the day the best option is the one your school can afford. 

However, if you are looking at a couple different platforms then your school must have the budget to do some shopping and thinking about which platform is best for students and this is where our question begins. 

Do not ask "What should we use to go 1:1 with?"

Ask "What do we want students to create?"

I wrote about this in my Technology Plan (Free PDF that needs to be updated) a few years back. The technology should support the learning which means we need to know what we expect students to create (key word there) with technology. 

Let's take 3rd Grade as an example. I would expect 3rd Graders at my school to:

• Collaborating on Google Docs
• Blogging (including uploading of images)
• Creating simple movies
• Creating simple podcasts
• Commenting on others blogs

I would sit down with the 3rd Grade team and have them help me brainstorm this list. Remembering to stay focus on what we want students to do, not what we're currently doing (sometimes a big difference!). 

Some rights reserved by mikecogh

Why do I focus on creating? Simple, we want every student to be able to consume information via technology. That's a given and each of the devices above allows you to consume information, there is nothing, other than form factor that really sets them apart. If you only want students to consume information the choice is easy...a tablet such as an iPad is made to do just that. Looking at the quick list that I created I'm now going to go and look at all my options for hardware and choose the best fit that allows my students to do everything I want them to do. In the case above everything listed, except collaborate on Google Docs, can simply be done on an iPad. So, using this list (and I know it's not complete) I would go 1:1 with iPads in 3rd Grade and then have a cart of laptops available for the Google Docs piece.

This is the question I started with in my recent blog post about what my dream school 1:1 program would look like. At the end of the day the right device is the device that allows your teachers and students to do what they want to do and are not held back by the technology. Make your decision on what you want students to create and you can't go wrong.

Featured Image: Some rights reserved by rwentechaney

It was a fun two days filled with conversations and ideas. I met with math teachers on the second day and promptly stole everything that Dan Meyer has to offer (Thanks Dan!).  

I also met with the primary teachers who teach 3-5 year olds. I had my hardest time talking technology with this group of educators. I believe what the brain research is telling us in that this age group should be spending as little time in front of computers as possible. The TED talk below is a good place to start and talks about how to develop the language center in the brain you can't substitute computers for human contact.

I'm not sure it's a good move for a consultant who is brought in to champion tech to say....you shouldn't be using very much. I do think limited exposure isn't a bad thing, but the key word there is limited. I still want these kids playing with blocks and with each other.

In the end it was great to spend time at a fantastic school who like the rest of big schools in Asia are asking big questions, innovating at every turn, and taking a risk on what the future of education might be. 

My son attends a school where MacBooks are required from grades 8-12, and students use many different assistive technology tools. I believe that 1:1 is great as a learning TOOL, but because students have their laptops with them all the time, there is no “down” time when they have to use their own initiative to think, dream, plan, create w/o a screen. He gets up and will open the laptop before breakfast to play, he will play or noodle around with his iTunes in the car on the way to school, on the way home from school, and every other time that kids used to be unplugged. He is not creating, he is consuming. It is a huge fight in our household.

What advice do you have for parents in dealing with this dark side-effect of a mandatory BYOL environment?

by One Laptop per Child

It's a good question and my first response is what is your school doing to help train parents on both their responsibility and management of technology that the school provides?

Here at ISB we do a couple of different things. We first have a mandatory meeting that at least one parent has to attend we run the same training three to four times at different time periods for parents. Of course the kids make them go as they want their laptops.

We also run a set of 5 courses called the ISB Technology Certificate for Parents. We've taken 100 parents through the program over the past two years. Now, not every parents will take it, but enough do and they talk to other parents and the message we give in the courses spreads through the community. Spreading an understanding of the use of the laptops and what parents can do to help support their children at home.

If a school is going to give every students a laptop, I feel, they have an obligation to not only train students but parents on good use of the technology.

My Advice For Parents:

Remember That You Are The Parent

When it comes to technology, many parents feel that they do not know enough to create limits and boundaries. Because of this they do not feel right taking the technology away. You are still the parent and in your house you make the rules. You have every right to take the computer away from your child if you feel they are not having enough "down time". I know one family that the whole family felt out of balance so they unplug the Internet in their house. So everyone has to be disconnected at the same time. They use this time to reconnect as a family and just have some 'down' time.

Create Family Rules

The #1 thing you can do is have a conversation with your child. I strongly encourage every family to sit down and talk about exactly the points you raise. Make family rules that everyone can live by. No computer before breakfast, no computer in the car while someone is driving, etc. These are good times to be disconnected and be together as a family. If the parents also abide by these family rules then there is buy-in from everyone. Everyone having to give it up is easier then "Why do I have to give it up but Dad can still check email on is iPhone?"

Homework Shouldn't Take Longer

"But mom, I'm doing my homework." What a great way to play on your computer and waste time. If your school gave 2 hours of homework before the 1:1 program, they're probably still only giving about 2 hours of homework after the 1:1 program. But students play this card a lot. Set a limit that you think is reasonable and if they don't finish their homework in that set time, then too bad they don't get their homework done. If they make the choice to use their time unwisely they pay the consequences. Learning to manage your time is a skill, especially in Middle School, that we all need to help teach students. The computer makes this harder, and also easier. We have parents e-mail or call teachers and let them know that their child did not finish their homework because they were playing around on their laptop. Teachers usually support this, the student gets a zero and usually a good talking to from the teacher. Sometimes if the problem persists, teachers will recommend after school detention or Saturday School as a consequence for not getting assignments done. It usually doesn't take long before kids get the message.

Are They Really Just Consuming

Many times we think kids playing video games or "messing around" on their computers is not a learning experience. Take the time to watch and ask yourself "What are they learning?". Creation with the laptop can sometimes be hard to spot. A great example is the game that is sweeping through our Middle School at the moment called Mindcraft. As far as games go these days, it is about as calm and creative as you are going to get. Basically you get to "build whatever you want" and I have to say I have seen our students build some pretty amazing things. Is it playing? Yes, with virtual legos. Creative? Absolutely. Future engineer? Very possible.

Conversation, Conversation, Conversation

Because you asked the question I know you're thinking about it and it worries you, which tells me you're a good parent. The best thing you can do is sit and have conversations with your child. Watch them play their games and ask them what they are doing. What do they think they are learning. Talk to them about how much time they spend on the computer and do they think it's healthy? Take an interest in what they are doing on the computer in their free time helps to open up a dialogue between you and your child about the technology. If they know you are interested then they are willing to listen more when you start asking questions about how much time they spend "connected".

We Still Know What's Best For Them

All the tech I took

Now, I'm one of the biggest technology pushers out there but even I value disconnected time. Last year on a high school trip the "tech guy" took away all the technology from the kids. 10th and 11th grades...made them turn in every piece of electronics they had. They hated me for about 2 hours and then magically it didn't matter anymore. You can read their reflections about the trip here and many of them reflect on just how connected they were and didn't realize it and what spending a week disconnected did for them.

Disconnecting Doesn't Always Mean No Technology

We still know what's best for them even if they don't think so. It's important to disconnect and as adults I think we have an obligation to help kids understand this. Disconnecting doesn't have to mean no technology. I love my Kindle for the simple fact all I can do is read on it. I disconnect every day when I go workout or for a run, yet I have my phone with me playing music or tracking my run via GPS. This is time disconnected yet technology still plays a supporting role. 

What other tips or advice do you have for parents who's children are in a 1:1 program?

(Contributions to this blog post were made by my wife Daneah Galloway, a National Certified School Counselor.)

When most people think of the flipped classroom model or reverse instruction, which ever term you like best, they automatically think videos, screencasts, and when you get down to it lecture based instruction.But that doesn’t have to be the case.

In fact every time I have helped a teacher flip their classroom in the high school it has never involved videos. Instead it involves students actively finding information, making sense of it, and then coming to class ready to discuss with the teacher what they have learned, what questions they have and, what it is they still don’t know/understand.

Currently I am working with a history teacher who came to me with some “really dry historical content” that he needed to cover in his 11th grade Thailand and Southeast Asia history class.

We discussed some options and settling on following a similar set-up that I used in a English classroom last year.

First we came up with an essential question to focus the students. That essential question will be the summative assessment in some form or another when we finish this unit.

The essential question: How does the past influence the present?

Next the teacher came up with sub-questions to help the students focus their research and transfer of knowledge.

• What is the relationship between the ‘modern’ and the ‘traditional’ in this time period?
• How was the Thai nation conceptualized or interpreted during this time period?
• That is, how was the notion of ‘Thai-ness’ or what it meant to be ‘Thai’ defined in this time period? Did it change over the course of this time period? If so, how and why?
• Analyze the evolution of social forces during the time period.
• For example, what is the relationship between the ‘old’ order and the ‘new’ order during this time period?
• How did different social forces try to make use of the machinery of the Thai nation-state during this time period in order to control or influence state power?
• What is the role of Western influence, both direct and indirect, within this time period? What is the Thai response to such influence?

by Sailing "Footprints: Real to Reel" (Ronn ashore)

For this specific unit the students are studying Thailand History (required class for all students in Thailand) from 1932 - Present.Next we listed the skills we wanted students to gain through this unit of study.

• Become better searchers of primary source documents and quality web sources
• Be able to post a blog post with media relevant to the content
• Be able to leave a quality comment on a blog

Then came the knowledge and understandings we wanted students to gain.

• Understand how the past influences present day politics in Thailand
• Understand Thailand's role globally through the years
• Know the role that Thailand plays in the global economy

Once we had those in place we set out to create the structure over the next two weeks. Both the teacher and I felt we were crunched for time as the student’s Global Citizen Week (all students leave on a week trip to global destinations) made for a natural break in learning. With that in mind, here’s what the class periods looked like:

Thurs - 1/26 1932 - 1948
Group A Blog Post due Saturday 6pm
Group B Prepare for Discussion on Monday 1/30

Monday - 1/30 1948 - 1972
Group B Blog Post due Wednesday 6pm
Group A Prepare for Discussion on Friday 2/3

Friday - 2/3 1972 - 1996
Group A Blog Post due Sunday 2pm
Group B Prepare for Discussion on Tuesday - 2/7

Tuesday - 2/7 1996 - Present
Group B Blog Post due Tuesday 9pm
Group A Prepare for Discussion on Thursday - 2/9

As we start week two of this flipped project the students are getting more comfortable with what is expected of them. It has been amazing the pushback we have received both from students and from parents on this flipped idea.

Students telling us they would rather listen to a lecture and powerpoint from the teacher then have to struggle through the mass of content out there to find the answer themselves.

Parents calling into question the idea that the teacher isn’t “teaching my child” and the frustration their child is having to “find the right answer.”

Both of these comments scare me....a lot!

Students who have come to expect that the answers will just be given to them in a lecture now complain when they are asked to find information on their own rather than having it spoon fed to them in 90 minute chunks.

Parents who still believe that learning in the high school should be teacher directed and test based and call into question any deviation of what they know “school” to be.

As an employee of my school I am very concerned about the notion of what good learning (not teaching) looks like in a world that is filled with information that is chaotic, messy, and ever growing. If I was an administrator at my school I would be concern if I wasn’t receiving more calls from parents telling me “the teacher isn’t teaching”.

Reverse instruction can look different in different classrooms. To often we see one good example and we assume it must be done that way when really it’s the idea that is important. How you decide to “farm out” the content discovery and knowledge accusation is up to you. The main thing to ask yourself is simple:

How do I structure my time so that I get the most out of our face to face interactions?

Complete Lesson Plan Outline Here