Seventy-one percent of teachers believe their students who use laptops are highly motivated and more willing to focus on schoolwork. Laptops lead to higher quality work, especially writing. Eighty-seven percent of teachers believe access to laptops has increased the quality of their students' work. More than a third name writing as the academic area of most improvement. In high-school classrooms where students have access to laptops, teachers spent twice as much class time consulting and conferencing with individual students or small groups as teachers in classes without laptops did.
Laptops extend the school day.
In schools where students are learning with laptops, we are seeing the types of educational change called for by today's national standards and school-reform efforts. Microsoft and Toshiba are funding this three-year independent evaluation of Anytime Anywhere Learning as part of the companies' overall commitment to help increase access to technology for students and teachers. By giving students access to technology today, they will be better equipped to succeed in the business world tomorrow. Providing a comprehensive notebook program that teaches children how to work with tools they'll use throughout their lives is one example of how we are making technology useful to students and educators. Anytime Anywhere Learning has generated interested from educators in other countries as well.