By 1990, each fifth-grade girl was toting a Toshiba T1000SE and using LogoWriter to create multimedia presentations across the curriculum. The Methodist Ladies' College proved to be pioneers in this effort. This movement spread to public schools in the mid-1990s. Today, some 45,000 students and 60,000 educators across Australia are using notebook computers. Powerful results, now borne out in studies, show that students in laptop programs collaborate more, write more, and apply critical thinking skills more readily than other students.
Students are able to take ownership of their learning and work at their own pace.
Teachers, too, are affected-adopting new roles as learners and facilitators. While these successes are not unique to Australia, the original vision was. For one, Australia has a long tradition of progressive education, spending a large part of the 1970s and 1980s researching best technology practices from countries around the world. Some educators feel a key difference is the somewhat radical attitude that parents, not schools, are responsible for paying for the laptop, whether they own or rent it. While there were affordability issues at Methodist Ladies' College and other schools in Australia, they worked with parents to find a solution.