Rodrigues observes that there are implications in this strategy for reducing total cost of ownership. The less complex that infrastructure is, the more time kids can spend learning and teachers can spend teaching. The laptop also gives maximum flexibility. Students can learn in the halls. They can go to the library.
Teachers can rearrange rooms to allow students to work in teams.
Wireless maximizes that kind of flexibility. Mary Jo Humphreys is on the frontlines of innovation as librarian at Great Oaks Elementary School, site of one of the first pilots. It also brings the real world to them, making them creative problem-solvers and responsible users of information. Teachers figure out in a hurry who is good, and they look to those kids to help the other ones. What happens is that teachers don't need to know everything anymore.