Staff development was covered by local district funds and was also included with purchases of all new hardware. We re seeing a whole new set of dynamics in terms of who teaches whom, and how it gets done. Anyone can be the teacher and anyone can be the student, depending on what needs to be learned at what time. I think this illustrates to the students that learning is a life process that never ceases. If students can grasp this, it validates the fact that learning continues.
Teachers have to organize their thinking, their materials, their presentation, and their timing.
I can almost hear some of you thinking, Well, they had a lot of money to do something like that. It was wonderful the way we did it. But a district or school could buy a small quantity of laptops, say 20 or 25, use them for a period of time in one building, and then move them on to another. The computers would stay at each location just long enough to get the fire lit and firmly established. Teachers would get the opportunity to go to sessions, anytime, any place, take the machines home, and work with them.