'Maine Learns': The Four Keys to Success of the First Statewide Learning with Laptop Initiative (2004)

It's just another day in middle school. Students file into class while others file out with their backpacks slung low. They take their seats while you rummage on your desk for class materials and check to make sure that you updated the board for the new class. Once seated, the students pull out their laptops and begin launching projects, searching for resources or sending brief messages to friends before class starts. You check your laptop quickly for new e-mail before starting the class. class then continues its research from yesterday, with students finding resources online and adding to multimedia presentations that they will make before the end of the week. Simultaneously, you circulate through the room encouraging, questioning and facilitating the students' efforts. Is this a futuristic vision? Not in Maine. Here, middle school classrooms like this have become the norm. Maine is the first state in the nation to make real implementation of one-to-one (ubiquitous) computing through the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI). As its ultimate goal, MLTI has the provision of a laptop computer for every public school student and teacher in grades 7-12. Currently, portable, wireless computers are in the process of being deployed to every seventh- and eighth-grade student and teacher in Maine--accounting for more than 37,000 devices in Maine's 239 middle schools. Thus, the initiative seeks to transform teaching and learning in Maine's public schools. Educators involved in the program have identified four keys to success: technology access, a focus on learning, leadership, and context-embedded professional development. This is the story of that initiative and the elements that have led the initiative toward success. Access to Technology Clearly, one key to the success of MLTI is access to technology. Students and teachers received 12 Apple iBooks with built-in wireless technology; a CD-ROM drive; a case; and a full complement of software, including AppleWorks, iMovie and iPhoto. By giving laptops to all seventh- and eighth-grade public school students and teachers, a powerful learning tool has been placed in the hands of everyone, not just in the schools that were early adopters or in the few families who could afford it. Focus on Learning Maine is on a journey to transform teaching and learning in our public schools. Just as medicine and science have been radically changed by the arrival of new technologies that allow them to meet human needs which could not have been addressed 10 years ago, we expect to see students learning in ways their parents' generation never imagined possible. While this journey of change is driven by the introduction of new tools for educators and students, it is not focused on the technical tools. Rather, the focus is clearly on the opportunities the new tools provide to rethink the way we do our work in school communities. MLTI is supporting teachers to effectively engage all students in meaningful work, thereby facilitating the creation of environments where teachers and students are learners and are supported in taking charge of their own learning. According to the document Does Technology Improve Student Achievement? from the Educational Research Service, The true value of technology for learning lies not in learning to use technology, but in using technology to learn. This is the approach Maine is taking. MLTI has emphasized learning in at least five arenas: assessment for learning, universal design, place-based learning, project-based learning, and online research. We believe that students must learn to work with their teachers to understand the learning targets and specific concepts. They also must be able to evaluate quality work and provide evidence of their own learning that meets high standards. This means that students participating in their own assessment need to guide instruction for improved learning, not just measure what they have learned. …