With the second semester in full swing I thought it would be a good time to take stock of our computer hardware and see how laptops and computer labs are being used around the school.  Before embarking on my little adventure I took a quick look at our hardware inventory and was, I admit, surprised by what I found.  We now have over 600 computers in use on our campus.  Considering our current enrollment is now over 1100 students, that means we have approximately one computer for every two students.  That is quite a high ratio.   If you consider the fact that students have many non-computer based activities to do during the day, each student could theoretically use a computer for half the day, every day.  I think we might all agree that that would be a bit too much. Further, not all of those machines are dedicated for student use (though students use classroom computers in the Elementary school on a regular basis) and not all of those are laptops.  We do, however, have 200 laptops for student use and over 100 computers in labs open for students to use outside of Computer Class.  I think that is still a very good ratio of computers to students.   Besides, simply having access to computers and using them does not necessarily mean they are improving student learning.

So, with this knowledge in hand, I took a walk around campus today, Saturday February 13, 2010, to see how these student computers were being used.  A glance at the online booking system in FirstClass showed me that every laptop cart and every student computer lab in the Middle and High School was booked for the better part of the day.  I had a busy day ahead of me.

I started out in the High School.  We have two class sets of laptops in the High School.  They are arranged for storage and transport in two rolling laptop carts.  Both carts were booked today.  I found one in use in Mrs. Jamieson’s English class.  Her students are creating a poetry anthology of poems they have written themselves.  Students were using the laptops to work on the anthology publication.  Down the hall, in Ms. Mills’ writing class, I found the other cart being used by students writing their essays.  They are focusing on writing “how-to” pieces right now.  Leaving the English hallway, I ventured into the two upstairs computer labs.  Mrs. Baki was hard at work teaching her regular computer class and I also found Mr. Braden in the other lab working with his students.  He explained that his World History II students were working on making movies about 19^th century imperialism.  The students working with him in the lab were doing research and several others were outside, filming their videos.   He also informed me that later in the day I would find him in the library with his US History students using the library laptops to do research on Race, Gender and Minority issues.

Leaving the High School, I made my way down to the Middle School.  Our Middle School is equipped with 5 full laptop carts, similar in configuration to those in the High School.  I found one cart in the 6^th grade English class.  Students were hard at work, sitting at their desks and on comfy cushions at the back of the room, doing research for their project on endangered species.  Around the corner, Mrs. Raatz’s students had the laptops out for a mini-lesson in grammar.  They were using Brainpop.com to view a video about the difference between “there”, “they’re” and “their”.  Moving on I found two science classes downstairs using laptops in very different ways.  Mr. Ellison’s 6^th grade class was in the library doing research for their endangered species project.  Mrs. Flannery was just finishing a lesson on the periodic table.  Her students had been looking online for information about different elements for their chemistry unit.  Finally I found the fifth laptop cart in the math room.  Mrs. Hamade is helping her students prepare for World Maths Day using the computers.

Even though I was getting tired just watching all that hard work, I ventured over to the Elementary school to see the action over there.  Passing the computer lab I stopped in to see Ms. Usman our computer lab instructional aide.  She had no students just then but had just had a lively group of second graders working on MS PowerPoint and was very excited about the Kindergarten class who was on the way down to learn about Kid Pix.  Upstairs, I was eager to see how students were using the laptops.  Grades 4 and 5 share a full laptop cart, with 22 Dell laptops.  Grade 3 is currently engaged in a pilot program where each class has been given 5 “netbooks”, smaller laptops, to use in their classroom.  Thus far the program is a resounding success.  Students are able to use the lightweight machines sitting at their desks, for writing and research, whenever they need it.  On this day I found the students using the netbooks in one classroom doing some writing and in another class enjoying some online books from RAZ-kids.com.

Down the hall, two of the fifth grade classes were sharing the laptops from the cart.  One class, 5C, was proceeding through the writing process with some students drafting pieces and others polishing their final drafts.  In 5D, a group of students was online doing research for their American Revolution unit.  They were finding information on people and significant events from that period in US history.

I had walked the school from end to end and was very impressed by the amount of writing and research going on this Saturday.  There was so much learning going on, and all on one day.  Many of the projects I witnessed are ongoing and will see the students using technology to support their learning throughout the coming weeks.  While I did not count how many students were using technology tools as I walked, at the end of the day, just looking at the classes involved, easily 350 students were engaged in learning with technology on this Saturday.  As classes rotate through the High School and as students in the ES proceed through the writing process, that number will grow as the week progresses.  I hope you will agree that that represents not only a good amount of technology use, but also that the types of lessons and learnings I described represent effective and appropriate learning with technology.