Category Archives: May 2009

How Do We Go 1 to 1?

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With the advent of netbooks, the possibility of a 1 to 1 school has become considerably more economically feasible. Looking at my own school, a large high school, I remember how we looked at a 1 to 1 laptop program in the mid 1990′s.  The program didn’t  get off the ground due to the cost of laptops at the time and a lack of evidence as to how they could be used in school to increase achievement.

Well now here we are, focused on learning.  And the infinite array of online tools, such as Google Docs, You Tube, wikis, blogs, moodle, animoto, slideshare, and ning to name a few, combined with the ability to co-create and connect globally makes 1 to 1 make so much sense. And now netbooks are here.

Netbooks are smaller, lighter, and affordable.  If we had netbooks and could eliminate the need for calculators and consumable books such as workbooks, the cost per family might even be less!

So I am looking for schools that have gone 1 to 1.  If you have, here are some questions:

  • When did you start?
  • Did you start with the entire school or with a pilot group?
  • Do the parents buy the computers through the school or on their own?
  • What infrastructural changes did you have to implement?
  • Anyone doing this with netbooks yet?

Thanks for any comments.  I could ask a ton more questions!

What PLP Has Meant To Me

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Just this past Tuesday, we had our culminating celebration for our PLP cohort, The Archdiocese of Philadelphia Cohort.  The cohort included teams from all 20 of our high schools.

Prior to September 30, I was not a web 2.0 guy.  I had never tweeted, blogged, facebooked, wiki’d, or ninged.  I will admit to being one of those teachers who saw no benefit in social networking. But then PLP happened. I met Will Richardson, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, and Clarence Fisher. At the opening meeting, they had us all sign up on twitter, join the wiki, and join our PLP ning site. And then the fun, and the learning began.

As I ventured into our ning site, the discussions became lively, Many of us found ourselves pushing boundaries and questioning convention. As the ning grew, the conversations grew as well. Then there is twitter.

Like so many others, I started with twitter, not understanding how this could possibly be useful.  started to follow a few people that Will, Sheryl, and Clarence were following. Then  following some of those whose @name appeared after that RT thing. (Which took me a while to understand was just a retweet!) As I read what was being posted, I was humbled.  Feeling way behind despite my years in education, I kept reading, found out the value of reading blogs, and joined some other nings. Clicked on as many ustream broadcasts as I could and tweeted as many things as I could to get use to this new found personal learning network. Thanks to all I have met on twitter for teaching me and sharing.

And now the PLP year is over. But not really.  Our school team has set up a ning for our faculty.  I have a wiki for my class.  I have this blog.  And I now have a pretty good understanding of twitter! Here is our  PLP wiki.

But most importantly, PLP has opened my eyes to the possibilities for our students. There is so much to learn, so much to share, and so much to change.

Thanks to Will, Sheryl, and Clarence for their leadership, push backs, take aways, and encouragement.  And thanks to all of the cohort members. We have established a community that will continue, to share, continue to grow, and continue to learn.  The journey has begun. Thanks PLP!