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Monday, April 8, 2002
Laptops going home with students
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||
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Seventh-grader Heather Stults is being extra careful with the new laptop computer the school loans her. Every time Heather slips the machine into its black shoulder-bag case, she double-checks to make sure the bag is zipped tightly and her laptop can't fall out as she totes it from class to class. "I don't want it to get hurt, and I don't want it to get taken away, because it helps me get my work done," said 13-year-old Heather, her fingers delicately stroking the laptop's mouse pad. Starting this week, Heather and 84 of her classmates at Lyman Moore Middle School will be asked to provide that same care outside school, as they become the first students in Maine to take computers home through the statewide laptop initiative. "Other schools are afraid to let (students) take these things home," said Eric Begonia, a science teacher leading the laptop initiative at Lyman Moore. "But I said, 'We have to, as a test school, to see how this thing works.' " Now that the contentious debate over laptop funding appears settled, a new question is emerging: Should students be allowed to take their Apple iBooks home? Several demonstration schools in the laptop program plan to follow Lyman Moore's lead and let students take the laptops home, perhaps in a few weeks, after parents can attend orientation and training sessions. They feel that the educational value outweighs any concerns. Being able to use the computers for homework and research at home is an integral part of the laptop initiative, Begonia said. "We're going to show (other schools) how it should be done." Others in the nine-school pilot project have decided not to let laptops leave their buildings, at least until they can learn from the experience of schools like Lyman Moore. Fear that computers - worth about $1,000 each - might be damaged on the school bus or in homes is a particular concern among administrators in these districts. "We laughingly call it the 'drop factor,' " said Ann Dall, a computer teacher at Piscataquis Community Middle School in Guilford, which has been providing laptops for two years under a private grant and is one of the state demonstration schools. "When you're dealing with kids 12, 13 and 14 years old, accidents can happen at that age." Another worry is that students might misuse the laptops outside school through unsupervised Internet connections, Dall says. Still, she says the Guilford school will watch what happens at Lyman Moore and elsewhere. "It may turn out that they were right or it may turn out that we were right," she said. The demonstration schools are laying the groundwork for a program initiated by Gov. Angus King that ultimately will equip all Maine seventh- and eighth-graders with Apple iBook computers. Seventh-graders and their teachers at demonstration schools received laptops nearly four weeks ago and are using them in classroom work. At Lyman Moore, that work ranges from fantasy stock market games in math class to Web research about famous authors in English class. In addition to Portland and Guilford, demonstration schools are located in Boothbay Harbor, Kittery, Auburn, Pembroke, Readfield, Bar Harbor and Presque Isle. In August, the state will provide all other seventh-graders and their teachers with laptops - about 18,000 more computers. The following school year, 17,000 additional computers will go to eighth-graders and their teachers statewide. The Legislature has agreed to pay $25 million toward the four-year, $37.2 million contract with Apple. Under terms of that contract, Apple has agreed to supply laptops, wireless networks, training and technical support. King hopes to raise $15 million privately before he leaves office in January. Begonia, the science teacher, says he fully expects Lyman Moore students to use these computers responsibly and that the school is putting safeguards in place to ensure that happens. For example, the school has drafted a laptop policy based on its band-instrument policy, which allows students to routinely take expensive musical instruments home. The laptop policy includes input from students and parents, and clearly spells out rules for laptop use outside the building. With a policy in place, "I can't think of any good reasons not to have them go home," said Bette Manchester, who oversees staff development for the laptop initiative at the Maine Department of Education. Language in the new policy - still being fine-tuned last week - holds parents and students responsible for the safe care of laptops. Devin Johnson, 13, another Lyman Moore student, said that when he takes his laptop home, "I intend, when I'm not using it, to keep it on top of the TV." That way, there's no chance his dog could get at it, he says. His mother, Diane Johnson, says Devin already knows not to eat or drink near a computer, because the family owns one - although it's much older and slower than Devin's new laptop. The Johnsons were at a parent-orientation session at Lyman Moore one evening last week, where Devin and other seventh-graders were showing their parents how their laptops work. Manchester says three hours of training for parents is recommended before students take the computers home. The training should teach parents the basics of using the laptop and its capabilities, but also how to supervise their children's use of the computers. Some critics raised concerns about Maine's laptop program this year after students involved in a similar program in Virginia used their computers to download pornography and hack into other computers. Technology will be installed in Maine laptops to limit students' access to inappropriate Web sites, but the filtering will not be perfect. As a result, parents will be trained to understand that "you shouldn't be putting the computer up in the child's room. You should put it in a public place where you can see what's going on," Manchester said. At Lyman Moore, the laptops won't be connected to the Internet when they first go home, but the laptop initiative calls for the state to provide home-based Internet access to all students in the upcoming school year, says Yellow Light Breen, spokesman for the Department of Education. For now, students can use the laptops at home for work such as writing assignments, Begonia says. Even without an Internet connection, the computers can open a world of opportunity to students like Heather, who has a very outdated, slow computer at home. Last week, she could barely drag her eyes from the screen of her laptop to talk with a reporter as she excitedly showed her mother, Donna Stults, various programs and computer projects she's been working on. "That's focus you die for in a classroom," Begonia said. "These kids have already taken (the laptops) on as a challenge." Staff Writer Tess Nacelewicz can be contacted at 791- 6367 or at:
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