Local schools draft rules for Apple iBooks
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
WATERVILLE — Although the laptop computer initiative is statewide in scope, local control still reigns in regard to determining how the Apple iBooks are used.
Waterville Junior High School, one of 239 middle schools across the state participating in the program, has specific guidelines for its laptops.
Recently, the school held a meeting with parents of seventh-graders to distribute those guidelines and to obtain parental permission for students to take the iBooks home and, ultimately, access the Internet outside the classroom.
More than 100 parents attended the meeting in the junior high auditorium and all save one parent authorized permission. Now, plenty of seventh-graders are taking their laptops home regularly.
That monitoring system is a small matter, though. Peter Thiboutot, principal at Waterville Junior High School, and other school officials have made clear they like the idea of students taking their iBooks home.
While a few parents expressed concerns that students might access inappropriate Internet sites, Thiboutot explained that both the Maine Schools and Library Network, which will provide the electronic means to the Internet, and Waterville Public Schools have filtering devices in place to prevent that.
Thiboutot said Waterville, which has long been applauded as a leader in technology in the schools, has the advantage of being well-versed on cyberspace concerns.
"I think the beauty of that is this isn't entirely new to us," he said. "We've had computers and we've had access to the Internet. We've worked out this issue as far as preventing access to inappropriate sites."
The state eventually plans to provide a free Internet access number for seventh-graders, but that phase of the project probably will not start until Jan. 1.
But Steve Smith, Waterville Public Schools technology director, said households that already have an Internet service provider will be able to go online with the laptops as long as they have a cable modem.
Those with a dial-up connection, however, will have to wait. Smith said Apple has configured the iBooks so that people cannot load access numbers on them.
Bette Manchester, the state's staff development and content director for the laptop initiative, said the state supports Internet access at home for all seventh graders.
Equal opportunity is the driving force behind that support.
"You have some students who do not have (Internet) access at home and middle school kids are not in the position to drive to the local library to get on a computer," Manchester said.
As the state's point person for the laptop program, Manchester is sure to get every perspective on the access issue. She has begun attending a series of meetings for middle school administrators, teachers and technology specialists involved in the iBook project.
Meetings in Kennebec County are scheduled for Oct. 29 and 30 at Skowhegan Area Middle School and Winthrop Middle School, respectively.
Manchester said she will use the meetings to determine successes and challenges schools experience during the laptop experiment.
While gauging the impact of iBook use on student achievement is a long term project, Manchester said other assessments can be done more immediately.
"You can collect data over a shorter period of time on attendance rate, discipline record, the engagement of students and the level of collaboration in the classroom," she said.
That assessment, and many others, will be done, and the results are sure to be critical to the program's continued existence.
Colin Hickey — 861-9205 chickey@centralmaine.com