1:1 inititave puts technology in students' hands

With technology taking the reins of society and business, schools are beginning to follow suit with the hopes of teaching on a more relatable and personal level.

The 1:1 initiative has been adopted by area schools in Sikeston, Mo., Poplar Bluff, Mo., and, beginning in January, Cape Girardeau Central High School.

"There's so much instruction available on the web; it just makes sense," Sherry Copeland, assistant superintendent for academic services, said in a previous interview with the Southeast Missourian. "... The days of a teacher on a stage lecturing are over. ... The easiest way to engage children now is through technology."

The initiative provides each student with one digital device, from laptop computers to iPads.

The Cape Girardeau School Board on Sept. 24 unanimously approved a lightweight convertible laptop, the Asus T100TA, to be put the hands of about 1,200 Central High School students on the target date of Jan. 7.

The device can be used as a laptop and as a tablet computer, with a detachable touchscreen, and it will contain 64 gigabytes of storage to accommodate software and use for four years.

The purchase totals about $520,000 and includes devices for teachers, loaners in case a device breaks, updated storage capacity and a $5-per-device charge to configure the computers to school district needs, officials said. Each computer costs $345.

The district researched the initiative's effects in other Missouri school districts, such as Ste. Genevieve, Mo., and Joplin, Mo., for more than a year, beginning in spring 2012.

Ron Farrow, the Cape Girardeau Public School District's technology instruction specialist, has worked with plans for the initiative closely since he joined the district in May.

"I think one of the progressive steps that Cape Schools is taking is in the decision for a touchscreen," Farrow said in an email. "... This may seem rather miniscule at first, but it adds such a powerful piece to instruction. Math and science teachers now have the ability to have their students write out equations. Students can draw diagrams for notes and interact with the device in a much more natural and intuitive way."

Tim Krakowiak, the communications/marketing coordinator for the Poplar Bluff School District, said the initiative is fully implemented at the junior high school and in the pilot phase at the high school. After a pilot phase was completed last year at the junior high, Krakowiak said, in March the school board approved implementing the initiative in both schools.

The 1:1 initiative is a process, he said, and the pilot phase consists of a cart of 100 laptop computers that is rotated to different classrooms.

Seventh- and eighth-grade-students received MacBook Airs on Aug. 18., and high school students will receive laptop computers in time for the 2014-2015 school year, Krakowiak said.

Students will have access to the world's resources with technology provided through the initiative, but, similar to technology, teachers constantly are evolving and progressing their methods of teaching to better meet the needs of students, Farrow said in the email. A simple disadvantage of the initiative is the learning curve, he said.

The change in learning comes from the enhancement in teaching that is "empowered" by the devices, Farrow said, rather than from the device, alone.

"Learning with these devices will look very different from class to class and student to student, and that differentiation is what makes the device such a powerful tool," he said in the email. "It allows teachers to instruct in many different ways, in a much more efficient and meaningful manner."