High School Students with Laptops in the Classroom

Michael Gartenberg sent out an interesting Tweet yesterday which read, “Question of the day. Should laptops be allowed in high school classrooms for taking notes? Why or why not?”I replied with, “This teacher says yes… but I would have certain conditions… would love to explain more… I love this topic and idea!”

So I figured my blog would be a great way to explain a bit more in depth! As I Tweeted back, I think the idea of students (especially high school students) with laptops in the classroom is a tremendous idea! I recently graduated college and have spent about a year and a half in the classroom since, and the classrooms I have been in where the students did have laptops were geared for learning much more than others in my humble opinion. By the way some of those students were in middle school even!

So here are a few of the reasons of why I think this is a great idea… seriously I could write a book on this just to let you know. Quickly though, I would hope that the school would provide for the laptops, either for all four years or even just a students junior and senior year to prepare them more for college. Now lets start with the fact that students with laptops would have the world at their fingertips, if those laptops are equipped with internet access, and if the school invests in fast connections versus cheap connections. Some would argue that the access be limited in school to only research sites and not include some sites like Facebook or Twitter, I would leave that to the administration to decide. However there are pros and cons for both, and I will say I have seen on more than one occasion… a lot actually… students using those services to keep up to date on school stuff… I even have a Twitter account just for teaching. Also YouTube is a great tool for teachers and students, for old video clips of speeches to cool student projects, sadly most schools block YouTube these days. Organization is another area, students would be able to keep better organized throughout the school year, no need for a backpack crammed full of wrinkled papers when they can have it all (we will get to ALL in a bit) on their laptop. Most students can often type faster, especially in their text and IM style shorthand than they can hand write notes. That being said, being the teacher I could move through notes a little faster than I would normally be able to because I wouldn’t have to wait for students to take out a notebook, turn a page, or find a pen that works before and during notes. Having notes and lecture moving faster I would have more time for fun, interesting, and interactive activities. In addition with many more students having smartphones and laptops themselves, applications like Evernote (or other cloud services) would be huge tool for students to upload their notes so that it is always available to them and even to a student who misses class. My lecture notes could be interactive too, with fill in the blank style Power Points I could email the students for example. The laptop would go far beyond note taking though, I would be able to create interactive assignments, lessons, projects, and simulations that would allow students to upload, not print, their homework and other activities when they are done, during study hall, class, or at home. I wouldn’t have to wait for a student to get home to type their homework up they could just do it at school during study hall and email me or upload it to a service like Moodle (or again another cloud service) for me when they are done. This would also work to the student’s advantage because they would be able to keep a lot of school work at school and have their afternoons and evenings to themselves to be kids, instead of being bogged down with tons of school work when they get home because it needs to be completed on a computer. Ecologically it make’s a lot of sense too. With a class of 25 students and seven classes a day or more, that is 175 sheets of paper just for one assignment, not even counting the extras I will need to make for mistakes. With laptops I would be able to send out an email with the assignment to every student in the class in one shot, and they would be able to complete it and send it back with out a page printed. Even editing drafts would be a lot simpler for me, with Tracking in Pages and it’s counterpart in Word I can make virtual highlighted notes throughout a paper which the students can address one at a time, once again with no paper. With Tracking I could even easily give final grades on assignments, from papers to worksheets, with notes of where points were missed, again with no paper. Projects would have the opportunity to be a lot more tech centered for the students who enjoy working with computers. Students who aren’t comfortable making a raw materials project could make an interactive Power Point with videos, questions, and pictures. Students could make a video project, upload it to YouTube and I could watch it at home, or they could come in and hook up their laptop to the projector to show the class. If every student had a laptop they would be able to take advantage of sound and video tools to create and edit awesome visual and musical projects. Being a history teacher I would love my students to be able to do in-class research without booking a computer lab, and I can speak from experience, about 75 percent of the research I did in college was done on the internet and I know the same, or more is true for high school. The students and I could use social networking sites or sites like Moodle to our advantage creating discussion boards, forums, or even Tweets to ask a question about an assignment, or to email me or other students questions. I would then be able to answer those questions in an instant from home in the evening rather than making them wait to ask the next day. Students could easily access my teacher’s website to grab files, notes, and my dream… podcasts of each class! The only thing I envision being a problem in the classroom is student’s using their laptop for something other than schoolwork or what we are doing, what they do at home with it is not my business as long as it doesn’t destroy the school’s investment. I wouldn’t want students gaming it up on WoW or watching a movie while I am trying to teach. However I think with a creative teacher and lesson plans that show the potential of how much more fun school would be with the laptop a lot of students wouldn’t even bother. Plus with creative interactive lessons, the student wouldn’t have the time to mess around instead of learning. Let’s face it the students are already in love with the idea so why not play into that? These are just a few things I decided write about, I could far beyond what is just here, but I think you get the point.

Education needs to be about what will help our children learn best, not what make’s it super easy on the teacher (like re-using the same worksheet every year). The students in the classroom are often already familiar with the technology, they know how to use it, and can pick up on new things so quickly it would be easy to implement in many ways. Let’s face it, it would be good for the students, it would be good for the teachers, and in the end it will be good for the community and the globe. The opportunities with a laptop in the classroom are endless. I have taught in classrooms without and I have always felt limited, maybe it is because I am a geek, but seriously, paper and a pen versus a laptop with internet access… who wouldn’t say the opportunities are endless with the laptop?

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