We are a 1 to 1 laptop school and today is checkin day. Yikes, as a matter of fact our first check in day since we were part of a pilot program in South Dakota. Naturally, the logistics of check in day are not great. My office is the size of a cracker box and not to be facetious it's pretty crummy. So, while I'm gathering, checking in, and assessing the occasional fee for damage I have started to ask the kids what they thought about their past school year with laptops. Just a casual survey. But, by in large the comments have been overwhelmingly positive. However, I did get a few responses that were not so pleasing to my ears. One young lady stated she would be happy not to have to "lug it around anymore." While another young man said, "To be quite honest, about 80% of the time I just played games and stuff."
Which leaves me to ponder, are the laptops just dead weight that we have saddled our students with? Personally, I don't believe this, but why would some of our students feel this way. Could we be the cause of this less than rosy perception. Could it be, now that they have the world at their fingertips 24/7, what we are offering in our classrooms is not up to "snuff". I read with interest Scott Shepherd's blog Laptops, Anyone? and wondered what would happen if we opted to discontinue the laptop program? Would some staff and students silently, or perhaps not so silently applaud.
