There are now a large number of initiatives designed to make laptops with wireless connectivity available to all students in schools. This paper synthesizes findings from research and evaluation studies that analyzed implementation and effects of one-to-one initiatives from a range of countries. Factors related to successful implementation reported in the research include extensive teacher professional development, access to technical support, and positive teacher attitudes toward student technology use. Outcome studies with rigorous designs are few, but those studies that did measure outcomes consistently reported positive effects on technology use, technology literacy, and writing skills.

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Implementation and Effects Of One-to-One Computing Initiatives: A Research Synthesis

This chapter suggests that a dual-level theory of new literacies is a useful approach to theory building in a world where the nature of literacy continuously changes. It begins by making a central point: Social contexts have always shaped both the function and form of literate practices and been shaped by them in return. The chapter discusses the social context of the current period and explain how this has produced new information and communication technologies, and the new literacies that the technologies demand. It explores several lowercase new literacies perspectives that are emerging. The chapter argues that a dual-level New Literacies theory is essential to take full advantage of this important and diverse work. It presents one lowercase theory of new literacies, the new literacies of online research and comprehension, to illustrate how a dual-level theory of new literacies can inform new literacies research that takes related but different theoretical perspectives.

New Literacies: A Dual-Level Theory of the Changing Nature of Literacy, Instruction, and Assessment:

This paper examines the educational impacts of the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative (BWLI), a pilot program that provided 1:1 technology access to all students and teachers across five public and private middle schools in western Massachusetts. Using a pre/post comparative study design, the current study explores a wide range of program impacts over the three years of the project’s implementation. Specifically, the current document provides an overview of the project background, implementation, research design and methodology, and a summary of the quantitative results. The study details how teaching and learning practices changed when students and teachers were provided with laptops, wireless learning environments, and additional technology resources. The results found that both the implementation and outcomes of the program were varied across the five 1:1 settings and over the three years of the student laptop implementation. Despite these differences, there was evidence that the types of educational access and opportunities afforded by 1:1 computing through the pilot program led to measurable changes in teacher practices, student achievement, student engagement, and students’ research skills.

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One to One Computing: A Summary of the Quantitative Results from the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative

A successful digital conversion for classrooms, districts, and states is not determined by the technology, but by how technology enables teaching and learning. The purpose of our multisite case study was to document digital instructional strategies teachers use to enhance and transform student learning, and align that use with learning research. We conducted focus groups and interviews, and observed classrooms in seven exemplary schools across the United States. We surveyed teachers' familiarity, use, and comfort with technology as well. We document six common strategies used across the seven sites and identify five roles that technology plays in enhancing teaching and learning, and discuss how these strategies benefit teachers and learners. (Keywords: technology integration, digital instructional strategies)

Teaching in a Digital Age: How Educators Use Technology to Improve Student Learning

Despite the growing interest in 1:1 computing initiatives, relatively little empirical research has focused on the outcomes of these investments. The current special edition of the Journal of Technology and Assessment presents four empirical studies of K–12 1:1 computing programs and one review of key themes in the conversation about 1:1 computing among advocates and critics. In this introduction to our 1:1 special edition, we synthesize across the studies and discuss the emergent themes. Looking specifically across these studies, we summarize evidence that participation in the 1:1 programs was associated with increased student and teacher technology use, increased student engagement and interest level, and modest increases in student achievement.

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Educational Outcomes and Research from 1:1 Computing Settings

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The Impact of Maine's One-to-One Laptop Program on Middle School Teachers and Students

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Dawn M.M. Lane

Papers

The Impact of Maine's One-to-One Laptop Program on Middle School Teachers and Students

The Maine Learning Technology Initiative: Teacher, Student, and School Perspectives, Mid-Year Evaluation Report