How can we gather our evidence about what's happening locally? Like we've said elsewhere, 1-to-1 Learning with Laptop initiatives are complex, multifacetted endeavors. Just looking at test scores or at attendance, and behavior referrals, although important pieces of evidence, may not be sufficient in telling the story of how your 1-to-1 initiative is working. The Maine Learning with Laptop Studies uses a model for evaluating 1-to-1 initiatives that examines seven comprehsive factors of your program. There are three critical components: the students and their learning the teachers and their teaching the leadership There are also four supportive, but necessary components: access to technology (including it working when they need it to) professional development partnerships funding Successful initiatives attend to all seven factors and looking at how well your initiative is doing should probably also include exploring how you are doing with all seven. The Maine Learning with Laptop Studies uses classroom observations, surveys, interviews, and document analysis to explore how a school or district is working on their laptop program. Below are questions you might ask in gathering evidence about your program. Learning & Students How engaged are the students? What is their attitude toward school? How do they use technology? How is their attendance and behavior? How are their grades? What kind of work are they doing? Teaching & Teachers How engaging is the teachers' instruction? What is their teaching philosophy? What is their attitude toward students (especially their sense of efficacy)? How do they use technology? How knowledgeable are they about their content? Leadership How have school leaders worked with students and staff to build a vision for the initiative? How do school leaders set an expectation of participation in the initiative? How do school leaders build and maintain a safe environment in which to take risks and try new things? How do school leaders look for technology-rich and engaging lessons when supervising instruction? What kinds of policies and procedures do school leaders put in place to help with the success of the initiative? Access to Technology What kinds of technology do teachers and students have access to? Do they have access to wireless laptops when they need it? Does it work when they need it to? How often does equipment need to be repaired and how quickly is it repaired? Do educators and students have access to a network when they need one? Do educators and students have access to technology at home? Professional Development What approaches to professional development and training are available to your educators? How are educators given opportunities to share ideas and receive assistance with challenges with other educators? How does the school respond to teachers' needs as they arise? How does the school make use of Technology Integrators? How are technology skills taught within the context of teachers' content and teaching? How engaging are the professional development opportunities for the educators? Partnerships What kinds of partnerships exist to support the initiative? Are they 2-way and reciprocal relationships? What is the quality of the communication between partners? Funding What are the funding sources for the initiative? Is the funding balanced? Is the funding sustainable? It may seem difficult to collect evidence in all seven areas (especially if you are getting a late start on collecting evidence). In that case, keep in mind that Students & Learning, Teachers & Teaching, and Leadership are the 3 critical areas for success in 1-to-1 initiatives, and focus first on those three areas. If you don't do anything else, Jeff Mao, Coordinator of Educational Technology at the Maine Department of Education recommends that we ask these questions: How has the teaching and learning environment changed in my school? How have teaching practices changed? Have these changes led to improvements? If not, why not? What are other schools doing that have seen improvements in the areas where we seek improvements? Can we do what they did?

The 1-to-1 Advocate 1-to-1 Evaluation MLLS Home MLTI MLLS Research Briefs         The Maine Learning with Laptop Studies is a project of the Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning in collaboration with The Institute for the Integration of Technology Into Teaching and Learning   Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning University of Maine at Farmington 252 Main St. Farmington, ME 04938 http://www.mcmel.org Mike Muir, Director mmuir@maine.edu 207-778-7179 Inservice Available   The Institute for the Integration of Technology Into Teaching and Learning University of North Texas Matthews Hall Rm. 316 1300 Highland Ave. Denton, TX 76203 http://www.iittl.unt.edu/ Gerald Knezek, Director gknezek@gmail.com 940-565-2057 Rhonda Christensen, Associate Director rhonda.christensen@gmail.com Created by Mike Muir Last updated: March 24, 2005