Using Laptops in the Classroom? Sounds like a good idea to me!

If you read this blog, you may assume that I am most anti-technology when it comes to teaching.  That may be a fairly accurate description of me, but just because I think that now, doesn’t mean that my mind can’t be changed.  My opinion on something was changed a couple weeks ago while talking to a friend.  We were discussing the use of laptops in the classroom, and she had some really good points that made me think about what laptops could do for a teacher.

I think that the most important reason to integrate technology into a classroom is to teach children how to work computers and other technological objects.  My friend and I were discussing this very issue, and she brought up laptops, asking, “What better way was there to teach children how to really handle, manage, and care for a piece of technology?”

If each individual student had their own classroom laptop, they would learn all about turning it on and off, how to open and save things on it, and create documents, and the like.  If the teacher used the internet to share websites, assignments, papers, worksheets, and whatever else, the students would learn how to access the place where the teacher shared all these things, how to open the documents, and how to send them back.  Then, too, through the process of filling out the homework sheets and the answers to the problems, the students would learn how to use the keyboard and manipulate the mouse.

On the teacher’s side of the issue, using laptops to do handouts and assignments would be an easy way to see who completed what and who still was working on their worksheet.  Half of the paper mess would be cut down as there would not be as many papers to grade or keep track of.  If the teacher was very adept, she could even create something that graded some of her papers for her.

An additional tool that I feel would be imperative were laptops to be used to the extent that I am describing, is a master monitor for the teacher, where she could pull up all of the students’ screens and watch what they are doing.  This way, she could ensure that there was no cheating going on during a worksheet or test, and she could see if the students were staying on track.

There are things to think about while considering using laptops in the classroom.  This website describes how you can get started with laptops.  Some of the things it mentions are gaining full internet access for all the computers, making sure all the laptops have the right software on it, etc.

I found a couple of articles that discussed laptop use in the classroom.  This article compares laptops to a teaching assistant, which is interesting.  Here is a bulleted list the author put in the article:

• Serves as a sounding board for your ideas (interactive programs, chat rooms, emails and instant messaging)
• Challenges your assumptions (expert advice, research data)
• Expands your horizons by exposing you to new concepts and information (virtual tours, simulations, research data)
• Forces you to think critically (examine and analyze multiple points of view, participate in online debates)
• Motivates you to participate (visual medium, multi-media, interactive programs that can work at your pace but challenge you to get to the next level)
• Helps you to produce (simplifies complex operations, magnifies your effort by converting numbers to charts, spell and grammar checking, automating presentations)
• Helps you to learn (improves retention through engagement) 

He also discusses that although the laptop could be compared to a teacher’s assistant, the teacher still has to be present and keeping aware, because the computer is not alive and cannot act in the place of a human. 

There are drawbacks to using laptops in a classroom.  I found this article (that rather amused me) about university lecturers banning the use of laptops in their classrooms because it is distracting.  If a person using a laptop in a computer stops focusing on the lesson at hand and attempts to surf the net, play games, or get on some social site, his attention and possibly the attention of other students is entirely off of the teacher speaking and the project at hand.  It is for this reason that I would want a master monitor for all of my students’ computer screens.

In addition to using laptops, I still hold to my original opinion that the use of paper and pencils and learning to write and do arithmetic computations by hand is important as well as learning the use of computers and technology.

I am now of the opinion that I would love to have laptops in my classroom.  I would assign research projects on them, ask the students to write short papers on them, give assignments on them, and have the students do their journaling on them.  Other uses would come up as I learned more about them, including doing quizzes and tests.