One - to - One Learning
First, what is one-to-one learning? One-to-one learning provides every student and teacher access to his or her own personal portable technology device in a wireless environment, allowing students to learn at their own pace and level.
The concept is rapidly gaining momentum worldwide as a key to transforming education and better preparing students to succeed in a global marketplace. Unlike a traditional approach in which teachers control the learning process, giving students access to personal technology and the Internet enables them to be self-directed and get highly personalized instruction. Teachers can create an Individualized Education Plan for each child that addresses his or her unique needs. Students then use their personal devices to do research, homework, team projects, email and academic coursework. At the same time, they gain valuable technology skills that will be beneficial throughout their life and future career.
In a one-to-one wireless teaching and learning environment, each participating student is provided access to a personal, portable technology device on a direct and continuous basis throughout the school day, and beyond if possible. Students do not share laptops with other students at the same point in time. It is the intent of one-to-one programs to empower students with “anytime and anywhere” learning. When a student is in class, the laptop is in their immediate proximity and is used regularly and with purpose.
More Than Laptops
To be effective, one-to-one teaching and learning must attend to a structured process of change that will transform learning from teacher-centered to student-centered. Advanced planning, teacher and staff preparation, professional learning, technology infrastructure, and assessment and evaluation are strategic elements of a one-to-one program. In addition to providing each student with direct, consistent access to a laptop, successful one-to-one programs allow for:
* Each student to take charge of his/her own learning through experiential and virtual project and problem-based, multi-disciplinary activities in “just in time” formats
* Each student to access homework assignments and school information online, anywhere and anytime he or she can connect to the Internet
* Each student to research topics online, download coursework, check e-mail, work in collaboration with other students, submit assignments online and apply critical thinking skills
* Parents/caregivers to communicate with their children’s teachers and view daily classroom work, homework and student achievement to help ensure progress and academic growth
* Each teacher to interact one-on-one with students and parents, to keep apprised of each student’s progress through online assessment tools, to integrate online content and learning resources with curriculum and instruction, and to expand learning beyond the walls of the classroom
* Each teacher to determine the best classroom management and configuration for optimal teaching and learning for all students. Chairs in fixed rows and columns do not often promote student-centered learning nor do they accommodate students working in small groups or other individualized or differentiated learning approaches
One-to-one programs do not:
* Place laptops in a computer lab for periodic student access
* Put laptops on carts as a portable lab to be rolled to classrooms for periodic use
* Have multiple students sharing a laptop at the same point in time
* Use the laptop infrequently or without planned support or direction
* Interrupt students’ laptop usage as a disciplinary action for non-laptop related issues
Student Perspective
Ideally, I want to have my laptop with me all of the time – not only at school but at home. I want Internet access to my homework and assignments from anywhere that I can get online. I should be able to walk into each classroom with my own laptop or at least find a laptop to use on my own. It’s too hard to share a laptop with someone else – especially when we have to type or read. It would be like sharing a textbook – having to look over the shoulder of someone else and trying to work at the same pace. I guess that’s what this is all about. It’s letting me guide my own learning under the direction of a teacher who helps me when and where I need it. I now have the freedom to learn; and with freedom comes responsibility and accountability for my own learning.
Teacher Perspective
When I walk into a classroom, I want each of my students to be able to access our classroom work and assignments on their own laptops when I want and as they need. When each student has a wireless laptop, I can immediately and continuously assess each student’s progress to alert me where and when they need help. The laptops let me communicate with each student in real time and it brings the shy or reserved student from the back of the room to the front. I can create individual education plans for each of my students and keep them on track. I use my laptop to develop my lesson plans based on the state’s grade level content expectations and then develop my curriculum for anytime, anywhere student access. Laptops in the hands of each student allow us to learn together and helps ensure that no child is left behind.
Principal Perspective
I am interested in improving our school’s teaching and learning environment through a one-to-one program because of its potential to enhance student performance, lifelong learning readiness and technology-based skills and aptitude. One-to-one learning generates a student-centered, energized classroom, where teachers can directly communicate, guide and connect with their learners. Opportunities for differentiated instruction abound because of the various tools and unlimited access to the Internet. Classroom management becomes a non-issue because students and teachers alike embark on authentic lessons, grounded in technology integration, in the learners’ native, digital world. My capacity as an administrator is enhanced because our knowledge of progress and achievement is readily and immediately available for each student.
Challenges
Safety or financial circumstances may not allow for all students to take devices home. If students cannot travel safely home with their laptops, then it may not be possible for students to take laptops home. Some schools may even have safety issues in school hallways. The intent, however, is to allow anytime, anywhere use of and access to a wireless computing device connected to the Internet. Some schools will need to be especially creative in their environment by working with parents to ensure ubiquitous access to learning tools and resources.
This information is courtesy of the One-to-One Institute, www.one-to-oneinstitute.org.
