The Eee PC pilot at Heritage High School has been a good experience so far.  I recently sat in a meeting with our school staff who coordinate the technology at the building level and listened to several who have worked with the small device.  At HHS, the report was they experienced almost zero tech support requests from the Eee PC classroom.  The kids picked up the device quickly, were able to connect to the network and the teachers were really excited by the ways they could leverage Web 2.0 services to encourage better participation, more writing, and make use of incredible amounts of information.  Indeed, for the training orientation that was done for staff and students (together), a funny thing happened at the conclusion.  The training had been on accessing the wifi, getting online and using the Open Office suite.  A student in the back asked if he could share his video he had created with the web cam... and another cried out that she was going to do that!  The learning curve was nominal and as mentioned, the support demand minimal.  As a result, the school decided to switch from a standard laptop lab to a Eee PC lab and found they could buy two for the same budget.

At AHS, the security officers have been using theirs to access the web page of the student information system and to cehck their email via the web-based Outlook.  They've had no trouble using the devices and the cost was such that the administration felt comfortable giving them laptops.  A worthy investment.

At several other schools, a unit was acquired to play with and now the device is becoming one of the most requested tools for getting cyber-space access for staff and students.  And we just tested PLATO on the Eee PC... works just fine!  So now I'm in discussions about how to provide these tools to deliver the PLATO program to home-bound kids.

None of this exploration and opportunity would have been possible without first having an open wireless network.  By taking the approach of providing a limited access to the Internet that does not require any support and setup from our networking staff, we've unleashed a tidal wave of innovation and opportunity.  I've spoken with kids who have purchased the Eee themselves and now bring a laptop to school.  Others jump on with the iPhone or iTouch and when I asked what one student was doing when I spotted him online in the hallway... he showed me how he was looking up a bit of information that he has used in an essay on a test he just took to make sure he had remembered correctly!  Nice job to both teacher and student: to the teacher for giving a test question that really couldn't be looked up online and to the student for having interest in his learning AFTER the test.

In all, I'm ever more convinced that to move our system to the 21st Century, we don't need to tie a big rope around everyone and drag them there in a controlled fashion.  We need to open the flood gates and manage the risks.  Our people will take us there, we just need to empower them and support them along the way.