Noted professor and author on the use of technology in schools, Dr. Mark Warschauer and a team from the University of California at Irvine investigated the use of netbooks in Littleton Public Schools.  The final report is available HERE.

The researchers used a variety of approaches to review the impact of the Inspired Writing project including site visits, interviews, analyses of student comments and a quantitative analysis of CSAP achievement data.  The report states:

"The project investigated (1) the impact of the program on teaching and learning processes, (2) the impact of the program on learning outcomes in writing, (3) student perceptions of the laptop program, and (4) the perceived match of netbook and open source software with the needs of teachers and students and their suitability...

During the Leadership Day (6/23/11) at the 2011 Technology in Education conference, we will explore the various aspects of the Inspired Writing initiative in Littleton Public Schools as a vehicle for a bigger discussion.  In today's high tech environment, leaders are innundated with marketing and examples of the application of technology into the learning environment.  Here's a blunt reality:

There are literally thousands of viable technologies for the classroom, the school, the district and the regional cooperative.

In such a dense environment, and with access to funding receding during an economic down-turn, tax-funded entities like schools suddenly become very desirable customers that might get overlooked during...

I received an email from an out of state colleague and started a long email... then I decided it was a better blog post.  So here it is:

 

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I received an email from an out of state colleague and started a long email... then I decided it was a better blog post.  So here it is:

 

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times...