Remember Lower Merion School District and their laptop spying case? Laptop cameras were activated and photos taken (over 50,000 it turns out!) of students without permission, compromising privacy, and probably illegal. National headlines for the district to deal with, investigations, lawsuits and more. What was meant to be a way to track stolen laptops turned into a legal and PR nightmare for the community.

That was February 2010. What’s happened since?

Tech & Learning magazine thinks there is a silver lining to all this — and they may just be right. Especially if others learn the lesson. (by Andrew Page – Watch It!)

If there is a silver lining for this school district, which has incurred more than a million dollars in legal fees and countless hours of extra work, it may be that just as the advanced use of technology put it on the front lines of privacy issues, the same technology has proved itself a remarkable ally in connecting the district with its parents and students, who rallied around the shared mission to provide the most up to-date learning tools and environment. Whether it was Facebook groups or electronic petitions, Web sites or video broadcasts of public meetings, the solutions to the many challenges to the district’s use of technology came, in part, through technology itself.

In May, the same school at which the laptop-spying scandal broke, Harriton High, was the setting for the first meeting of a brand-new technology advisory council, a group of parents, students, and administrators who have volunteered to meet and discuss subjects raised by the district’s progressive embrace of technology for learning. Sixty volunteers attended the first meeting, which ran for three hours, and discussed everything from policy development to the overall strategy of using technology in the classroom. A special subcommittee on privacy and security was formed and had its first meeting in July.

IS director Frazier was there.

“One thing that has emerged from all this is that IT leadership is no longer hiding in the wiring closet,” he says. “IT leadership has to also think about it in terms of communicating with the students and parents, and how you can add value and decision making.”

from Watch It! Lessons learned from Lower Merion’s “Webcamgate”

So – what about YOU? What will it take to get IT out of the wiring closet and start building community consensus with parents, teachers, administrators and STUDENTS!

This article continues with links to new policies, roles, resources, and new plans for keeping the technology vision moving forward at Lower Merion. Why not take advantage of their hard-won (and expensive) knowledge!

Sylvia

The grant provides other hardware, but focuses on professional development as the key to success for the new technology to make an impact.

“Professional development is critical to the success of the TALENT21 program,” says Adrian Allotey, Roselle Supervisor of Special Programs. said. “Partnering with Kean University’s Center of Innovative Education, GenYES and LoTi will provide a broad, collaborative learning environment for educators and students alike.” (from New Jersey Today)

As one of the partners on this grant, we are helping to create a GenYES student tech team at the school. 20 students attended a technology “boot camp” this summer led by Generation YES founder Dr. Dennis Harper along with with one of our web developers Andy, who is a high school student himself.

GenYES student at Talent21 tech bootcamp

The students learned computer maintenance skills, technical support skills and problem solving skills for basic troubleshooting. They will meet once a week during the school year to review and update the school’s technology needs. They will also provide on-site technical support for teachers, administrators and fellow students throughout the year.

“These 20 students will learn valuable computer skills that will give them a tremendous leg up in higher education and in the job market,” Allotey said.

We are very pleased to be working with the students and teachers at Grace Wilday JHS to help them achieve their mission of creating a 21st century learning space in their school!

Sylvia

PS Click here to download a free whitepaper on Student Support of Laptop Programs, featuring case studies of how real students make a big difference in creating a powerful laptop support system. (Click here to see more about this whitepaper and other free resources from Generation YES.)

Many of our GenYES and TechYES schools are laptop schools. The philosophy of putting the power into student hands with a laptop fits nicely with empowering students to improve education school-wide!

So naturally, my first post for the 1:1 Schools Blog is about student support of laptop programs. Not just tech support, but support for planning, implementation, and teachers. How can students do this? Do students do this? Yes they can and do in schools around the world!

In most schools, students are over 92% of the people in the system, and they are certainly the ones most affected by any change. Yet we often overlook them when we plan and implement visionary efforts like going 1:1. This does not have to be – students, if allowed to participate, can be powerful allies and evangelists for your laptop revolution.

Read the rest of Students – your best allies and evangelists for your 1:1 program at the 1:1 Schools Blog.

Sylvia

The Anywhere Anytime Learning Foundation (AALF) is a great resource for articles, research and resources about schools going 1:1. This month’s newsletter featured a short article by me about students as agents of change in laptop programs.

Most laptop programs start with a philosophy of putting power into student hands – but amid all the excitement of selecting hardware and planning the logistics, this can get lost.

Keep student empowerment front and center by focusing on Students as Agents of Change.

Sylvia

Student Support of Laptop Programs – new laptops? old laptops? Are you getting the benefit of making students allies in your laptop initiative? Peer mentoring, student-led training on new hardware and software, student tech support and other ideas can be time saving, cost effective, and best of all, good for students and the whole learning community.

This whitepaper contains research, case studies, practical information that you can use right now, whether you have one cart or are a 1:1 laptop school.

Student Support of Laptop Programs (PDF)

Sylvia

Pacific Northwest Constructivist Celebration
Saturday May 16, 2009
Puget Sound ESD (Renton, WA – Seattle area)

Participants will enjoy the day’s activities, complimentary creativity software and a hearty lunch all for just $55. This event is a joint effort between the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Northwest Council for Computer Education (NCCE), and the Constructivist Consortium.

Dr. Dennis Harper, founder of Generation YES will be there too!

Go to www.constructivistconsortium.org for more information and to register. Space is limited and past events have sold out quickly.

Sylvia

See my other posts on the XO laptop:

• Give a Laptop. Get a Laptop. Change the World
• Should your school participate in the XO G1G1 program?
• Promoting the XO laptop Give One, Get One program
• OLPC XO – Top Ten Checklist for G1G1 Reviews

Sylvia

For example, if a school raised $2,000, that would be enough money to purchase ten XO laptops. The school would get five, and five children somewhere in the world would get the others.

As we talked about the options, there were some good ideas for using the XOs that I’d like to share.

• “field trip” computers for recording audio, video and notes
• start a computer club where students participate in the XO community
• have them in the library for check out
• use them in lower grade levels

At the end of the day, it’s really up to the school and how involved they want to get. Even something as small  as promoting the program as an option for gift giving with a global purpose is worth doing.

Here are some questions that came up, with the answers if we could figure them out from the XO site.

Q: How does the XO compare to other small, inexpensive laptops on the market?
A: There are technical details on the Amazon XO site and even more on the OLPC wiki. However, my contention is that for most Americans, unless you are willing to buy-in to the XO learning principles and participate in the grand global experiment, the XO is not for you. If you are choosing a laptop simply on technical specifications or price, I’d suggest passing on the XO. (My checklist of “what not to expect” when you get an XO.)

Q: If my school participates in the G1G1 program, do we find out who gets the “other” laptops?
A: As far as we could find out, that is not possible. This isn’t like and “adopt a child” program, you don’t get a letter telling you who gets the computer. However, you can find a lot of stories about what kids are doing with their XO laptops around the world on the XO wiki. I imagine that it would be fairly easy to find a school somewhere to establish a “pen pal” relationship with. Also, with the Give Many program, if you donate enough money to purchase more than 100 XOs you can have your donation go to a particular country.

Q: Should we tell parents to do this and get a laptop for their child for home use?
A: If you do, you need to manage expectations for parents. These computers are not just cheap laptops or expensive Leapfrogs. Most parents will not be expecting to have to do their own tech support, system updates, or learn a new operating system. Again, see my checklist of “what not to expect” when you get an XO for some suggestions of what you do and don’t get with the XO.)

Q: We have lots of computers, we don’t need more. Can we just donate money?
A: According to the XO site, you can simply donate money in any amount. You can also just purchase one laptop that goes directly for donation for $199.

Q: Does it come with Windows?
A: There have been recent news reports about the XO being able to dual boot Sugar (the operating system designed for it) and Windows. The laptops purchased through the G1G1 program will NOT have Windows installed.

Q: Does it come with a hand crank?
A: No, that was just an early prototype that seems to have caught a lot of people’s imagination. It comes with a regular AC power adapter.

Q: Should we do the G1G1 program and then donate the computers to a nearby, needier school?
Only if the school wants them. These XOs are different than other computers and will need special maintenance and care. Some schools have created “exchange” programs, where students provide support and training for other schools. If you are willing to create such a long-term relationship, this might be an extraordinary learning experience for your students.

Q: How long is the G1G1 program running? Holidays are too busy, but we could do something in the spring.
A: This is one question we couldn’t find a really solid answer to. The OLPC wiki says it will be an ongoing program, and that “While the promotion has no scheduled end date, the advertising will run from Nov 17 to Dec 26, to take advantage of the holiday giving season.” However, much of the news about G1G1 has stated that the program ends Dec. 31, 2008. There is an open question on the “talk” page of the OLPC wiki about this, but no one has responded yet. It’s possible that people are also confusing last year’s program which ran for a limited time.

My inclination would be to trust the OLPC wiki and assume that Amazon is committed to this for the long term… but keep checking back!

Sylvia

In the Give One, Get One (G1G1) program, you have the opportunity purchase two XO computers. You get one, and a child somewhere in the developing world gets the other. Last year, over 100,000 laptops were donated to children this way. (See photos)

This year will be even better!
Last year, there were problems with the distribution, as OLPC was running it by themselves on a shoestring. This year, Amazon will run it. It would be the understatement of the year to say it will be better. There are a few other changes this year as well – it will include EU countries plus a few extra (full list and FAQs here). Sorry my Aussie friends, no mention of your part of the world.

Other good news, this will be an ongoing program. So if you have an idea about doing a fundraiser or planning a school event to get your own XOs, you have time.

Posts about the XO
Last year I got an XO laptop through the Give One, Get One program. Some of my posts from last year:

• OLPC XO – Top Ten Checklist for G1G1 Reviews – Things to think about before you buy that XO or write that review.
• Let them eat cake? No, let them change the world – My response to a dumb column about how the XO is a dumb idea. Examples and photos from a Peruvian XO pilot.
• One Laptop Per Child (XO) – Report from India pilot site – A report and some great photos from an OLPC XO pilot site in India.
• One Laptop Per Child – Why I believe this is a groundbreaking initiative

Spread the word! Here are some suggestions from the OLPC G1G1 wiki page:

• Blog it, add a comment about it to every article about OLPC and the XO.
• Social site updates — Facebook, Twitter[1], MySpace : there are OLPC accounts on many of these sites which need maintenance and regular updating. For instance some 2007-era badges and promotions need to be updated to link to the Amazon site.
• Viral marketing. Put http://www.amazon.com/xo in your e-mail signature. Mention G1G1 in blog posts. Comment on misinformed or incomplete articles online, and include the link and the date, Nov. 17.

Sylvia

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