One-To-Many (1:n)
My vision of matching the learning task to the appropriate technology tool could be called not a 1:1 relationship, but a 1:n, or One-To-Many relationship.
I read an article in EdWeek today that talks about a school district, twice the size of Green Bay Area School District, doing what we are doing in our secondary schools, which is providing a variety of technology tools that students can use for their coursework. There are many tasks students do on computers for their daily classes. At times they may be researching online and word processing. At other times they may be creating videos or video conferencing with students from another part of the world. We want to make sure students have access to the right tools to help them complete the jobs.In order to be fiscally responsible, we did not want to "over purchase" getting all devices with all the bells and whistles, when in reality, they may not be used for all tasks/assignments.
We are providing carts of netbooks, ChromeBooks, Lenovo Laptops, and MacBook Airs to our schools. The goal for the variety of devices is to mirror what students will be encountering in the real world. We want to provide opportunities for experiences on different types of devices so that they may personalize their learning and increase engagement. Our teachers will assist in defining the learning task then work to incorporate technology devices into the classroom for seamless integration. Students are also able to bring their own devices to school and use our wifi guest network. Once our students enter the work world, their place of business may have workplace expectations that move to a completely different device. If that is the case, we would like to say our students will have enough baseline knowledge and confidence in using multiple devices that they will adapt to the new device quickly and easily.
I am glad to hear that this is the path other schools are taking as well. We could choose to deploy a 1:1 device to our students, but it may not be their tool of choice or could be more or less than they would ultimately need in a learning tool. By offering a variety of tools to power their learning, we are inviting students to personalize their learning and take it to the next level.









