Laptops in my classroom?!  Yikes!  What will I do?!?!?  Let us allay your apprehension in a two-day workshop about teaching differently in a technology-rich classroom.  Nicole Badgley, laptop veteran teacher and Apple Distinguished Educator, will share what she has learned since Arnold Public Schools adopted the laptop learning initiative several years ago.  She, along with ESU 10 staff, will cover classroom management and room arrangement, teaching techniques, course management, as well as online resources and other helpful tools.  You will prepare for the first week of school and walk away with a lesson plan ready to go.  You'll also leave feeling relieved and with the thought that this laptop thing is just going to be okay.

For registration and more information, visit https://odie.esu10.org/

Join laptop schools as they discuss all things pertaining to students using laptops for learning at the

Laptop Schools Meeting
July 30, 2009
ESU 10 - Kearney
9:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
For more info and registration,
visit https://odie.esu10.org

Submit agenda items you would like to discuss to Nicole at nbadgley@esu10.org or Graci at ggillmin@esu10.org or leave a comment below.  We will keep track of the agenda requests and compile them later.  Hope to see you all there.

A question for the group... how do you deal with repair issues when the parents want to buy the parts themselves?

Interesting question... huh?  I have a student who deliberately broke the screen on her laptop.  (That is a long story in and of itself so I won't go into that!)  When she brought it to me, she lied about how it broke, and the other students came and told me the truth because they were worried I would hold it against the entire class (because they are 7th graders and they think the world is against them all since they are immature). 

When I confronted the student and explained her family would have to pay for it - once she admitted she broke it on purpose - her father said he would not pay the stated amount because he could get the parts on eBay cheaper.  We have no policy in place that allows parents to do this, and there are not guarantees that the part they get is the right one, that it will arrive undamaged, or that it will fix the problem entirely. 

So my question is this.  How do you deal with this type of issue?  Should we have a policy in place which says the school will get all repairs done and purchase all parts from an authorized dealer and then bill the family?

Any suggestions from anyone?  Any help would be appreciated.

Mark your calendar for the next Laptop Schools Meeting to be held on July 30, 2009, from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM at ESU 10 in Kearney.  Stay tuned for more info and an agenda

iSummit is the premiere conference for educators using Apple laptops in a
1:1 program. This conference is sponsored by Apple and the Coalition of
Lighthouse Schools. iSummit 2009 is being held in Memphis, TN from July 8
to July 10 at St. Agnes Academy/St. Dominic School.

This year's keynote speaker is Carol Anne McGuire, an Apple Distinguished Educator,
who is an award-winning educator best known for her "Rock Our World"
project. Register now for this great conference where you can learn from
your peers, meet other educators involved in laptop programs with Apple
computers, share ideas, and plan collaborative projects!

To learn more about iSummit visit the website below:
http://www.lighthouseschools.com/isummit.html

Also, join the LaptopLearning Ning at http://laptoplearning.ning.com!

If you are still interested in attending Arnold's Laptop Initiative Days next week, registration will close on Monday at noon.  Please register as soon as possible at http://edseminars.apple.com/arnold  or http://edseminars.apple.com/seminars/event.php?eventID=1460

Following our January 23rd meeting, many of you did the online survey.  Ron Cone, director of technology and information services at ESU10, graciously compiled the information and put it into a PDF document so we could all read it and benefit further.  So I will attach the PDF to this post.  If you did not have a chance to fill out the survey, but you have comments, please feel free to post them here.  Thanks to all who attended and I look forward to seeing many of you at the Arnold Laptop days on February 18 and 19th.

Survey Results
To see the minutes of the meeting be sure to look for them as a post in this community.

Just a note that Apple and Doane College are hosting  1 to 1 laptop meeting titled Critical Success Factors.  Obviously vendor promoted, but probably good information.
If interested registration is at http://edseminars.apple.com/seminars/event.php?eventID=1398
The agenda is below.
Exploring 1 to 1 Learning: Success Factors
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009, Doane College, Crete, NE
8:00 a.m. – 8:20 a.m. Registration and Breakfast
8:20 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Welcome and Introductions; Lisa Nikkel, Apple Education
8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Introduction to 1 to 1 Learning: Success Factors; Barry Sevett,
Apple Education
9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Providing Visionary Leadership; Dr. Milt Dougherty, Supt., Little
River, KS USD 444 and President, Milt Dougherty and Associates
9:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. 21st Century Curriculum; Barry Sevett, Apple Education
10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow – Today; Katie Morrow,
Instructional Technology Dir., O’Neill, NE Public Schools
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Content Creation: Digital Tools for Digital Kids; Barry Sevett,
Apple Education
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch and tour of Doane Education Building
1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Supporting 1 to 1 Learning; Mike Dronen, Technology Director,
Stillwater, MN ISD 834
1:45 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. Apple Innovation in Education; Brent Hayward, Apple Education
2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Break
3:00 p.m. – 3:20 p.m. Professional Development and Program Assessment; Barry
Sevett, Apple Education
3:20 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Panel Discussion, Q & A, Close

Question posed by Gary Monter

I would like to receive some sample policy from any school that sells the laptops to graduating seniors.  Your input as to the pros and cons of such a practice is appreciated.  Please, if you have such a policy, email gmonter@esu7.org.  Thank you

Gary Monter

At the meeting on January 23rd, one of the questions was about research on laptop learning.  I mentioned one article and then was given a couple of more to share with the group.  I am not trying to be platform specific (these two downloads happen to be from Apple), but these are what I could find.

L341429A-US_Research_1_to_1_4_4_07.pdf
1_to_1_white_paper.pdf

The other article was "Envisioning Effective Laptop Initiatives" Learning and Leading with Technology September/October 2008  (I have it in a PDF, but I don't have permission to repost it so you'll have to go to the web and find it.)

Does anyone else have any research you can share?