Mike Muir article

“ He’s crazy!”

“ We need that money to repair schools!”

“ This is silly! Teachers need higher salaries!”

     These were some of the initial reactions to Governor King’s proposition to use a $50 million surplus to buy laptops for middle school students and teachers. But his proposal made sense to others. Maine resident and education technology guru Seymour Papert worked closely with the Governor to move this idea forward.

     Governor King knew businesses understood that you never got ahead by struggling to keep up. You needed a radical idea to get ahead. Putting technology into the hands of every middle school student in Maine was his radical idea. Seymour Papert felt that it would be unconscionable if we didn’t give this to students and teachers, making it clear that computers are the intellectual tool of our time.

     A task force of the state legislature agreed, designing a proposal that received bipartisan support and launched the state into the first statewide learning with laptop initiative, even though the economy had changed and the $50 million was slowly being whittled away at. Apple Computer was selected as the vendor after a rigorous RFP process, and has proven to be a strong corporate partner. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) got its launch in the winter of 2002, when one Exploration Site in each of Maine’s nine Superintendent Regions was identified to receive an early implementation of the project. The buildings were wired for wireless, teachers received training and in March, laptops arrived at their schools. These Exploration Sites tested the network and laptop solution and gave other educators a place to visit to see what to expect in the coming fall.

Throughout the summer or 2002, 1800 seventh grade teachers attended two day training sessions to become acquainted with their new laptops and in the Fall, schools began distributing laptops to 17,000 7th graders. Fall of 2003 saw students bringing their laptops to the 8th grade and a new round of 7th graders receiving laptops. As of now, Maine has more than 39,000 wireless laptops distributed to their 7th and 8th grade students and teachers in every one of our 239 middle schools.

Do people still think Governor King is crazy? A few, but most people have changed their minds. A few of the legislators tried to raid the fund and cancel the program, but there was a public outcry to keep the program in place. Parents, once they had gotten into their students’ classrooms, saw that the program wasn’t about giving students a $1500 toy, nor about an expensive way to teach every student how to use office software, but about improving learning experiences for students. Even local radio stations admonished the legislators as party poopers!

How did the perception of Maine’s laptop program go from crazy to success? Not by accident. The leaders of Maine’s project worked hard to avoid one horrible mistake made by way too many technology initiatives: staying focused on the hardware and software. Maine recognized that initiatives that stay focused on teaching and learning have more impact on student achievement than those that focus on the technology. Maine accomplished this by looking toward teacher leadership, professional development, and learning and teaching.

Leadership began with the Design Team, a collection of classroom teachers, administrators, state Department of Education personnel, higher education faculty, and educational consultants charged with setting the direction of the project. Their first charge was to build a network of teachers in each building to act as points of contact for two-way communication between the state and each school. These Teacher Leaders from across each region met by region, together with their principals and tech coordinators, twice a year. Leadership development opportunities were made available and these school leaders where given strategies for building a vision for this work with their staff.

Professional development started with two days of training in the summer for each 7th or 8th grade teacher who received a laptop. We knew this would only be a start, but schools, universities, and other organizations pulled together to offer teachers additional training opportunities. The state also organized several regional, content-based meetings for teachers by discipline area. These Content Leader meetings are held several times each year so teachers can share what’s working, learn best practices, and brain storm solutions to challenges. This way technology training is embedded within the context of their teaching.

Professional development opportunities like these allow teachers to focus on helping students learn their subject. Writing has seen huge improvements since the introduction of the laptops. Teachers report that reluctant writers are more willing to write and to revise, and students say their word processed writing looks much better than their handwritten copies. Teachers are also doing much more with project-based learning and place-based learning. Many of their products take the form of multimedia projects, including presentations, movies, web pages, and brochures. Dr. Anne Davies worked with teachers across the state on assessment for learning, using data to help inform and adapt instruction throughout a unit, not just measuring achievement at the end. Teachers are also learning about Universal Design and how to design learning environments so every child can learn.

This work has been supported by four networks. The Teacher Leaders supplied two-way communication between the DOE and each participating school in the state, and together with each school’s principal and tech coordinator provided a shared leadership team. Content-based professional development is being regionally and collaboratively delivered to teachers, within the context of their own teaching, through the Content Leader network. Educators participating in MLTI communicate with each other through MiddleMaine.org, a FirstClass email and conferencing system. Accounts are made available to each teacher and student, and conferences include curriculum & assessment materials and resources, an online help desk, and lots of good discussion of teaching and learning with technology. The fourth network is MaineLearns.org, a website with information about the initiative, resources for teachers, success stories, and listings of professional development opportunities. Both teachers and MLTI staff can contribute items to be included on MaineLearns.

These four networks give the initiative three distinct characteristics. Leadership is decentralized and distributed: networks are organized regionally by the nine Superintendents Regions, with regional leadership, and representation in every school. Each network is also characterized by two-way communication with MLTI passing information to schools and educators and administrators passing information to MLTI staff. Lastly, these networks exemplify a living, growing initiative, not a stagnant “plan-implement-done” initiative. Two-way feedback allows MLTI to adapt and respond according to teachers’ needs, challenges, and successes.

Maine is not just a leader by creating the first statewide learning with laptop initiative, but MLTI’s success through its focus on learning and teaching, and its networks has helped to set the standard for other states that might follow.

Learn more about MLTI:
http://www.mainelearns.org/
http://www.mcmel.org/tech/MLTI/index.html

Mike Muir is a professor of Middle Level Education and Educational Technology at the University of Maine at Farmington. He is also director of the Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning (http://www.mcmel.org/). He is a member of the MLTI Design Team.


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Maine’s Learning with Laptop Initiative By Mike Muir “e-Learning will improve American education in valuable ways and should be universally implemented as soon as possible.” (Conclusion of the National Association of School Boards of Education Study Group on e-Learning, NASBE, 2001) “…The true value of technology for learning lies not in learning to use technology, but in using technology to learn.” (Educational Research Service, 2001) “One of the enduring difficulties about technology and education is that a lot of people think about the technology first and the education later” (Schacter, 1995, p. 11) “ He’s crazy!” “ We need that money to repair schools!” “ This is silly! Teachers need higher salaries!” These were some of the initial reactions to Governor King’s proposition to use a $50 million surplus to buy laptops for middle school students and teachers. But his proposal made sense to others. Maine resident and education technology guru Seymour Papert worked closely with the Governor to move this idea forward. Governor King knew businesses understood that you never got ahead by struggling to keep up. You needed a radical idea to get ahead. Putting technology into the hands of every middle school student in Maine was his radical idea. Seymour Papert felt that it would be unconscionable if we didn’t give this to students and teachers, making it clear that computers are the intellectual tool of our time. A task force of the state legislature agreed, designing a proposal that received bipartisan support and launched the state into the first statewide learning with laptop initiative, even though the economy had changed and the $50 million was slowly being whittled away at. Apple Computer was selected as the vendor after a rigorous RFP process, and has proven to be a strong corporate partner. The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) got its launch in the winter of 2002, when one Exploration Site in each of Maine’s nine Superintendent Regions was identified to receive an early implementation of the project. The buildings were wired for wireless, teachers received training and in March, laptops arrived at their schools. These Exploration Sites tested the network and laptop solution and gave other educators a place to visit to see what to expect in the coming fall. Throughout the summer or 2002, 1800 seventh grade teachers attended two day training sessions to become acquainted with their new laptops and in the Fall, schools began distributing laptops to 17,000 7th graders. Fall of 2003 saw students bringing their laptops to the 8th grade and a new round of 7th graders receiving laptops. As of now, Maine has more than 39,000 wireless laptops distributed to their 7th and 8th grade students and teachers in every one of our 239 middle schools. Do people still think Governor King is crazy? A few, but most people have changed their minds. A few of the legislators tried to raid the fund and cancel the program, but there was a public outcry to keep the program in place. Parents, once they had gotten into their students’ classrooms, saw that the program wasn’t about giving students a $1500 toy, nor about an expensive way to teach every student how to use office software, but about improving learning experiences for students. Even local radio stations admonished the legislators as party poopers! Further, researchers have found that students at the Exploration Sites seem to have improved in all areas on state tests and to have done significantly better in Math and Science than students in the other schools (so far, only the Exploration Site students have taken the 8th grade testing). Schools also report increases in attendance, decreases in referrals for discipline, and improved student engagement since the introduction of the laptops. How did the perception of Maine’s laptop program go from crazy to success? Not by accident. The leaders of Maine’s project worked hard to avoid one horrible mistake made by way too many technology initiatives: staying focused on the hardware and software. Maine recognized that initiatives that stay focused on teaching and learning have more impact on student achievement than those that focus on the technology. Maine accomplished this by looking toward teacher leadership, professional development, and learning and teaching. Leadership began with the Design Team, a collection of classroom teachers, administrators, state Department of Education personnel, higher education faculty, and educational consultants charged with setting the direction of the project. Their first charge was to build a network of teachers in each building to act as points of contact for two-way communication between the state and each school. These Teacher Leaders from across each region met by region, together with their principals and tech coordinators, twice a year. Leadership development opportunities were made available and these school leaders where given strategies for building a vision for this work with their staff. Professional development started with two days of training in the summer for each 7th or 8th grade teacher who received a laptop. We knew this would only be a start, but schools, universities, and other organizations pulled together to offer teachers additional training opportunities. The state also organized several regional, content-based meetings for teachers by discipline area. These Content Leader meetings are held several times each year so teachers can share what’s working, learn best practices, and brain storm solutions to challenges. This way technology training is embedded within the context of their teaching. Professional development opportunities like these allow teachers to focus on helping students learn their subject. Writing has seen huge improvements since the introduction of the laptops. Teachers report that reluctant writers are more willing to write and to revise, and students say their word processed writing looks much better than their handwritten copies. Teachers are also doing much more with project-based learning and place-based learning. Many of their products take the form of multimedia projects, including presentations, movies, web pages, and brochures. Dr. Anne Davies worked with teachers across the state on assessment for learning, using data to help inform and adapt instruction throughout a unit, not just measuring achievement at the end. Teachers are also learning about Universal Design and how to design learning environments so every child can learn. This work has been supported by four networks. The Teacher Leaders supplied two-way communication between the DOE and each participating school in the state, and together with each school’s principal and tech coordinator provided a shared leadership team. Content-based professional development is being regionally and collaboratively delivered to teachers, within the context of their own teaching, through the Content Leader network. Educators participating in MLTI communicate with each other through MiddleMaine.org, a FirstClass email and conferencing system. Accounts are made available to each teacher and student, and conferences include curriculum & assessment materials and resources, an online help desk, and lots of good discussion of teaching and learning with technology. The fourth network is MaineLearns.org, a website with information about the initiative, resources for teachers, success stories, and listings of professional development opportunities. Both teachers and MLTI staff can contribute items to be included on MaineLearns. These four networks give the initiative three distinct characteristics. Leadership is decentralized and distributed: networks are organized regionally by the nine Superintendents Regions, with regional leadership, and representation in every school. Each network is also characterized by two-way communication with MLTI passing information to schools and educators and administrators passing information to MLTI staff. Lastly, these networks exemplify a living, growing initiative, not a stagnant “plan-implement-done” initiative. Two-way feedback allows MLTI to adapt and respond according to teachers’ needs, challenges, and successes. Maine is not just a leader by creating the first statewide learning with laptop initiative, but MLTI’s success through its focus on learning and teaching, and its networks has helped to set the standard for other states that might follow. Learn more about MLTI: http://www.mainelearns.org/ http://www.mcmel.org/tech/MLTI/index.html Mike Muir is a professor of Middle Level Education and Educational Technology at the University of Maine at Farmington. He is also director of the Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning (http://www.mcmel.org/). He is a member of the MLTI Design Team. • Previous Articles