Laptops and Teacher Transformation

Since the first 1:1 laptop program was introduced in 1989 at the Ladies’ Methodist College in Australia (Johnstone, 2003), there have been numerous studies conducted on the benefits of 1:1 computing with school-aged children. Bebell (2005), Fadel and Lemke (2006), Livingstone (2006), and Russell, Bebell, and Higgins (2004) have all reported on increases in student achievement especially in writing, analysis, and research while Stevenson (1999) has noted improvement in standardized test scores. In fewer than twenty years, 1:1 computing programs have thrived in North America, Europe, Australia, and South America. The clear benefits to the students using laptops have been well documented to the extent that the professional literature demonstrates myriad advantages to using laptops in the classroom. As this study will show, there has been little discussion in the professional literature on how using laptops in the classroom affects the teachers. To this end, this chapter will outline my research findings with 12 laptops teachers who are transformed through technology. For the purposes of this chapter, I will define 1:1 computing classrooms as learning environments where every person in the classroom has a laptop computer with wireless Internet and printer capabilities for at least fifty percent of the day.