Are you ready for laptops in September?

It is time for people who care about schools to take some action in preparation for the arrival of the laptops in September. Whether you believed in the project or not these computers will be there, and they will have an impact on you

The first thing you can do is to talk it up. Spread this we-the-people message. Persuade everyone you know that the laptop presence does concern them and that they can do something about it.

Some people might accuse me of not practicing what I preach. I talk nonstop about learning being so important and yet every Fourth of July you can see me watching the parade from just about the same spot in Deer Isle. Wouldn’t I learn more if I sometimes went somewhere else to see some other parade? Well, actually, no! I think I learn better by learning a lot about something than a little about many things.

Of course learning isn’t the only, or even the main, reason for celebrating a national holiday. But everything has a learning component and becomes a little richer if one pays attention to its learning aspect. Some if the items in the parade struck me as having been built by families or social groups with the active participation of children. In other cases I had the impression that children were simply placed in a scenario conceived and built by adults. Of course I could be wrong in the individual case. But knowing how important it is for children to be brought into the process and not merely the product made it exciting to look for signs one way or the other and so added spice to my enjoyment of the parade.

People around me seemed to like this way of talking and so (of course) I seized the opportunity to engage them in conversation about process vs. product and construction vs. instruction in schools. Soon the conversation turned to applying the same ideas to how our community deals with change in schools. Are we engaged in the design process or is our participation in school development confined to griping or rejoicing in the finished product? People in Deer Isle and Stonington had a recent experience of participation in the design of a new school building. This school would have been very different without direct community activism that included raising the money to add a first class auditorium, which could not be done within the limits of allocated funds. Someone asked why the community couldn’t play an analogous role in influencing the use of the laptops.

Few in the little group around me seemed to have understood the extent to which the use of these computers would be decided locally. One very major aspect that has been left to local decision is whether the students will be allowed to take the computers home. In my view this decision will make a night and day difference to the meaning of the computers for learning. If the computers come home they become part of the learning culture of the family. Other members of the family will be able to use them. In many cases the seventh grader who brings the machine will be promoted to the rank of home expert not only on computers but also on uses to which they can be put. It needs no imagination to understand that the decision about home use can have a major impact on family and just a little imagination to see that it could have significant impact on the community at large. And this is only an especially clear-cut example of many decisions about these laptops that will deeply affect the community. It began to appear obvious to all that concerned members of the community should not only make sure that they are properly consulted but also make sure that they have had a chance to study the issues.

I was able to tell the group that the PTA on their island was planning to invite interested parents to a meeting at which these issues could be discussed publicly before school begins. It struck me that perhaps I could help by putting out the idea of such actions and offering to help coordinate anyone who contacts me by email. I also have two recommendations to those who want to be better informed. The easy one is to use the Web to learn more about the laptop initiative by looking at the Web sites: www.agent.maine/edu/laptop and www. mainelearns.org. The more demanding one is to come (or send someone from a local organization) to a conference (details in the Web sites) titled “Learners, Laptops and Powerful Ideas” that will be held at Orono by the University of Maine in mid August.

Seymour Papert is professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Distinguished Computer Scientist at the University of Maine and a member of Maine Learning Technology Task Force. He may be contacted at Papert@midmaine.com.