Thinking about Wireless Classrooms

Writing at On the Shoulders of Giants, TLN blogger Ariel Sacks wonders about the promise of wireless classrooms, and some of the barriers as well:

My mind's been trying to imagine what a paperless classroom would look like and how it would run.  I found a great post on the blog, teachone2one.com, called The Changes, that explains some of the major ways the laptops have changed practice and learning in the classroom.

One of Ariel's wonderings has to do with the affordability of 1-to-1 laptop schools and classrooms. While this may not be a solution in Ariel's situation -- an urban charter school -- I recently interviewed the superintendent of a small city district in Alabama that has gone completely wireless and completely one-to-one.

What's most intriguing about the Piedmont City Schools story is how the move is being conceptualized by school and community leaders as both a way to prepare their rural students for the 21st Century and a potential investment in economic development for a community that's suffering from the job losses so epidemic in the South.

Comments

[Ariel Sacks]

That makes a lot of sense. The knowledge, and job marketplace exists more and more online. It is a very wise investment for Piedmont to help the new generation participate. We can't save the economy for the next generation by training them the same way always have.