One-to-One Educational Computing: Ten Lessons for Successful Implementation

When every student in an educational setting has a powerful computer to use as a learning tool, new options emerge and the benefits in terms of learning and preparation for the world outside of school can increase markedly (Roschelle et al., 2004; Livingston, 2006). However, this is not automatic. As Bielefeldt (2006) reported:

High levels of access to technology are transforming schooling. The nature of that transformation is still evolving, but its outlines are emerging. The types of learning activities are different. Attitudes toward school are different. Relationships between school and the community change. There are also new tensions that arise, such as conflicts between new learning models and old policy models, and between new outcomes and old assessments. (p. 1)

As the ratio of benefits compared to cost continues to improve, as international competitiveness becomes a more pressing national priority (Friedman, 2005), and as higher-order skills are identified as important learning outcomes (Pink, 2005), more and more schools will turn to one-to-one computer to student ratios to boost educational productivity (Bonifaz and Zucker, 2004; Livingston, 2006). In fact, Livingston (2006) estimated that in the USA alone, by 2006, there would be more than 14,000 public schools and thousands more independent and parochial schools offering one-to-one learning environments. America’s Digital Schools 2006 (Greaves Group and Hayes Connection, 2006) substantiated the boom in one-to-one computing, estimating based on their research that 24% of US School districts are in the process of transitioning to one-to-one.