Technology Rich Schools

Amy and I had the opportunity last week to join a group of Arizona Educators in viewing two schools with one-on-one initiatives. The first site we visited was Brichta Elementary, a K-5 school in the Tucson district. While the building is pretty unimpressive - what goes on inside was remarkable. Each classroom is equipment with a projector and some type of smartboard; each teacher has a laptop; K-2 classrooms has 3-5 workstations; 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students all have assigned laptops. These young students are learning to be responsible for and utilize technology as a tool within their work environments. The entire campus is wireless so access to available everywhere. Planning for this technology focus began years before any equipment was purchased. In fact, staff development began a year before the students received their equipment.

The second site we visited was Empire High School in the Vail district (near Tucson). At this 9-12 campus, every student is assigned a laptop. Prior to opening, the administration and teachers decided to divert all textbook funds to laptops. Teachers are responsible to locate their own curriculum from available resources - primarily web resources. Students seemed to have more involvement in their learning and the principal reported very little classroom management issues. In the classrooms we visited, students seems very engaged.

At the end of the day, I really felt both of these sites had much more focus on the change of teaching style from "sage on the stage" to facilitator - rather than the technology itself. The technology was rather "invisible" - merely a tool used by staff and students. The really impressive thing was the way in which staff seemed to be truly preparing students for work and life in the 21st Century.