The Village Green

A recent conversation came up where school technology representatives were debating the merits of technology in general, and specifically the worth of laptops in schools. This followed the New York Times “Seeing No Progress, Some Schools Drop Laptops” article. One particularly well thought out response came from a friend of mine, Craig Herrera:

Just my two cents worth - In a school with little space and a middle school population, I find the laptops a nice addition to the lab. Since I have classes pretty much all day in the lab, the laptop cart is available for check out by teachers. Sometimes the students are just word processing, sometimes they are doing research, the bottom line is that the laptops are being used as another educational tool. Can these tasks be accomplished with other tools, yes, but the laptops offer a convenience that we like here. Are the laptops more work for me, the STR, a little, but I feel that the extra work is worth students being able to accomplish some of their academic work. I also agree that training for staff and students is key to making laptops work for a building. Are laptops a miracle, no, but they help when space and schedules are tight.

Craig makes many good points and I support his position. What position do you take? Should schools have laptops for students? Who should provide them, the students or the schools?