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Author interview: Pamela Livingston

Pamela Livingston is the author of 1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs that Work, a comprehensive resource for planning and implementing laptop programs in the classroom. The book is the result of interviews with more than three dozen laptop school leaders, a review of the studies and research on laptops and schools, and her professional experience leading the laptop program at The Peck School in Morristown, New Jersey, where she works as head of technology.

Livingston has been an educator and administrator at independent schools for 13 years. Previously, she worked in corporate America, including managing computer projects at Pan American World Airways and Chemical Bank; designing and managing product tests for PC Magazine Labs as their first woman project leader; serving as technical editor for PC Sources Magazine; and installing networks in law firms for a systems integrator. She’s written for Learning & Leading with Technology, PC Magazine, and The New York Law Journal. Livingston is a frequent speaker at educational technology conferences, including NECC; the Irving, Texas One-to-One Symposium; Germantown Academy; edACCESS; NJAIS; ADVIS; Haverford Public Schools; and Lausanne’s Laptop Institute. She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer systems and a master’s degree in education and technology.

ISTE recently sat down with Livingston to discuss her new book.

In your book, you say laptop programs in schools are nearing a tipping point. What do you mean by that?

The concept of “tipping point,” as described by Malcolm Gladwell in his book of the same title, describes a phenomenon that starts small and then becomes ubiquitous. Laptops in schools are nearing this tipping point. Many schools and districts are ordering more laptops than desktop computers; entire states such as Maine and Michigan—and soon, Illinois—are funding large-scale laptop initiatives; and schools with laptops for children are continuing and expanding their programs. Add to that the One Laptop Per Child plan from Nicholas Negroponte’s organization, which should eventually ramp up laptop production, and it would seem that laptops in schools are going to tip and become available to many more students soon.

What are some of the advantages of laptops for students?

When each child has a laptop computer, the potential for analyzing, researching, writing, editing, creating, publishing, presenting and learning is greatly increased. No longer does a student have to queue up for a computer in a lab, share the family computer, or go to the library for online access.

In addition, higher-order thinking is enhanced by laptops. For instance, if historical weather data from around the world were to be gathered and analyzed by a student without a laptop, much researching, writing, calculating and chart-making would be required. If, instead, that student has a laptop with access to the Internet along with a spreadsheet program, in very little time he or she can create a chart to consider weather changes over time. Once the data is on the laptop, it is simple then to perform some “what if” exercises and to project temperatures over the next five years. Getting to the thinking part is faster with a laptop—the process to gather and input data is less onerous, so that important analysis can happen sooner and receive more time.

Also, research in several schools and districts indicates an increase in attendance rates. This is important because it speaks to motivation—students are showing up to school more reliably when laptops are part of their learning experience.

What about teachers, how does having a laptop help them?

Teachers overwhelmingly say they would not go back to pre-laptop teaching. Studies and anecdotal reports describe teachers who use laptops to increase communication with students, parents and peers; enhance their curriculum with material obtained through their laptops; and become more adept at using technology and teaching with technology. Nothing replaces good teaching, but a laptop in the hands of a master teacher expands the classroom in ways previously impossible.

Do you have any advice for schools or districts considering a program?

Plan purposefully; consider how laptops will fit in with your mission; involve your teachers (and give them laptops first); reach out to other schools/districts/states with laptop programs; communicate frequently; involve all your stakeholders in the process; manage the change; fund and support ongoing professional development; pay attention to infrastructure and logistics. Oh, and read this book!

Read more about Pamela Livingston's book
1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs that Work.

Order your copy today!