Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 37 Number 4: Summer 2005

	Edited by Dr. Lynne Schrum, University of Utah
formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

Volume 37 Number 4 Summer 2005

A Year in the Life: Two Seventh Grade Teachers Implement One-to-One Computing

Abigail Garthwait
Herman G. Weller
University of Maine

Abstract

Maine was the first state to put laptops in the hands of an entire grade of students. This interpretive case study of two middle school science-math teachers was driven by the general question: Given ubiquitous computing, how do teachers use computers in constructing curriculum and delivering instruction? Specifically, the researchers sought to examine the facilitators and barriers for teachers in using laptops in the classroom. Using qualitative methods, the researchers collected data during the first year of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI). Differential effects of one-to-one computing on each teacher were found along two dimensions: the effect of technical technological issues, and the educational effect of technology policies. For both teachers, the effects were deeply altered by the teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning, which in turn affected their ultimate choices of how their time (and their students’ time) was spent. This empirical study offers a preliminary analysis and can be used both as a reflective mirror for practitioners and as a guide for administrators and teacher educators.

Contributors

Abigail Garthwait, assistant professor of education, instructional technology, University of Maine, has published in Science and Children, Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia and Language Arts.

Herman G. Weller, associate professor of education, science education and co-principal investigator, MMSTEC NSF-CETP Project of Maine Mathematics & Science Teaching Excellence Collaborative, University of Maine, has published in the Journal of College Science Teaching, Journal of Research on Computing in Education, Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Computers in the Schools, and Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching.

Contact

Abigail Garthwait
108 Shibles Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469
abigail@umit.maine.edu

Herman G. Weller
156 Shibles Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469
herman_weller@umit.maine.edu

Copyright © 2005, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.