A.L. Brown students get laptops

By Sarah Campbell

scampbell@salisburypost.com

KANNAPOLIS — Juniors Daniel McAllister and Jackario Smith are looking forward to using Dell netbooks to take notes during class and work on projects at home.

The teens are just two of A.L. Brown High School’s 1,360 students who will be receiving the computers as the school launches its new one-to-one laptop program.

“I think they’re going to be really useful,” McAllister said. “There are a lot of ways that they can be integrated into the classroom and we’ve already been using them quite a bit.”

The school purchased 1,400 Dell netbooks with a nearly $1.6 million Impact through Technology grant sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

The school will begin distributing the computers to juniors and seniors next week and finish up with the remainder of the school the following week. Each student will be issued a laptop and a padded backpack to carry it.

Principal Kevin Garay said this isn’t the first time students will have access to the laptops. About 100 computers were purchased last spring for instructional use in several classrooms.

Teachers attended professional development sessions throughout the summer to receive training on the one-to-one implementation.

“We’re done a lot of training,” Garay said. “We’ve had a host of individualized training plans that we’ve put together this year.”

Teachers also attended a weeklong global literacy workshop hosted by the school system to promote global connectivity.

Garay said the school’s teachers have embraced the new technology.

“They’re shifting their teaching to develop new ways of learning,” he said. “They’re really eager to learn and have sought professional development on their own.”

The campus of A.L. Brown has gone completely wireless with the launch of the new program.

“We didn’t want to do one without the other,” Garay said.

The flow of information will also be streamlined with the introduction of the netbooks.

McAllister said the ability to type notes rather than write them has sped up the learning process.

“We’re going through lessons much faster,” he said. “We can also see models, photos and diagrams up close instead of looking at them on a projector from the back of the classroom.”

Garay said the laptops will allow students to be more fully engaged and software will provide instantaneous feedback. Teachers will also be able to e-mail students Power Point projects and notes.

“It’s a lot more efficient and a faster way to send out information to students,” he said. “The interaction doesn’t have to stop when students leave the classroom, it can keep going beyond the classroom.”

Smith said he’s looking forward to being able to study material in a more in-depth manner from home.

“It think the computers will help provide more access to different websites to learn different subjects,” he said.

Each computer is equipped with an iPrism block to keep students from visiting specific sites both on campus and at home.

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A.L. Brown consulted with a number of other schools across the state and country when crafting its one-to-one program.

“It’s really a hybrid of several different program,” Garay said. “We’ve been about to share and gain a lot.”

Garay said there have only been two snags in the implementation of the program — parent involvement and a server switch.

“We’re still trying to get parents to attend the parents meeting,” he said.

About two-thirds of the parents at the school have been to one of the 11 orientations held throughout the summer and at the start of the school year.

The meetings give parents detailed information about program along with the rules and policies associated with the laptops.

“It gives them a chance to be interactive and see what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” Garay said.

The other hurdle the school had to clear was the district’s switch to a new server, which Garay said has delayed the implementation of the program by several weeks.

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Garay said the school is excited to provide the one-to-one program to its students. He said the technology the students will use will help prepare them for life after high school.

“There isn’t any area that isn’t driven by technology and the more exposure you get to it the better off you are,” Garay said.

Contact Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.