Laptops for all? COE researcher studies effects of 'ubiquitous computing'

What would K-12 schools be like if every single student had his or her own laptop computer? If a PDA and Internet connection were considered the birthright of every child?

COE Associate Professor Kara Dawson may soon find out. She is part of a team that is studying the effects of “ubiquitious computing” in 11 Florida school districts.

“The state of Florida seems to be looking to a future in which the majority course content in schools is digital,” Dawson said. “I think this project is a way to test the waters.”

Dawson is a consultant on a Florida Department of Education program that allows various school districts to experiment with ways to incorporate information technology into daily practice in the classroom.

Like every other state, Florida receives federal grant money to update computer technology in schools. Through a program called “Leveraging Laptops: Effective Models for Enhancing Student Achievement,” the state is disbursing $10 million of that money to districts with a plan to implement ubiquitous computing. In other words, each district has a plan to provide students with their own computers or otherwise make computers a pervasive part of the learning experience. Because of cost constraints, these projects are usually small in scale, but they offer a glimpse of what ubiquitous computing could look like if implemented throughout a district.

“The unique thing about the Florida program is the leeway that has been given to the involved districts,” Dawson said. “Some districts are giving students computers and letting them take the computers home. Some of them are providing computers but keeping them at school. Some are using other technologies, like iPods or PDAs (personal data assistants).”

Dawson, two other researchers, Dr. Cathy Cavanaugh from the University of North Florida and Dr. Shannon White from the University of South Florida, and several graduate students included UF Doctoral Fellow, Joseph DiPietro are evaluating each program to see what strategies are most effective. The study is a year from completion, but Dawson and her colleagues expect to present preliminary results to state officials in the next few weeks.

Conventional wisdom – backed significant studies conducted in the 1990s – suggests that a 1:1 ratio between students and computing devices will lead to an improvement in both computer literacy and overall learning.

Dawson said preliminary results show that to be true, though how the computers are used is very important.

“We’re finding that course content, project-based learning and authentic contexts play a very important role,” she said.

For instance, Dawson said, one district created a program centered on a “hurricane preparedness” theme. Teachers designed hurricane-related lessons in science, social studies and other subjects, and students used computers to do research on those topics, create authentic products and collaborate with community leaders.

“This is the kind of approach that works really well,” she said.

Researchers are also finding that schools have a learning curve when it comes to implementing new technology programs – particularly in rural and low-income areas, where the use of computers in classrooms has lagged behind the average.

“Our main message so far is that there is a benefit to ubiquitous computing, but you have to give the districts time,” she said.