1:1 teaching has become a trend that has gained a lot of steam in the past few years as personal devices have become cheaper and more accessible.
It seems that the technology decision makers for Springfield Catholic Schools, which includes four schools in Springfield, Mo., have been paying attention to the 1:1 trend. The school system will provide every student with a Google Chromebook to use in class and take home on nights and weekends. The laptops will be distributed this year at Springfield Catholic High School as part of a new, five-year, $2 million initiative to increase access to technology for all students, according to the Springfield News-Leader.
“We do not want there to be differences between the haves and have-nots,” Rev. Michael McDevitt, director of Springfield Catholic Schools, told the Springfield News-Leader. “We want all the students to be haves.”
The school system had planned to outfit the high school, as well as St. Agnes, Immaculate Conception and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, which both serve preschool through eighth grade, with laptops for all students. The plan to buy and deploy the technology would have taken several years but for a large donation from a family that wished to remain anonymous. The donation has allowed the system to provide 80 percent of the planned technology within the first year.
High school students will receive Chomebooks to be able to use in school and take home, while junior high students will need to leave the laptops at school. At the elementary level, teachers will either have technology in the classroom or bring devices in on a cart in order to begin introducing students to education with the assistance of technology. The 1,265 student Catholic schools system has long supported technology assisted learning, utilizing the support of parents and other supporters to raise money for technology during an annual fundraiser.
After introducing iPads and advanced microscopes to students, school leaders began a discussion about instituting a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy to the school system. The five-year plan began to emerge as concerns were brought up about a BYOD policy. A wide variety of technology would be introduced into the school, all of different age, quality, and ability. Not only that, students that didn’t have technology to bring into school would suffer. The five-year plan allowed uniformity and equal access to learning tools for all students.
The Catholic school system in Springfield has been updating its infrastructure and adding WiFi access points to campuses in anticipation of the new technology entering its schools.
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