Visionary+Voices

//**Testimony from Visionary Voices:**//
"The issue is not about "technical training" [of teachers] but about helping teachers address serious educational issues that have nothing to do with technology. Teachers will have to make a transition and this will have a cost. But this cost should not be attributed to technology; it is the cost of transition to the needs of a future world. Or rather, it is the cost of the failure of our schools of education to anticipate these needs. //**And this cost grows higher every day that schools of education continue to pour out graduates prepared for a bygone world and so in need of costly transition to a new world.**"// [|~Seymour Papert and Gaston Caperton]

When the former governor of Maine, Angus King, is asked how the Maine Learning Technology Initiative came about, his answer is "There was one data point, three insights, and a lunch." The lunch was with Seymour Papert where King said, "We have five kids for every computer. What if we could have three kids per computer?" Seymour shook his head. "What about two kids per computer?" "Wouldn't matter," Seymour said. Then he said, //**"It is only when it is one-to-one that the power occurs."**// [|~Angus King as quoted by Andy Carver]

"We made the absolute right decision to do it **//[to provide one-to-one laptops for every student].//** And I think if people are really serious about school reform and leveling the playing field, raising the bar for all kids, these are tools that can really support change." ~[|Bette Manchester], //Distinguished Educator with the Maine Learning Technology Initiative.//

"It turns out that having a computer lab, or a PC on a teacher’s desk, or even one machine for every four students, is essentially worthless — in fact, it’s probably a distraction. **//As far as we can tell, real improvement takes place only in classrooms with a one-to-one computer/student ratio//**." [|~Mark Anderson], //CEO of the Strategic News Service, a newsletter covering the computing and communications industries//

"In 'Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants,' Marc Prensky (2001, p. 1) states, 'Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.' He refers to our students as 'Digital Natives' since they have grown up exposed to and using digital tools. He refers to the adults as 'Digital Immigrants' since we are growing into the use (to various extents) of these tools. The metaphor is vivid, since it brings with it both the recognition of how fluent most of our young people seem to be with technology and our own discomfort at being alien (or at least new) to this world of digital tools. **//[One of the strongest reasons to go to one-to-one] is digital emigration: the migration of teachers’ pedagogical approaches to include the digital tools today’s young people use regularly outside of school//**." [|~Mike Muir], //Associate Professor, University of Maine Farmington//.

Let’s have a little competition at school and get ready for the future. **//I will use a laptop and you will use paper and pencil//**. Are you ready…? I will access up-to-date information - you have a textbook that is 5 years old. I will immediately know when I misspell a word – you have to wait until it’s graded. I will learn how to care for technology by using it – you will read about it. I will see math problems in 3D – you will do the odd problems. I will create artwork and poetry and share it with the world – you will share yours with the class. I will have 24/7 access – you have the entire class period. I will access the most dynamic information – yours will be printed and photocopied. I will communicate with leaders and experts using email – you will wait for Friday’s speaker. I will select my learning style – you will use the teacher’s favorite learning style. I will collaborate with my peers from around the world – you will collaborate with peers in your classroom. I will take my learning as far as I want – you must wait for the rest of the class. The cost of a laptop per year? - $250 The cost of teacher and student training? – Expensive Signed [|~Anonymous]
 * //The cost of well educated US citizens and workforce? - Priceless//**

__**Photo Credits:**__ photo of Seymour Papert retrieved 3/31/07 from http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/galleryfiles/613/papert_in_class.gif photo of Angus King retrieved 4/11/07 from http://edtechsummit.psu.edu/images/angusSmall.jpg photo of Mike Muir retrieved 4/11/07 from [|http://faculty.umf.maine.edu/~muir/mike2.jpg] photo of Mark Anderson retrieved 4/11/07 from http://www.tapsns.com/blog/ photo of Bette Manchester retrieved 4/11/07 from http://www.mainelearns.org/ovc/i/staff/BetteManchester.jpg