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=//**UMF's Technology Initiative for Tomorrow's Leaders in Education (TITLE)**//= =//**Proposal Spring 2007**//=

The [|University of Maine Farmington] Secondary/Middle Education Program has a very strong reputation throughout the State of Maine for developing outstanding educators. To continue to be the leaders in teacher education, it's imperative that the University of Maine Farmington pre-service teachers are fully immersed with a laptop as a learning and teaching tool. Having one-to-one laptops (Mac or Windows) in the classroom, would allow faculty to model how to integrate technology into the process of learning to teach, which would prepare the pre-service teachers to do the same with their students when they go out into the schools. The [|"Technology Counts 2007"] Maine K-12 public schools report states that the percent of students with computers in Maine classrooms is 67% while the average for all states is 49.5%. This trend will continue to increase every year. We need to listen to the visionary voices of people like Seymour Papert who are making a difference in educational technology, as well as our student voices at the University of Maine Farmington. Practicum block student voices are stating that having a laptop (Mac or Windows) with all the updated software and hardware would enhance the learning process when integrating technology into a unit, lesson plans, and assessments that they design when enrolled in the Secondary Methods and Practicum Block.

We are proposing that the Secondary/Middle Education Program establish a requirement of a laptop (Mac or Windows) for its students when entering the University of Maine Farmington in the fall of 2009. This allows the Admission's Office to communicate this requirement to potential candidates at the start of their recruitment process, which would begin on February 1, 2008. For Secondary/Middle Education students entering the University of Maine Farmington during the fall of 2007 and 2008, the laptop (Mac or Windows) would only be a recommendation. More and more students are arriving at the University of Maine Farmington with laptops and will need to have the appropriate software and hardware to enhance their learning experiences. This was supported by the data collected from practicum block students regarding the configuration of their laptops, and the survey results confirmed the need to establish these minimum requirements.

The Secondary/Middle Department of Education Faculty supports teaching and learning with laptops. The faculty identified what they wanted to accomplish in using technology within their courses, then selected the appropriate software and established the hardware specifications. Students would be responsible to meet the minimum software and hardware requirements prior to taking Practicum Block during their second year and can select to purchase their laptop (Mac or Windows) from [|UMF EXCEL] Program. They would evaluate their laptop (Mac or Windows) during EDU 101 Introduction to Education, to determine if their laptop has met the minimum software and hardware requirements. This allows the students time to plan for future financial implications during their first year at the University of Maine Farmington. In the past, students who needed financial assistance when purchasing either a laptop or desktop computer contacted the Financial Aid Director who assisted them on a case-by-case basis to resolve their needs. When researching Universities and Colleges who have implemented a one-to-one laptop requirement, we found that the financing of the laptop varied from including it as part of financial aid, special financing through the vendors ([|Apple] or [|Dell]) for students, and/or through credit unions within the Universities or Colleges.

Superintendents, and Principals, are looking for teacher candidates who can integrate technology seamlessly into their content areas. The mentor teachers who work with our pre-service teachers are requesting students who have knowledge and understand how to integrate technology, especially if their placement is at a middle school. The State of Maine has just renewed the [|one-to-one laptop for middle schools] for four more years with Apple and many high schools are going to one-to-one laptops. The class entering the fall of 2008 at the University of Maine Farmington will be the first class who were involved in the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) as seventh graders experiencing one-to-one laptops (Mac). Secondary/Middle Education students who use one-to-one laptops at the University of Maine Farmington throughout their journey of learning will be much more marketable as they pursue jobs in the field of education. And finally, according to the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the University of Maine Farmington's conceptual framework should reflect "the unit's commitment to preparing candidates who are able to use educational technology to help all students learn" and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) states that "a combination of essential conditions is required for teachers to create learning environments conducive to powerful uses of technology". We truly believe one-to-one laptops will make a difference in preparing University of Maine Farmington Secondary/Middle Education pre-service teachers for a very rewarding professional teaching career.