2008 Report on The Eastern Townships School Board Dennis McCullough Initiative- Enhanced Learning Strategy Survey
Date: 2008
Author: Eastern Townships School Board
Keywords: laptops, evaluation, technology, implementation
Summary:
The Eastern Townships School Board implemented the Dennis McCullough Initiative- Enhanced Learning Strategy (ELS), as an innovative pedagogical approach, using technology. The ELS set out to address long-standing pedagogical issues surrounding literacy, numeracy, dropout prevention and providing 21st century learning and teaching skills. The ELS began in 2003, with students in the Third Cycle Elementary (Grades 5/6) and Secondary Five High School (Grade 11), with a three-year deployment strategy, ultimately providing wireless Apple laptop computers to all students from the Second Cycle Elementary (Grades 3, 4) to Secondary Five and Adult Education. All teachers, school and centre based administrative personnel, non-teaching professionals and technical support staff were also provided the same computer technology, with specific upgrades and programs. In all, over 5,600 laptops were deployed in the ELS. As the laptop computer contracts expire, the Eastern Townships School Board must make decisions about the future of the program. To guide their decision-making, the School Board sought information on the experiences and opinions of program participants: the students, their teachers, their parents, and school/centre administrators. This information was collected by conducting surveys of students, teachers, administrators and parents. The questionnaires, while developed specifically for each group, included a number of common core questions so that comparisons could be made among population groups on key issues.The key findings of each respective group surveyed is listed below.
Key Findings:
For Students:
* A large majority of the students would like to see the Enhanced Learning Strategy continue in the Eastern Townships School Board.
* Students strongly believe that laptop use and access to the internet makes research easier
* Laptops make school work more interesting.
* A majority of students believes that using the laptop helps them do better in their schoolwork.
* Secondary students report higher use for homework as well as for personal reasons including games, email and music.
For Teachers:
* The majority of teachers believe that the ELS should be continued.
* Teachers report that the laptop is a tool that helps students do research, that laptops make schoolwork more interesting and that the laptops help the students learn.
* Important problems for teachers include the fact that not every student brings his or her laptop to class every day, high repair rates and their need for additional training.
For Administrators:
* They believe that the ELS makes schoolwork more interesting for students, helps students make connections between their learning and real life, that laptops help students learn and helps students conduct research on the internet. This group believes that the ELS should continue.
For Parents:
* The parents support the ELS and support the continuation of the ELS for the future and believe the laptop is a tool that helps their child's education.
* A majority of parents state that the school provides the instructional support needed to use the laptop.
Source Article: http://www.etsb.qc.ca/en/Home/documents/ELSSurveyreportFINALwebsite.pdf
