The Emperor's New Laptop

By Daniel J. Rocha

Since the day in 1982 when I returned from spring break to find an Apple II personal computer in my 5th grade classroom, I've championed the development of educational technology—first as a classroom teacher, then as a curriculum coordinator, and finally as an administrator. But even though computers have now become commonplace in schools, the promise of technology remains largely unfulfilled. We continue to struggle with the appropriate role of technology in learning.

Hope quickened for a breakthrough on this front when laptop computers began finding their way into more and more schools. Putting these portable computers in the hands of every student, every day would seem the ideal way to harness the power of technology as a tool for increased learning. Spurred by hardware and software manufacturers eager to place their products in a largely untapped market, many schools have been lured by this promise of "anytime, anywhere" learning.

I, too, saw the promise. Reports of laptops' being able to spur increased technology use, blur the lines between schoolwork and homework, and change fundamentally the relationship between teacher and student appeared in journal after journal. And I saw this development also as a way to break the hardware-replacement cycle that takes up so much of a school's technology budget. If the school could maintain the network and provide support, the parents could be responsible for ensuring that appropriate hardware was...