Laptops to counter stall at CS Eastern Townships

In 2003, the Eastern Townships School Board made a bet to improve the success of its students through technology. Eight years and 5,600 laptops later, the initiative has paid off.

The school board went from 66^e provincial rank in terms of the results of its students in 2003 to 23^e rank in 2008. In addition, its dropout rate fell from 39.4 % in 2004-2005 to 28.1 % in 2008-2009, reports a study of the Canada Research Chair in Information and Communications Technologies in Education. “This progression, which we attribute in part to portable classrooms, would of course not have been possible without the full investment and remarkable skills of teachers, school administrators and other educational stakeholders,” he explains. he.

The majority of students in the 3^e year of primary to 5^e high school year, teachers, technicians and teaching support staff received a laptop. Nearly 280 teachers and more than 2,400 students took part in the research which made it possible to establish a list of the 12 main advantages linked to the educational use of laptops. Among these, we find in particular the facilitation of the work of teachers and learners, more motivation, autonomy and attention among students, individualized and interactive learning as well as the decompartmentalization of the school on society. However, technical challenges remain and we notice that some uses or websites are not very interesting or stimulating.

The 12 main advantages of educational use of laptops:

1. Facilitation of the work of teachers and learners;

2. Increased access to current and quality information;

3. Increased motivation of students;

4. Improved student attention;

5. Development of student autonomy;

6. Increased interaction between students, teachers and parents;

7. Individualized, differentiated learning;

8. Active, interactive and meaningful learning using multimedia supports;

9. Development of ICT skills;

10. Access to all;

11. Decompartmentalization of the school on society;

12. Opportunities for the future amplified.

In the educational blogosphere, the study's findings have been greeted with enthusiasm by some while others are opting for caution, as evidenced by reactions to this post from Mario asselin.