Illustration by Jonny Mendelsson
The students in Ellen's American history class had just met with me in the library to discuss their upcoming research assignments. Shortly after class ended, Ellen logged on to her laptop computer. She checked our school library's online catalog for holdings on her topic. Then, she conducted a similar search of the Houston Public Library's online catalog, as well as the online catalogs of local university libraries. She also searched Amazon.com, reading its reviews of some of the materials she had found, and hunting for additional titles that might be helpful. Finally, she checked our electronic periodical indexes, on the lookout for relevant articles.

The interesting thing is that Ellen did all this while sitting outside at a picnic table, beside the school.

When she determined that she had done enough sleuthing, she hit the print key, carried her laptop back into the building, and headed down the hallway, where she picked up a printout of her resources.

A little more than three years ago, before we became a laptop school, Ellen's preliminary research would have taken a far different route: it would have been more time consuming, more tedious, and perhaps much less successful. Now, instead of spending a lot of time simply gathering resources, Ellen has more time available to study them.

Why We Decided to Go Laptop

Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, the private, all-girls' school where I work, has long realized the importance of helping our students become technologically savvy. But the decision to become a "laptop school" did not come quickly or easily. In fact, back in 1997, we were somewhat uninterested when another school invited us to take part in a laptop program. Our technology committee met for months, questioning whether a laptop program would be worthwhile: Would the program be beneficial to our students' learning? Would a laptop program have a positive impact on our school culture? Would it help our students be better prepared for life after graduation? As school librarian, I had an additional worry: Would the library be overlooked once a laptop program was set in place? (As it turned out, I needn't have feared: the school library is now used more than ever. It has become a research hub for many of our students.)

After we became convinced of the potential benefits of a laptop program, our questions turned to the nuts and bolts: Could our sixth graders withstand an extra seven pounds in their already textbook-stuffed backpacks or would they suffer bodily harm? How would we fund such a program? And should we purchase a wireless network, or should we use traditional wiring? (See "What Should a Librarian Consider When Thinking About a Laptop Program?" at left)

In the end, our laptop of choice turned out to be the Compaq Armada, weighing approximately six pounds. (So far, our students haven't sustained any injuries from lugging their computers around.) And thanks to the board increasing our school's operating budget, we were able to lease laptops for approximately 60 of our middle- and upper-school teachers for the first three years. Faculty also received the training that they needed to work with their students. The teachers took part in an online training program offered by the Microsoft Corp. called "Anytime, Anywhere Learning."

Although none of the schools that we visited had a wireless network, we decided that going wireless was the best choice for us. We were attracted to the mobility and easy access that such a system would provide. We also thought, given the structure of our building, that a wireless system would be easier to install than a wired system. (When our building was renovated in the mid-'90s, we hadn't anticipated laptops, but we did design the building to accommodate advanced computer technologies. That meant only a minimal amount of cabling was required to install a wireless system.) As part of the installation, unobtrusive, small antennas were suspended, about six inches from the ceiling, at nine locations on campus. The antennas would enable our students and faculty to log into the system and print documents while sitting in classrooms, the cafeteria and hallways, and even outside under an oak tree. We also made sure that printers were easily accessible, locating them in the library, in hallways, and in the computer labs. (We encourage our students to print only one copy of what they need--not multiple copies for distribution. As a result, they have become better at deciding what absolutely needs to be printed now and what can be saved in their network folders.)

We also made sure that our system would be accessible from home as well as on campus. Students and faculty who are working at home can connect to our system by logging onto our Web site (to access their e-mail accounts and library resources) or by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) dial-up adopter.

Finally, we designed the network infrastructure so that it was far more powerful than it needed it to be. Although we originally planned to begin our laptop program with approximately 200 users, the system was designed with the capacity to handle more than 600 laptops at any one time. To date, the reliability of the wireless network has been incredible. So reliable, in fact, that we don't even think about it any more. (For more technical details about our laptop program, see "Tech Specs," below.)

Of course, some parents were worried about the cost of purchasing a laptop. And rightfully so: a fully loaded laptop costs almost $2,000. (This does not include the cost of a network card, which the school provides for each student. We distribute the cards at the start of the school year, and collect them at the end of the year--much like textbooks. This arrangement has proved very successful.) An installment plan was made available for those parents who preferred to pay for their laptops over several years. There was also a sliding scale for those families who could not afford to buy a laptop, with some families paying as little as $25 for a computer.

In August 1998, 150 students (our 7th, 9th, and 10th graders) arrived on campus to attend an event entitled "Out-of-Box" Day. Many parents attended, too, and the excitement was palpable. Seated in the school cafeteria, the students opened their laptop boxes for the first time, removed the computers and cords, and were taught the protocol for logging into our network. Since then, we've added new grades each year. By last fall, all of our students in grades six through 12 had their own laptop computers. Although we did not originally plan that fifth graders would be part of the laptop program, pressure is building for them to be included.

A Lot Has Changed

In the three years since we've become a laptop school, my job has changed radically. As a librarian, one of my biggest challenges has been helping students sort through an abundance of resources and evaluate the best materials for their needs (rather than merely helping them locate materials). I also now spend a greater amount of my time meeting with teachers to plan student projects.

What's come of those collaborations? When students have an American history paper to write, they're required to search two online databases, Dialog and ProQuest, for useful resources. And now, they're required to search our school's electronic catalog and local university online catalogs to see who has the identified resources. Likewise, when our ninth graders study creation myths, they're required to use at least one print resource and one electronic journal article--this provides me with a great opportunity to introduce them to our library's resources. The students are also required to find two Web sites that are appropriate for their topic.

In the past three years, I've also learned that not all assignments work equally well. The most successful assignments require students to use a combination of print and electronic resources: that way, students can evaluate which resources best serve the purposes of a specific assignment. This kind of approach also helps students realize that both print and electronic resources have a place in their work. When teachers require students to use both print and electronic resources, it encourages students to use the library's resources. Then, when students do well on their research papers or reports, they often return to the library, building on what they've learned from their previous assignments.

The least successful assignments seem to be those in which the teachers have not provided guidelines about what types of resources students should use. The result is that students often produce work that is superficially developed--work that does not indicate that students have mastered or understood the content. For example, one of our foreign-language teachers asked her students to do a project on artists. She decided to have the students include a PowerPoint presentation as part of the assignment. Unfortunately, she forgot to require students to use a combination of print and online resources. How did the projects turn out? They looked great, but the students couldn't identify the major works of the individual artists. Why? The students had failed to look at a wide range of both print and online resources, and evaluate which were most appropriate to use. They had simply settled on using the most visually dazzling resources.

Coda

Working in a laptop school has been the most challenging opportunity of my career. The time spent planning curriculum with teachers and keeping up with new resources--if such a thing is possible--has been exciting. Watching our students learn in new and dynamic ways, rising to the challenge of keeping my skills sharp so I can assist in the learning process, thinking (and rethinking) about how our resources can best serve our students' needs--and, yes, even wishing at times that the pace of technological innovation would slow down a little so that I could absorb everything that has happened--have made my experience in a laptop school a source of energy and satisfaction. There's no doubt about it--a laptop school is a wonderful place to be.

Barbara Weathers (Barbara_Weathers@Duchesne.org) is upper school librarian at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, in Houston, Texas.