Laptop Program

Palmer Trinity School – Technology Program


What is a 1-to-1 program?

• Provides flexibility, customization, and personalization, which enhance student motivation, morale, performance, efficiency, and effectiveness.
• Aligns with today’s mobile society where anytime, anywhere learning is a reality through wireless global access points.
• Supports collaborative learning, an ideal learning environment for students
• Standardizes and improves efficiency and cost-effectiveness across campus, from training and use to maintenance.
• Enables students to work wherever best meets their needs.
• Provides more portability since battery life is now longer.
• Facilitates the use of eBooks and textbooks.
• Engages learners.

Why do we use Tablet PCs?

The idea of upgrading our laptop program to the Tablet PC is a notion that had been under consideration for a while. The concept of a portable unit that carries all the benefits of a laptop, with the ability to take handwriting notes is something that we felt can enhance the learning process. Palmer Trinity School is constantly analyzing ways to combine the technology experience with the curriculum and the mission statement of the school.

The Tablet PC creates a bridge between intimidating technology and technology used for effectively researching and communicating; allowing users to cross the bridge and enjoy a fun learning experience. A student able to handwrite to an electronic device will easily combine creativity with the flexibility of a digital device. The learning process through fun technology tools is more interesting; thus, enhancing information retention. The Tablet PC fosters the active learner allowing a more natural interface between the user and the device. Handwriting to a Tablet PC is like using a pen with infinite amount of ink, and unlimited paper; therefore, helping us protect our environment.

Tablets provide all the functionality of laptops with the added capability to "write" on any electronic document. Tablets are a natural evolution from laptops, as word-processing software was an evolution from the typewriter. With a Tablet PC, students can manipulate hand-written notes and drawings with the same kinds of electronic advantages that make word-processing better than typewriters. These advantages include ease in revising, moving things around, cutting and pasting, emailing, resizing, designing multiple variations, etc. In addition to annotation of any document, students can use the Tablet PC-unique notebook software that includes many capabilities not possible with paper-based note taking. These and other advantages are described in detail below, but fall into four general categories:

1. Combines access to all resources in one convenient device
2. Promotes collaboration, engagement, and interactivity
3. Supports multiple learning styles
4. Provides unique capabilities


Why Tablet PCs instead of laptops?

Tablet PCs:

• Have all of the capabilities of a laptop, with the added capabilities of converting handwriting into text, or voice into text, through Office software, or saving graphic images, such as drawings, to a file. The Tablet PC pen can be used as a stylus, a pen with digital ink on the screen, or as a mouse. Students can hand-write on the screen using digital ink and have their notes appear as handwritten notes or convert them into text by using OneNote, Journal, or other software programs.
• Help students organize their notes effectively. Students can write/draw using the stylus, highlight notes in multiple colors in much the same fashion as traditional paper notes, and at the same time make notes searchable either as handwritten, or notes converted to text.
• Support sophisticated electronic organization of all learning materials, with the use of Microsoft OneNote, by allowing students to search their notes, whether handwritten or typed, flag notes as being important or needing follow-up, record audio, integrate text and images into their notes, and email notebook pages.
• Can be used as an interactive whiteboard through a VGA or Wireless connection and an LCD projector and further support collaboration, since the screen is not a visual or physical barrier between people.
• Offer powerful collaborative and in-class possibilities. The Tablet PC expands the number of available opportunities for students to collaborate and learn in ways that suit them best, giving them confidence and helping them achieve their full potential.
• Can function as an online digital textbook page that can be annotated by the student.
• Improve interaction by allowing the easy exchange of notes and information among students and with teachers. Teachers can have students submit assignments electronically and correct them with handwritten comments in the same way they did using paper, or insert comments electronically in a manner that gives students and teachers a choice of pen-based or typed input. Students can create, highlight, categorize, and keep their notes in a variety of multimedia formats that are immediately available and searchable.
• Allow for more creativity than a laptop. The stylus enables students to draw freehand to illustrate notes, create artwork, etc. with much greater precision.
• Allow handwriting to be converted to text without any “recognition training period” required.
• Allow for powerful projecting. Connected to a projector, the Tablet PC allows teachers to project, manipulate, and interact with whatever is on the screen. A Tablet PC and a projector can mimic some of the functions of a SMART Board.
• Function as a portable language laboratory for listening and speaking assignments.

What special benefits are there to students with Tablet PCs?

• Tablet PCs provide a way to supplement the development of spatial skills. One of the key components of success in advanced mathematics and science courses is strong spatial ability. The Tablet PC offers opportunities to reinforce current teaching and learning with strategies specifically targeted toward activities that will give students more experience with spatial tasks.
• Students learn best when working collaboratively and in cooperative learning groups. With laptops, the screen must be upright to be operational, often hiding the student’s head. But when used in the Tablet mode, the Tablet PC allows collaboration without the visual and physical barrier of a screen (labeled the “wall effect” by professors at Purdue University). Because notes, drawings, and diagrams are inherent to the brainstorming and development process, being able to share and collaborate electronically on any document promotes this skill-set.
• Possessing and using a computer builds confidence in technical ability. For students to compete equally on the technological playing field, they need multiple opportunities to build tenacity in technical problem solving, and to have more hands-on experience. Our ultimate goal is to create a program that provides our students with the experiences and the background they need to become world-class engineers, mathematicians, scientists, and experts in technology.
• Personalizing and customizing the Tablet PC facilitates the active acquisition of technology skills and improves morale and motivation. While collaborative learning is best for students overall, learning persistence at the individual level is best supported in a 1-to-1 environment where each student has their own computer. There is evidence to support that confidence and practice in persistence builds self-efficacy in students, which transition into a confidence in their technical skills.

Overall benefits of Tablet PCs include:

• Portable (the screen size is typically 12” and the PC is less than 1” thick).
• Enhanced mobility. Tablets can be taken into places where a laptop would be intrusive because of keyboard clicks and the wall created by the screen between the user and the speaker or participants.
• Lightweight, less than five pounds.
• Durable; built for daily student use.
• Students with advanced skills are able to expand their skills and knowledge.
• Students are better equipped to learn because of the capability of the Tablet PC to serve multimodalities. Being able to draw and write notes supports and engages visual and kinesthetic learners. Using multiple pen colors improves emphasis of important points and understanding of categorized concepts. Audio capabilities support aural learners.
• Handwritten and keyboard input are both possible.
• Personalization/customization is encouraged.
• Support collaborative and connected learning.
• Handwritten notes are searchable, as are text-converted handwritten notes.
• Support use of advanced technologies.
• The tablet’s stylus, or digital “pen,” can be pressure sensitive; line width is adjustable. Benefits of handwriting are combined with the ease of a computer to add spaces, rearrange written work, create drawings and sketches, search for text, and make corrections. Allow for more sophisticated drawings and handwritten notes.
• Drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a bar of soap. Using a stylus to draw is precise, and combines the flexibility of handwriting and sketching with the power of a computer.
• Students with learning differences are better able to keep pace with classmates because they can utilize the technology to meet their individual learning needs.

Why select the IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad over another Tablet PC manufacturer?

Our Technology Department, with the help of different vendors and Tablet PC-using students, evaluated several different tablets from different manufacturers. After extensive consumer reports, reviews, and considering cost as well as features, chose the IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad X Series Tablet PC for the fourth year. Other factors considered were focused in performance, portability and durability. Our testing included: excessive gravity force, liquid spill damage, weight resistance and inappropriate handling.

This Tablet PC is one routinely ranked among the best Tablet/Ultraportable computers on the market today. Performance, versatility, and durability are three characteristics that make it an ideal computer for student use, especially teenagers. The Tablet PC offers all of the functionality of a laptop, plus a unique swivel hinge that lets the screen flip and rotate 180° to create a Tablet PC ideal for taking notes, completing diagrams, or collaborating with classmates. Durability features include a magnesium-alloy cover, spill-resistant keyboard, and Think Vantage software that includes the Active Protection System® that detects shocks with airbag sensors. The Tablet PC also weighs less than 4 pounds.

In addition, IBM/Lenovo provides an industry-leading level of support, including 24-hour phone support, and depot repair service located in the United States.

Some of the material was used with the collaboration and support from Columbus School for Girls in Columbus, Ohio

The TechZone:

The Information Technology Department (TechZone) supports the wireless network infrastructure and communications for Palmer Trinity School. The TechZone provides the support needed for the faculty and Staff to infuse the latest academic endeavors planned to enhance our student's success in an evolutionary world of technology.

Members of the technical support staff are Microsoft and IBM Certified specialists in their field, they keep the network and laptops up and running nearly 100 percent of the time. The Tech Zone staff members are always available on campus, and are on-call during school hours. As soon as a problem occurs in any location on campus, a call or visit to the Tech Zone results in a quick response.

The TechZone is located in Room 123 and our hours of operation are from 7:30am to 3:45pm. For questions please call: 305-259-1111 or email gsabogal@palmertrinity.org.

FYI:

• Is there any Web Content protection for internet communications within school premises?


• Yes, within school premises only, Web Content Management (WCM) is enabled. While there is no perfect Web Content system, Palmer Trinity School constantly endeavors to maintain a safe and productive technology experience. Users attempting to view or browse any restricted sites will be prompted with a warning message and the site will be immediately blocked. Every night our systems automatically download and update any new restricted websites/categories from a national content database. Although PTS Web-email communication is protected by the school, Palmer Trinity School does not monitor or control access to the Internet from home.


• How do I ensure to have internet safety at home?


• Explore the parent's guide to Internet Safety from the FBI in English and Spanish. For more questions, please contact 305-259-1111.


• Can the School see what my child is doing on the Internet or email?


• Yes, any type of internet traffic within the school can be registered and monitored by our Technology Department. The students internet safety and productive technology experience is one of our main objectives.


• How do I log to Edline for the first time?


• You will receive via US Postal Service (mail) a registration number and instructions that will allow you to obtain a username and password to successfully log on to your personal Edline Account. If you have any questions, you may address them to our Edline Administrator, Mr. Stanard at: wstanard@palmertrinity.org.