1:1 Program, is it good or bad?

Image by: www.flickr.com/creativecommons/ via connectedclass

Some of you might be wondering what a 1:1 program is. Well, it's a program where every student gets his/her own laptop for any and every class. You might be saying that sounds like a good idea, but they're giving them to elementary students as well as older students. I'm not sure if an elementary student is responsible enough to handle a laptop, especially if they're Macs. Sometimes I even get confused with Macs so I don't know how the students are learning how to run them. Then again, they were born in the 21st century. They do have to take a class on proper laptop use when they're at home and in school.
A lot of middle school and high school students like the 1:1 program because they feel they'll have a head start to learning, so the Youtube video below interviews middle school students stating their opinion.


While it's important for the students to learn how to run the laptops, it's also important for the teachers to know what they're suppose to be doing with them. Most older teachers aren't sure how to run a regular computer let alone a laptop. According to a website I found it says the 1:1 programs that are successful are because the teachers know what they're doing. If a teacher(s) doesn't know what he/she are doing then chances are they won't be able to teach their students as well as if they didn't have to use the laptop. If schools want to go to the 1:1 program by all means go for it, but at least give the teachers a class on it too. I wouldn't want to put my future child in a class where the teacher doesn't know how to use the program efficiently.

Article on 1:1 computer programs.