Students Get First Look at New Laptops

Nation looks to Maine in the widest deployment yet of laptops

September 3, 2009

AUGUSTA – Education Commissioner Sue Gendron and a top Apple executive kicked off Maine’s high school laptop expansion Thursday, handing brand new MacBooks to about a dozen students at Hall-Dale High School in Farmingdale. With Gendron and John Couch, vice president of education at Apple, looking on, the students got their first look at the new machines which will be distributed to more than 23,000 high school students in the next few weeks at schools around the state.

“This is about fulfilling our promise to all Maine students to ensure they have the resources at their fingertips to maximize learning in the 21st century,” Gendron said. “What makes the United States stand apart in the world is its ability to be creative and innovative. These laptops will help secure Maine’s place in creating workers of the future with those very skills.”

As an example, Gendron noted that students will be able to model global interactions, working with students in other states and overseas on common projects. “This is real world, relevant learning,” Gendron said.

More than half of Maine’s public high schools are participating in the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) out of the Maine Department of Education. The MLTI has provided Apple notebook computers to all Maine middle school students since 2002 – making Maine the first and only state with a statewide implementation of laptops for every student in grades 7 and 8. The state extended and renegotiated its contract with Apple this year in order to bring in new MacBooks and to make them available to public high schools that wanted to participate.

In addition to the schools participating in the new expansion, the Department is gathering information on schools that are finding alternative ways to achieve 1 to 1 laptop solutions. The Department works with all high schools on professional development that supports efforts to incorporate technology into the curriculum.

Apple’s Couch, who came to Maine for the kickoff, said the state is in a “leadership position” when it comes to using technology to enhance learning.

“There are many 1 to 1 learning implementations; however, at the state level, Maine had the early vision and is still ahead of the game.”

The Maine Learning Technology Initiative began in 2002 with a focus – not on technology – but on how technology is used to support student learning. The MLTI provides teacher professional development, an online learning platform, devices, software, wireless network infrastructure, warranty, technical support, repairs, replacements, and program management.

Downloadable photos from the event can be found here: http://www.maine.gov/education/news/images/

Audio from the event: http://www.maine.gov/education/news/audio/

David Connerty-Marin, Director of Communications 207-624-6880

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Students Get First Look at New Laptops