With the Digital Education Revolution and the Laptops for Learning program putting laptops into the hands of every NSW public school Year 9 student next term, we ‘techies’ are finding ourselves very popular indeed.

There’s just not going to be enough support – tech support or curriculum/pedagogy support – for everyone to get it right straight away.  The laptop program can work in spite of this…in fact, it may even work better because of this.

The L4L program seems to many in schools to be a radical and dramatic project.  So radical and dramatic, in fact, that teachers seem to be happier than usual to admit they don’t know everything, and actually ask their colleagues for advice and help 🙂  Teachers in my faculty have started acting far more like a ‘community of learners’, rather than an ‘office of colleagues’ – people are motivating each other, praising each others achievements, and mentoring as much as they can.  Power relations are being disrupted as principals and head teachers are being mentored by classroom teachers; parents are having to concede that teachers have a level of knowledge and professionalism that deserves more respect than is usually see; students are realising that access to ‘technology’ means higher expectations, not more ‘bludge’ lessons.  Many are happy with this, and are rising to the challenge.

It is a Revolution indeed…one where it’s hip to be square!