Linking School and Home Computers
Surveys indicate that about one-third of homes (mostly middle class) in the US have computers...
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gallo@fit.edu
Surveys indicate that about one-third of homes (mostly middle class) in the US have computers. If your community follows this pattern, facilitating linked home and school projects will be a snap. Project discs can travel back and forth in student backpacks. School- community networks are springing up in many regions of the US.
Alternatively, schools in lowincome communities have made laptops available for students to take home. In the state of Indiana every student (repeat every)is eligible to receive $900 for a home computer and printer for two years. Foundations and businesses have also contributed cash supplements to this statewide program. Bell Atlantic has furnished some lowincome homes with computers on a trial basis. Hawthorne School in Oakland CA (above telephone) and the Space Coast Regional Center in Florida (fit) experienced success with this approach. Parents were required to take a 6 hour training course prior to checking out the laptop for home use. Similarly, Bell Atlantic offers Parent University (which also includes better job skills).
(Note: Please do not contact Hawthorne School, unless you are very interested in this approach.)
The Lightspan Partnership has developed an interactive curriculum that runs on Sony PlayStation technology to allow students to learn at home. Increased parent involvement is encouraged, too. Contact 619-929-5900, 2382 Faraday #300,Carlsbad CA 92208. The quality of the materials is high but, unfortunately, so are the current costs.
The Norfolk, Massachusetts site is a school home page but it is a good example of a site that is home-friendly. It shows completed student projects and includes a Children's Zone as well as online links in major school subjects for home projects. This site is curriculum-focused so parents can see what their children are studying rather than only calendars and other information which have been placed on school home pages. TeacherWeb is similar but allows individual teachers to create and alter a homepage with announcements and assignments and email. These kinds of products are a little costly and, of course, overlook homes who do not possess computers. They are efficient, of course.
Buddynet contains evaluation methods results that could be applied to other projects. InTouch is a useful source of concept papers and examples of the effective use of a laptop amidst all the controversy.
Let your students design a special online welcome mat for their families.
Imagine projects in which the whole family could participate; quite a few in this library could be adapted for home use.
See Also
Annotation
Endless discussions can be found online about "trusting" families to protect expensive equipment from theft. Trust is the primary ingredient in school-home partnering. Needless to say, we suggest you welcome families with such trust.(See also Handheld Computers)
