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The Laptops Initiative was a nationwide ICT-in-education initiative aimed at identifying how laptop computers could best be used to support second-level students with literacy difficulties in inclusive environments. These twin expectations of mobile ICT integration and inclusive practice set a strong challenge for the 31 second-level schools that participated in the initiative. However, the project demonstrated how teachers, who weren’t previously familiar with using ICT, could absorb technology into normal practice in ways that brought significant literacy and inclusionary benefits to children.
Various methods of software use in Irish second-level teaching and learning were successfully explored and the project established the feasibility of using integrated mobile ICT in busy school environments. Much practical knowledge was also gained about the management of mobile ICT in schools. The project was managed by the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) and concluded in 2005.
The Laptops Initiative was independently evaluated in two phases:
- The early implementation phase, from Dec. 2000 to Sept. 2003, was evaluated by Dr. Paul Conway from the Education Department of University College Cork (UCC).
- The final two-year phase of the project, from May 2003 to May 2005, was evaluated by Mr. Nick Peacey and Dr.Yota Dimitriadi from the Institute of Education at the University of London.
Both reports will be available here shortly.
Six project newsletters produced during the course of the Laptops Initiative – a sample is available here.
A fuller project description of the Laptops Initiative is available here.
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