Hopkins One-to-one Computing

Our One-to-one Project is in its fourth school year. This year we have expanded our One-to-One Program to include four additional 6th grade classrooms and we initiated a Two-to-One model in two 6th grade classrooms. Another addition to the program is the implementation of an Internet filtering system. Each of the student laptops have a weighted Internet filtering system installed on them that helps to ensure safe Internet usage where ever the laptops are used… home, school, any free wifi location.

Some of the programs we have on the student laptops are:

Google SketchUp, Google Earth, Comic Life, Finale NotePad, iFlash, Inspiration, Tux Paint, Read & Write Gold and Safari Reader

Read & Write Gold can read text aloud and help students construct words and sentences. It also has many other features such as advanced spell checking, phonetic word prediction, homophone editor, a speaking dictionary, scanning capabilities, and more.
Another piece of the Read & Write Gold package is Safari Reader.

“Read & Write Gold for Mac has a companion application, Safari Reader, that provides speech output synchronized with dual text highlighting in Safari browser. This combination of settings is particularly valuable to users with literacy difficulties seeking online information as it supports increased reading comprehension. The Internet has become one of the most popular channels for completing tasks such as recruitment, communications and research. Given this level of importance in daily life, it is vital that people of all abilities have access to and support in understanding the wealth of online information.”

I got the word a couple days ago that the downtown Hopkins library now has wireless Internet access. This will be another great resource for students. Parents, if you drop your kids off at the library, please take a minute and review the library’s policies on unaccompanied children.

Now that the student laptops have been distributed, the #1 technology question we’ve received is how the students can get connected to the Internet outside of school. While leaving out the details of connecting to a home broadband, DSL or dial-up connection for now, I’m putting out the call for information about free wifi hotspots in the Hopkins area. I’m not talking about the kind of hotspots that can be found at Starbucks, for example. Those hotspots require a daily, weekly, or monthly subscription. I’m looking for free hotspots that our Hopkins students could utilize while away from school.

So if you know of a local cafe, library, or other business with a free wifi connection to the Internet, post it here. I will add them to our free wifi page. Approximately 620 elementary students will thank you.

Parents of students who will be participating in the one-to-one project will be attending orientation meetings at their schools this month. The dates for the meetings are:

Glen Lake, Jan 4 (7:00 pm)
Meadowbrook, Jan 6 (7:00 pm)
Tanglen, Jan 6 (7:00 pm)
Katherine Curren, Jan 18 (6:30 pm)
Alice Smith, Jan 20 (7:00 pm)
Eisenhower, Jan 20 (6:15 pm)
Gatewood, Jan 20 (7:00 pm)

Please contact the individual schools for more details about the meetings.

How do you prepare 650 laptops in short order? By building a laptop imaging assembly line.