DE schools excited about switch to laptops

Students entering school at Easton High School in Delaware will be doing most of their work on new laptops, a change that has both teachers and students adjusting to the new technology, reports the News Journal

"It's an adventure," Principal Kelly Griffith said during last week's tour. "We're all in it together."

The consensus seems to be that the teachers are delighted with easy transition to using laptops. Besides better student access to information, teachers seem to prefer using the laptops because of the increased efficiency. Students submit work, and teachers can grade it and send it back to them, all via computers.

"The change has been quite dramatic," said Ed Carroll, chairman of the Talbot County Public Schools' 21st-Century Technology Initiative.

Easton is combining computers with traditional paper-and-pencil methods because important tests, such as the SAT, are still done the old-fashioned way. But this may change as many school districts are considering or in the process of implementing some digital form of online testing.