MLTI

Middle School->MLTI

Welcome to the Laptop Page

In the fall of 2002, the Maine Department of Education (DOE), Apple Computer, and most importantly the middle school students of Maine embarked on a unique journey. The Maine Technology Learning Initiative (MLTI) provided Apple iBook computers to all students in grades seven and eight. Windham Middle School has over 450 laptops for student learning. Now in its third year, the MLTI is an important building block in our student's education.

The Windham Middle School Laptop Team:

Hal Shortsleeve, Principal
Charles Haddock, Assistant Principal
To be determine, Teacher Leader
Peter Mullen, Technical Leader
The Seventh and Eighth Grade Staff and Students

iBook Use Guidelines

Take Home Guidelines and Procedures

Laptop Orientation For Parents

Get Adobe Acrobat Reader Here

What will the laptop be used for?

The laptops can and will be available for students to use in any subject.
The laptops will be able to work wirelessly from any place in the school. This means students will be able to use the laptops in the cafeteria during study hall, or in the gym, or FCS, music, library, IT, etc.
The wireless connection will allow students to use the Internet as well as save information to a central server that will be backed up daily for safe storage of their work.
Software provided on the laptops (FirstClass) will be used as the file server. This program also allows conferencing and discussion groups between teachers and students. Since every seventh grade classroom in the state is participating, it will allow for collaboration between schools. For example, if a class in Windham is studying marine life on the Maine coast, they can connect and collaborate with the seventh grade students in Bar Harbor, where the subject is right in their backyard.
While the design of the program is for the student to be able to take the laptop home, that is a decision to be made by the local school committee. One of the goals of the program was to eliminate the "digital divide" between homes with computers and homes without.
While details are still being worked out, it is the goal of the MTLI to provide Internet access for those households that do not already have it. If the laptops are allowed to go home, students without other means of Internet access would be able to dial in to the state network. This would give them access to the Internet and at the same time give them access to files stored on the server. These files could include work saved there by the student as well as material placed on the network by the teacher. Study guides, homework assignments, worksheets, class management information, etc.

Student Responsibility

While many details and policies are still to be worked out, one thing is clear. The student will play a large role in helping manage the success of the program.
Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) Students and parents are required to sign an AUP each year. This is is a contract between the student and the school regarding how the technology will be used and what it will be used for.
As with the technology currently available to the student, they will be held to the same standards with the laptops as well.
Details are still sketchy, but it can pretty much be counted on that students will be held responsible for intentional damage to their laptops. In what form this will take is still to be decided. These are not toys, they are expensive learning tools that must be taken care of and treated with respect.
Students will also be held responsible for what they use the laptop for. The device will be provided to them for academic purposes only. Failure to follow this guideline can result in the student losing the use of the technology.
Students must think of the laptop as just another tool they need in their school day. Not unlike a pencil, or paper, or calculator. With this in mind, students will be held responsible if they arrive in class unprepared regarding the laptop. This includes forgetting it at home, forgetting to charge the device (both of these in the event the school committee allows the machines to be taken home), or forgetting to make sure the device is charging in the classroom if it isn't brought home. It is predicted that these issues will be treated in the same manner as being unprepared for class in any other area.