Now, although the computers remain in the classrooms at night (housed in specially constructed shelves that enable easy recharging), each is assigned to a specific student. The laptops’ owners are free to customize their laptop desktop images, dock setup, and general layout as desired. Morris adds that Gillispie’s faculty is developing a plan that will allow the students to take the laptops home twice a week beginning in the 2004-2005 school year.

The administration and the parents are all 100 percent behind the iBook laptop initiative, and we expect to sustain it for many years to come.

— Joe Morris, Education Technology Director, The Gillispie School

Professional Development and Online Resources Key to Success

Gillispie’s administrators knew the laptop initiative would succeed only if all teachers received ongoing professional development. Accordingly, Yarbrough and Morris formed a Technology Leadership Team to train and mentor any teachers who were new to computer-based learning.

The Leadership Team worked extensively with Apple Professional Development to map out a technology integration plan for Gillispie. Since then, the Leadership Team has been providing instruction for all of the school’s teachers, including those in Pre-K and the specialties such as Music, Spanish, Science, and Art.

Says Morris, “In addition to our training sessions with our Leadership Team, our teachers are using Apple Professional Development Online (APDO, now the Apple Digital School Community), and that’s been very helpful. Through netTrekker they’re finding tons of great online resources … and some teachers are taking additional courses in the applications in the iLife suite. Since APDO is entirely self-paced, this is really convenient for everyone.”