San Francisco, CA — Founded in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district in the mid-60s, the Urban School has a legacy of independent thinking and a passion for learning. At the independent high school (which serves just over 250 students), technology has always been regarded as a natural part of the learning process — not as a “special” tool. Now that all students have their own iBook computers, and teachers tote PowerBook laptops to and from class, technology truly has become ubiquitous. If students were asked to consider life without their laptops, says Urban’s Director of Technology Howard Levin, “They’d think we were crazy!”
The Urban School has embraced the integration of technology into its curriculum for nearly a decade. But while other schools have focused on teaching their students specific technology skills, Urban’s administration had a singular vision: to view technology as a means to enhance education, rather than an end to itself.
“Computers and software are powerful tools for learning, but there must be a seamlessness about their use,” notes Mark Salkind, head of school at Urban. “In the business world, you don’t schedule your computer usage for next Monday — you just turn and use it. It should be the same in education. When you have to plug things in, or set them up, or schedule time in a computer lab, it tends to make the technology ‘stick out,’ and call attention to itself. We wanted this ‘specialness’ to recede. Learning should be the focus, not the equipment.”
Mobile Labs Get 1 to 1 Rolling
Salkind and Urban’s administrators executed this vision in stages over several years. The team first installed a wireless network throughout Urban in 1999. Next, the purchase of three iBook Wireless Mobile Labs got the laptop program rolling.
Our goal is for our students to become independent. With the iBook laptops, this self-exploration is really possible.
— Howard Levin, Director of Technology
The Urban School of San Francisco
Salkind says the mobile labs were an important step in moving away from a stand-alone computer lab to a 1 to 1 learning program. Their ease of use, he reports, allowed all teachers to understand the potential of laptop computers within their own classrooms, sparking widespread usage of the mobile labs. Eventually, the mobile labs’ popularity paved the way for Urban’s 1 to 1 laptop program, which followed two years later.
All teachers at Urban School received their own PowerBook laptops during the 2000-2001 school year, as well as comprehensive professional development on the new technology tools. During the 2002-2003 school year, all freshmen and sophomores received the first group of iBook laptops. Since then, all incoming freshmen have received the laptops as well. In the final phase of the rollout, the senior class of 2004 inherited (at no charge) the older, cart-based laptops that were no longer needed. Thus, within two years Urban’s 1 to 1 program was complete. Since then, students and teachers alike have come to view their wireless mobile computers as commonplace as pencil and paper.
Says Salkind, “The key here is the availability of the technology, and knowing that all of the students have the same computers and the same software. You’re not going to try something if you have to arrange for the tech support person to come to your classroom next Thursday. Our iBook laptop program encourages exploration and innovation. Our teachers are learning what adds value to the learning process, and our students enjoy a dimension in that process that wasn’t there before.”
