More than 210,000 students from 1,535 schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia responded to a recent call by the nonprofit group NetDay to share their ideas about how technology should be used in schools. The results will help shape the nation’s third National Educational Technology Plan now in development, federal officials say.

During an initiative called Speak Up Day, NetDay and its partners solicited student feedback on technology through an online survey. Although the event was supposed to last one day–Oct. 29–organizers extended participation through Nov. 5 in light of the tremendous response.

“We are overwhelmed with the thoughtful responses expressed by the students who participated and the teachers who guided them through the survey,” said Julie Evans, chief executive officer of NetDay, a national organization known for its successful school wiring programs.

Of the 210,000 students who responded to the survey, 5 percent–or more than 10,000–were students in grades K-3.

Not surprisingly, respondents overwhelmingly indicated that technology is important to their education. Ninety-seven percent of students in grades 7-12 said it’s important or very important, and 83 percent of these students said losing internet access would have a definite impact on their schooling.

When asked what they plan to do to get more involved with decisions about technology at their school, responses ranged from “set up a school-only chat room for kids to talk about technology” and “start a new club about technology” to “run a fundraiser to get more money for computers” and “find a way to turn every desk into a laptop.”

“I am thoroughly impressed with the thoughtfulness of the students’ responses and the almost total lack of apathy,” Evans said. “The responses are very action-oriented, with a lot of personal responsibility and initiative. These kids are not only interested in how technology is being used at their schools, they are also interested in helping to find solutions to the challenges–and that includes financial challenges.”

She continued, “Many of the quotes include ideas that the kids have for fundraisers and other ideas to get new or more equipment at their schools. These students view themselves as part of the solution, and I think that is very positive for the future. I am especially impressed in the grades 3-6 student responses to this rather sophisticated call to action.”

Evans said organizers are compiling the responses and will prepare a national summary report no later than Jan. 1. The group will conduct a more in-depth analysis of the results after that and will brief members of Congress this winter, she added.

In addition, school leaders will be able to log onto the NetDay web site in December to view the survey responses from their own schools and compare these responses with their state results and the national report.

“We think getting [those] data back out to the schools to help jump-start dialog at the local level is important,” Evans said.

Teachers whose students participated in the survey agreed that having student feedback will be instrumental to spurring local success with technology.

The responses were “real eye openers,” according to Anne Beacham, educational technologist at DeLalio Elementary School in Jacksonville, N.C. “We had a chance to see technology through the eyes of the students. We are looking forward to the survey results and anticipating making valuable adjustments in the way technology is used at [our school].”

“Kids need to have a voice,” said Diane Bennett, technology coach at Mt. Juliet High School in Tennessee. “We learned from the students that they are using instant messaging at home to help each other. Now I am investigating and researching through the web how we can impact learning using that strategy. We can’t meet needs unless we hear from the students.”

John Bailey, director of technology for the U.S. Department of Education, called the Speak Up Day initiative a “tremendous success” and said he is looking forward to reviewing the summary report in December.

Bailey said the event is part of a two-pronged approach to making sure students have a voice in the creation of a national ed-tech strategy. The other part is looking at market research to identify who today’s students are, what they are looking for from their schools, and how education can meet their needs, he said.

NetDay’s partners in the Speak Up Day intiative included the American Association of School Administrators, Benton Foundation, Cable in the Classroom, Consortium for School Networking, International Society for Technology in Education, National School Boards Association, State Education Technology Directors Association, and TECH CORPS.

In addition, the following corporate partners helped support the effort: Bell South Foundation, Sun Microsystems, Google, and Apple Computer.

Links:

NetDay
http://www.netday.org

U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov

Steve Leslie’s dorm room at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, has 20 plugs sprouting from the walls. They power a color TV, stereo, compact disc and DVD players, video game player, desktop computer and laptop, printer, scanner, refrigerator, microwave, and two fans. Then there are rechargers for a cell phone, handheld computer, camera, electric razor, and toothbrush.

“I just keep adding stuff,” said Leslie, 20, a junior who shares the room with another student. “I fill up my car and my dad’s truck. Some of the bigger stuff, like the speakers, have to wait for the second trip.”

Today’s collegians are part of a generation raised on electronics, and colleges are having no choice but to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade electrical systems. Often, the upgrade costs are getting passed on to parents and students in the form of higher fees.

“It looks like Circuit City in some of those rooms,” said Dan Bertsos, director of residence services at Wright State University near Dayton, Ohio.

New and renovated dorms at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, are being wired to handle the increasing load.

“Kids used to come to college with an AM radio and an electric razor. Now they arrive with every electronic device there is,” said Roger Fisher, director of residential services. “They come to campus in a U-Haul, and Dad follows in a Suburban.”

The average freshman at Miami University takes 18 appliances to campus, according to a March survey by the school.

As part of a $7 million renovation of one dorm, Ogden Hall, the university spent $212,548 in 2000 to add building substations, electrical distribution panels, and electrical outlets. The 7,000 students who live on campus pay an extra $100 a year in housing fees to cover the renovation costs.

“These days the students’ lives are quite changed. They need more appliances,” said Takashi Kawai, a 64-year-old Dayton-area man whose son lives in a dorm at Miami.

In a renovation a few years ago, Wright State doubled to four the number of electrical outlets in each of the 162 rooms at Hamilton Hall, increased the number of circuit breakers, installed new electrical-switch gear, and rewired fuse boxes and student rooms. The cost was about $500,000, or $1,000 per student.

At Penn State University, electrical consumption in October was 33 million kilowatt hours, up from 27 million in October 1996. The school’s electric bill is about $1 million a month. Paul Ruskin, with the university’s physical-plant office, said power use by the 13,000 student residents contributed to the increase.

Some officials say higher energy costs, campus expansions, lighting, and the addition of computer labs and other energy-eating facilities are more to blame for increased power demand than student appliances.

And upgrading electrical systems in new and renovated dorms is often required by law under newer, more demanding building safety codes.

Andrew Matthews, of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International, said many dorms were built in the 1950s and 1960s and don’t have the electrical capacity for power-dependent students.

The higher amp load has some schools setting limits and conserving.

The University of Dayton had to stop installing air conditioners in the dorm rooms of students who requested them for such things as allergies and asthma. Craig Schmitt, executive director of residential services, said the school will be able to accommodate those students next fall in a new, air-conditioned dorm.

Miami University has been replacing incandescent lights around campus with more efficient fluorescent ones.

But conservation alone is oftentimes not enough.

Maryville College in Maryville, Tenn., decided to tear down one residence hall last year and build a new dorm at a cost of $7 million.

“If too many women turned on their hair dryers in the morning, the circuit breakers would blow. That was happening daily,” said Bill Seymour, vice president and dean of students.

Links:

Association of College and University Housing Officers-International
http://www.acuho.ohio-state.edu

Frustrated by the local school board’s decision to spend $1.7 million to provide Apple laptop computers for some junior high students but not others, residents of Stillwater, Minn., voiced their opposition by unseating three board members, while selecting a newcomer from the ballot and electing two write-in candidates in the Nov. 4 elections.

It took only a month of campaigning for write-in candidates Nancy Hoffman and Christopher Kunze to harness the public’s anger over the decision, which critics also said was an unnecessary expense in a time of tight budgets.

Though it’s unclear whether the election results will change the district’s laptop plans, observers say the incident serves as a stark reminder for school leaders nationwide of the importance of getting stakeholder buy-in before launching any ambitious technology initiative.

Stillwater’s anger runs deep

In late September, district officials announced that Oak-Land Junior High School, one of two area junior high schools, would become one of four National Demonstration Sites for student laptop computing during the next five years.

The program was created by Apple Computer to nominate schools of high standing that could further promote effective learning by integrating portable and wireless computing into the curriculum.

The district’s other junior high school, Stillwater Junior High School, also will take part in the program as a study site. The initiative will allow the schools to be part of a national network dedicated to sharing curricula and teaching methods to improve education for students, officials said. Both schools will receive extensive training, wireless access, microscopes, computers, and other digital equipment.

For Hoffman and Kunze, the plan seemed to come out of the blue. It also seemed part of a larger pattern of the school board acting without enough public input.

So they decided to do something about it.

With a month left before Election Day, the two–who knew each other only slightly at the time–started campaigning together as write-in candidates to send the district a message that residents were fed up.

That message was received–and then some–on Nov. 4 when Hoffman and Kunze were elected to the school board and the three incumbents who had voted for the laptop plan were defeated.

“This was an impossible task that became possible,” Kunze said. “It really was a grass-roots campaign.”

In an interview with eSchool News, Hoffman–who said she supports the use of technology in schools–cited cost and equity as her two main objections to the district’s laptop plans.

A large chunk of the district’s technology budget would be used to fund the program, she noted, even though the benefits would be reaped primarily by students at the two junior high schools. Further, while Stillwater students would have the computers for use in school, only Oak-Land students would be allowed to bring the machines home with them.

Hoffman also questioned whether district officials had made provisions for potential down-the-road costs, including additional support staff, maintenance, and related platform concerns likely to result as school technology leaders mull the switch from PCs to a predominantly Macintosh architecture.

According to school officials, the program will cost $340,000 per year for five years. The district said it plans to pay for the program by extracting $250,000 a year from the annual district-wide technology budget and $90,000 from Oak-Land’s existing capital budget. In addition, Apple has agreed to pay for training of school employees, installation services, and any additional network equipment.

But Hoffman and others opposed to the contract argue that pulling a quarter of a million dollars a year from a technology levy of $700,000 probably isn’t the best use of taxpayer money, especially in light of current budget shortfalls. “It’s just not cost-effective given the tight budgets,” she said.

Hoffman suggested the money could have been better spent at the high school level, where computers and other resources already have been stretched thin. As it stands now, the Stillwater Area High School could receive replenishment computers from the middle school, if and when the laptops arrive.

In defense of its actions, the district said it chose the program as a way to bolster student achievement.

“The decision to take part in this program stems from the district’s commitment to raising student achievement to the top 1 percent of students nationally,” officials said in a statement.

“All of our students will benefit by what we learn at Oak-Land and Stillwater Junior High School,” added Superintendent Kathleen Macy.

District officials had not returned eSchool News telephone calls before press time.

A lesson in electronic campaigning

Write-in candidates win school board seats from time to time, said Mike Torkelson of the Minnesota School Boards Association, but two in one race is highly unusual.

The scale of what Hoffman and Kunze accomplished impressed even some district residents who favor the laptop plan.

Afton resident Jim Amaral, a laptop proponent, said he is disappointed the board will be losing the experience and leadership of defeated incumbents Mary Cecconi, Christy Hlavacek, and John Uppgren.

“But I have to say, this is democracy in action,” he said. “What a great lesson.”

As soon as the district made the deal with Apple to provide students and teachers at Oak-Land Junior High with round-the-clock access to laptops, which would eventually be returned to the district, Hoffman and other residents started looking around for write-in candidates.

Someone told her about Kunze, a Stillwater resident with two young children who had been toying with the idea of running for school board.

Hoffman approached him, and they decided to pool their resources.

Kunze, a computer consultant, became the computer guru, setting up a web site with biographical information about himself and Hoffman as well as their stand on the laptop issue.

The site also had campaign posters people could download and stick on their cars.

Hoffman, a Stillwater resident with three children–including one at Stillwater Junior High, where students are not getting laptops for home use–coordinated the dozens of friends who came forward to volunteer.

Some made fliers, others brought literature door-to-door or passed it out at local meetings, and most called their friends or sent out eMail messages letting people know exactly how to enter Hoffman’s and Kunze’s names on Election Day.

Kunze estimates he worked two to three hours each weekday and eight hours each weekend day campaigning and answering voters’ questions.

“It was a part-time job,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman’s and Kunze’s campaign seemed to touch a nerve with Stillwater-area voters.

Close to 18 percent of the district’s registered voters submitted ballots, which was a higher turnout than surrounding districts and impressive given the lack of a levy question, said Kevin Corbid, who oversees Washington County’s elections.

About 27 percent of the more than 20,000 votes cast went to Hoffman and Kunze, a figure that election officials said was unusually high for write-in candidates.

Technology and equity are hot-button issue in many communities, especially as budgets have been cut or stretched to the breaking point in recent years, said Nora Carr, senior vice president of advertising and public relations firm Luquire George Andrews Inc. and an eSchool News columnist.

“Parents want equal access to the best technology the district has to offer, same as they desire access to any other perceived advantage for their children,” she said.

But that often puts districts in an impossible situation, Carr said. Budget constraints make corporate partnerships and offers very attractive–but if these partnerships come with a lot of strings attached, competitors and others are not going to be very happy about it. Budget issues also mean that new technologies have to be phased in, she said, which means some children are going to have access to the latest technology and some are not.

“Communication with all constituency groups has to be much more extensive than in years past, and issues can flare up and become white-hot much more quickly, putting surprised administrators on the defensive,” Carr said.

“The only way to manage potential issues is to get out in front and communicate, communicate, communicate throughout the process. The web and direct marketing through electronic newsletters or e-blasts to key constituents can be very effective tools in this new 24-7 world we find ourselves in.”

What Carr said she finds most intriguing about this situation is that a few parents were able to quickly put together a web-based write-in campaign and win.

“Superintendents, principals, and other district communicators need to catch up to where their constituents already are,” she said. “If you can’t get a compelling, jargon-free eMail message on an important issue out to key people in your community in 30 minutes or less, you’re simply not prepared to communicate effectively in the new media age.”

Despite Hoffman’s and Kunzie’s success, it’s unclear whether the election results will change anything about the laptop initiative.

Superintendent Macy said the contract with Apple will be executed as planned. Kunze said it wouldn’t make much sense to break the contract, because doing so probably would cost the district a lot of money.

Some wonder if the plan could be tweaked–maybe dividing up the computers between the district’s junior highs.

“The school board has to gain back trust,” Kunze said. “And if we don’t, we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Links:

Stillwater Area Schools
http://www.stillwater.k12.mn.us

Hoffman’s and Kunze’s web site
http://www.usecommonsense.us

Apple Computer Inc.
http://www.apple.com

At the Enterprise Charter School in Buffalo, N.Y., a controversial new technology is now in play that administrators say can detect whether students are in school or playing hooky using microchips embedded inside their student ID cards.

The tiny identifiers are known as radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags–inexpensive computer chips uploaded with personal information about individual students and monitored by an electronic reader located just inside the entrance to the school.

Proponents of the technology say the chips, viewed by many as next-generation bar codes, will help automate administrative tasks from the front office to the lunch line, thus enabling educators to spend less time filling in their grade books and more time on instruction. But some privacy experts fear the devices, if used to their full potential, would tread on the personal rights of students by providing a means to monitor their every move.

Gary Stillman, the school’s director, says he was drawn to the technology not for its potential to spy on students, but for its ability to assist in what otherwise would be a very labor-intensive hassle: keeping attendance.

“The idea was to speed up the process so that teachers would be able to spend more time on task,” he said.

All 422 students enrolled in this inner-city K-8 institution are required to wear the tags, which are embedded into the photo identification badges draped around their necks. When students arrive at school, they must present their ID card in front of an electronic kiosk. Once their names are verified by the RFID reader, their photos appear on the screen. Students must touch their photos to confirm their entrance into the building. This information is then forwarded to the school’s database for attendance records, and a copy is provided in real time to all classroom teachers.

Faculty members also wear the tags, outfitted with a special feature that enables them to open locked doors.

Unlike traditional bar codes, RFID devices do not require manual scanning. Rather, as long as the chips are within proximity of a reading device, they can be tracked via an electromagnetic signal.

Each RFID tag contains a microchip capable of housing the individual names, attendance records, and account information for each student. When students approach the kiosk, these data automatically are registered by an RFID reader, or antenna, installed in the kiosk and are beamed to a server that records the information and makes it accessible from a central database. That way, when homeroom teachers pull up their class rosters on the computer, they can see whether or not a student has checked in for the day.

In all, Stillman said the school spent approximately $25,000 on its initial investment. The most expensive piece was the multipurpose kiosk with the RFID reader installed. That device, which doubles as a touch-screen display for school news and information, sells for $4,000, according to David Straitiff, president and chief executive officer at Intuitek, the Buffalo-based systems integration firm responsible for supplying the technology. The chips themselves sell for between $2 and $3 apiece–a price Straitiff said was comparable to the cost of other types of security access cards used in schools today.

Enterprise is believed to be the first school in the nation to use RFID technology to track student attendance. The chip Intuitek uses in its student nametags is manufactured by electronics giant Texas Instruments. Other big-name companies, including Philips Electronics, have begun selling similar devices.

RFID entered the national spotlight earlier this year when corporations such as Wal-Mart and clothing retailer Benetton began using the chips in favor of bar codes to monitor inventory and keep track of goods.

But in October, when officials at the San Francisco Public Library announced plans to track more than 2 million books, CDs, and audiovisual materials by inserting RFID chips into borrowed merchandise likely to find its way off the shelves and into people’s homes, privacy advocates sounded an alarm. (See “Book-tracking technology has critics speaking volumes,” http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=4728.)

According to news reports, officials planned to use the chips primarily for streamlining inventory and checkout processes with promises to disable the technology once materials were removed from the library. However, privacy advocates questioned whether computer hackers–or possibly even law-enforcement agents–might find ways to reactivate the chips, thus enabling them to track people without their knowledge.

Despite the outcry, San Francisco officials say they plan to forge ahead with the program, which is expected to go live in 2005.

Whether or not the technology finds its way onto the shelves at public libraries, its critics contend that when it comes to schools and children, RFID chips cross a very delicate line. “This is a technology usually reserved for prisoners in our society,” said Chris Hoofnagle, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

In fact, the same kinds of chips have been used to keep tabs on inmates and are currently employed by the U.S. military to track prisoners of war in Iraq.

But where schools are concerned, Hoofnagle branded the technology “nonsensical waste.” At a time when schools nationwide are strapped for cash, who’s going to pay for a gizmo that essentially takes the attendance, he asked rhetorically.

Beyond the bottom line, Hoofnagle fears the evolution of RFID tags in schools will make it harder for students to act as individuals. Though Enterprise is using the system only to record when students enter the building, the system theoretically could be set up track where students are inside the building at all times.

“The most fundamental risk is that when [people are] being watched, they tend to behave differently,” Hoofnagle said. “It comes to down to issues of free will and authority. Clearly, there are some risks and harms worth avoiding here.”

Although proponents of RFID technology don’t deny certain privacy implications, they say these anxieties are overblown.

“Privacy is a serious concern and should be a concern with RFID,” acknowledged Intuitek’s Straitiff. “However, the current technology has a very limited range.”

In Buffalo, for example, the nametags students wear around their necks are only readable within a few feet of the kiosk. Outside of that, students can roam freely without fear of being monitored.

“We’re not adding any sort of technology that is really changing the paradigm here,” Straitiff said in defense of the system.

Stillman, too, shrugged off allegations that the technology could be used to spy on children. “I don’t have the money to put in secret readers everywhere,” he scoffed. “Why would I want to do that?”

Eventually, the school’s goal is to use the RFID cards to debit student lunch accounts, so kids who receive free and reduced-price lunches are spared the embarrassment of announcing their circumstances in front of their classmates. Using the cards to check out books in the school library is another possibility, but one not yet under consideration in Buffalo.

“The beauty of this whole thing is that one card could be used for multiple purposes,” Straitiff said. “So far, the feedback we’ve gotten has been very positive from parents and staff.”

Links:

Enterprise Charter School
http://enterprisecharter.org/document_1.html

Intuitek
http://www.intuitek.net/document_1.html

Electronic Privacy Information Center
http://www.epic.org