Irving ISD has been issuing 1:1 (one laptop per child) for the past seven years. All of our high school students receive a laptop thanks to a community funded bond support to make this a reality. The belief is in the ever flat world one must evolve or perish. However, the prohibitive cost of laptops limit our ability to expand these into elementary and middle schools. So, a pilot would allow us to experiment with these units in different settings to see the potential impact.

I think these constructivist learning tools are the catalysts in changing the focus on learning; Seymour Papert’s dream coming true. Now the challenge is to work with our teachers to believe in the same by helping kids create new knowledge rather than just memorize trivial facts. Information literacy, Learning to be global citizens, think critically, is what 21st century learning is all about. After careful review, I have purchased a class set (23 units) to pilot in our schools in Irving, Texas (home of Dallas Cowboys football team). The XO units arrived last week. What a joy!!