Three years after the implementation of Archer’s One to One laptop program, the plan continues to revolutionize and inspire.
Launched in the early fall of 2010, the program provides incoming students with laptops and frequently-updated applications. Many students have immensely enjoyed receiving laptops through One to One. Amanda Kay (‘14) feels that having laptops in class and at home “creates an easier pathway for communication” and “helps the students connect in all different aspects.”
However, this technology has introduced a darker, lurking threat: computer addiction. An unnamed student commented on the subject during a brief interview. “I used to walk through the hallways and courtyard and see people talking with each other, studying. Now, they all have their computers out. They’re not even looking at each other.”
Grace Piccard (‘14) noted that “it’s easy to get sucked into a virtual world, and stop paying attention to the real one.” It can be easily argued that having constant access to laptops and the internet is a definite distraction from “living in the moment.”
Most Archer girls, though, seem to have reached a consensus: One to One has expanded their horizons, made information accessible and homework more involved. Students in digital photography classes use Photoshop and other editing programs on a regular basis. Mr. Robertson, the school’s assistant librarian, praises One to One as “integral to [Archer’s] success,”, adding that “if we’re going to teach the women of tomorrow, they need to learn the skills of the future.”
Ms. Sengstaken, an 11th and 12th-grade biology teacher, finds the program particularly useful in her “flipped” classes, where students use the laptops to listen to lectures at home. Ms. Sengstaken commends the program; her class “wouldn’t be able to function without [it]”. She relies daily on “students having access to laptops” at home and school.
In addition, Ms. Sengstaken appreciates that students are able to work at their own pace—a sentiment shared by many other teachers. Some classes are already making the move towards going completely digital, while others continue to use the laptop program to encourage a sense of discovery and intellectual connection in the classroom
