Volume 1 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal for K-12 Educational Leadership - Page 7

Journal for K-12 Educational Leadership 5 Introduction For years, giving every student a laptop was seen as the holy grail of educational technology, a strategy that would leverage computers to allow for a much higher level of stu - dent achievement, increased problem-solving skills, and, of course, high standardized test scores. As technology has evolved, the multitude of options available—from full scale desktops and laptops to more limited netbooks, tablets, and mobile devices—has made choosing appropriate devices a challenging proposition for school leaders. We have now reached the point where many argue that students and their families can provide their own internet access and technolo - gy devices, removing schools from the burden of choosing, purchasing, and maintaining said equipment, but too often the information available for making the best education- al decisions has lagged behind the tools available, forcing school leaders to decide by logistical factors such as cost and availability rather than by measuring the impact specific de - vices may have on student learning. Literature Review Deciding between a school issued 1:1 technology program and a program that allows students to bring their own de - vices to school is complicated, involving a variety of fiscal, political, and curricular factors. Most studies on the impact of technology on learning have focused on one delivery model or the other and have not made direct comparisons within the same population. Measuring the educational im - pact of school provided netbooks and tablets against the use of personal technology inside a district that has been issu- ing computing devices to every student provides better data and allows the district to make sound educational decisions for their students. In response to the funding and support challenges of technology programs featuring full scale laptops, many schools are moving to lighter, cheaper, “netbook” devices. Netbook is a term used to refer to a type of laptop that runs off a solid state drive rather than a traditional spinning hard disk and generally uses a combination of applications, web tools, and software installed on the computer to perform tasks. Netbooks are smaller, lighter, and cheaper than lap- tops, but do not have as much computing power and are not as versatile (Alien, 2012). Currently, the most popular netbook in educational environments is the Google Chrome- book (Herold, 2014). Proponents of the move from laptops to netbooks tend to cite cost, instructional opportunities, and limited administrative burdens as their primary reasons for making the shift. Among commonly cited disadvantages of netbooks are their inability to run popular business software like Microsoft Office and the perception that since the devic - es are smaller and cheaper than laptops, they are flimsy and will not hold up in a high usage school setting. The expansion of school issued laptop programs has slowed over recent years and may have reached a plateau (Harris, 2011) making way for a move to mobile devices as the best way for many schools to incorporate technolo - gy into their curriculum. When Apple rolled out the Ipad in 2010, it suggested the idea that education’s traditional, bulky, expensive textbooks would soon be digitized in a Eric Creeger, Ed.D. EDUCATIONAL IMPACT OF BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE PROGRAMS IN 1:1 SCHOOLS Journal for K-12 Educational Leadership 2017, VOL. 1, ISSUE 1 http://www.dbu.edu/doctoral/edd