Students from both Year 5 and Year 7 rated themselves higher than that of the corresponding parent
groups. 22.2% of Year 5 students rated the change in learning high, compared to that of 6.3% by their
parents. 20.2% of Year 7 students also rated the change in learning high, whereas only 8.8% of parents
indicated that the change in learning had been high. Many parents struggle to keep up with children in the
use of ICT, for example:
I would like to see regular (maybe 1 or 2 times a year) an information session regarding the laptops and how they
are being used for lesson work – I feel that I don’t have the same ‘hands on’ knowledge about what my son is
doing now that it’s all done on a laptop. I’m fortunate that my son is open to showing me all that he does, I feel
rather ‘distant’ to his learning in this regard though. (Parent Year 7d)
Ortiz, Green, & HeeJeong (2011) suggest there may be a link in the way parents view technology and the
influence that has on their own son’s learning. It was noted that if the parent held a favourable perception
about the laptop as a tool, then there was the possibility that their son would have a similar view.
5. Discussion
Three themes have emerged from this paper. Firstly, parent perceptions of excessive and frivolous time
that their children spend on the laptop were more prevalent in the Year 7 cohort than the Year 5 cohort. If
these perceptions are accurate, then this appears somewhat at odds with the proposition that children become
better learners as they grow older. The situation is clearly more complex as students move into teenage years
where they become increasingly faced with moment-by-moment dilemmas over which objectives to pursue.
For example, cognitive and academic goals may compete with tendencies to seek belonging, build selfesteem
and gain the respect of others. Mastery of digital technologies (particularly gaming) could be seen by
many as a passport to popularity. Other contextual factors also come into play as students enter middle
Corresponding author. Tel.: + 61 8 94500614; fax: + 61 8 94500385
E-mail address: steven.males1@my.nd.edu.au
school. For the first time, they have subject-specialist teachers and are expected to move between learning
spaces responding to different teaching and classroom management approaches. When this new environment
is contrasted with the stability of a primary school setting which is typically characterized by strong and
respectful student-teacher relationships, it is understandable that less independent students are seduced by
trivial uses of ICT. The first year of middle school may be a particularly challenging time to implement a 1:1
laptop program and special support may be required. This could be a fruitful area for further research.
The second theme noted is the strong association between the lack of parent knowledge and skills in ICT
and the tendency for students to be perceived as spending too much time on their laptops. If parent support
for their child’s learning is a critical success factor, then bridging this digital divide (Clark, Demont-
Heinrich, & Webber, 2005) could be built into the planning of 1:1 laptop programs. This might include
regular parent information and/or skills sessions using laptops.
The third theme to emerge through an initial analysis of the data is the difference between student and
parent perceptions of changes in learning since the introduction of the laptop program. Students from both
cohorts perceived greater shifts in their learning. More data and interpretation is required to fully understand
this phenomenon, particularly in relation to the types of changes that students perceive (e.g. skill-based
versus high order cognitive shifts; process versus content; formal versus informal learning etc).
6. Conclusion
1:1 laptop programs can be a doubled-edged sword. On one hand, they can provide enhanced
opportunities for student-centred learning where access to electronic resources along with communication
and creative tools are ubiquitous. On the other hand, they can be antagonistic to the learning process
seducing certain types of students to spend time on wasteful and even anti-social activities. Mature learners
possessing a strong work ethic and well developed organizational skills are more likely to be self-directed
and educationally responsible with mobile devices. If these students are provided with relevant and
challenging curricula, then positive educational outcomes might be expected to emerge from a 1:1 laptop
program. A successful laptop implementation, therefore, is a partnership between educator and learner, both
taking responsibility for the development and maintenance of effective educational learning spaces. Asking
students and parents how much and how their laptops are used provides some much needed information in
helping to describe the nature of this partnership.