Laptops and Literacy: A Multi-Site Case Study

Abstract

This multi-site case study examined literacy practices in 10 U.S. schools with one-to-one computing programs where all students had access to laptop computers throughout the school day. Important changes noted in the processes, sources, and products of literacy were along the lines often touted by educational reformers but seldom realized in schools. For example, reading instruction featured more scaffolding and epistemic engagement, whereas student writing became more iterative; more public, visible, and collaborative; more purposeful and authentic; and more diverse in genre. Students also gained important technology-related literacies such as those that involve analysing information or producing multimedia. However, laptop programs were not found to improve test scores or erase academic achievement gaps between students with low and high socioeconomic status. Both the benefits and limitations of laptop programs are discussed in this article.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This article draws on my lengthier discussion of these issues in Laptops and Literacy (Warschauer, 2006). An earlier version of this article was presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting in San Francisco, April 2006.

Funding for the study has been provided by the Ada Byron Research Center for Diversity in Computing & Information Technology and the Cultural Diversity Program of the Academic Senate Council on Research, Computing and Library Resources, both at the University of California, Irvine.

Research for this article was carried out with the assistance of Paige Ware of Southern Methodist University and Michele Rousseau, Kelly Bruce, Doug Grimes, LaWanna Shelton, Melanie Wade, Jorge Velastegui, Kurt Suhr, Vanitha Chandrasekhar, Bryan Ventura, and Julia Nyberg, all of the University of California, Irvine.