When I was going through the saved movie clips on my laptop in preparation for my session on digital storytelling here at HLA06, I came across this video news segment I recorded from Lubbock television on October 4, 2006. I uploaded the clip to YouTube– this is coverage of the rollout of iBook laptops to 6th, 7th and 8th grade students at Floydada Junior High School (near Lubbock, Texas) as part of the TxTIP grant. Floydada was the first district out of the 22 immersion districts in the project to rollout laptops to teachers (in the summer) and to students (in October.) Floydada was also the only district to use LOCAL FUNDS to immerse the 9-12 grade students (provide each teacher and students with an iBook) of the districts participating in the TxTIP junior high 1:1 comparison study.
This article on Apple’s Education site provides a good profile of what has happened at Floydada and continues to happen there, thanks to the leadership and vision of their administration and teaching staff. I think it is great YouTube provides an opportunity for a video clip like this to be preserved and shared with others around the world! 🙂
The junior high student interviewed in the video clip specifically addresses the issue of digital curriculum versus textbook curriculum. I didn’t share this yesterday in my session on “upgrading mindware,” but certainly could have as the issues we discussed touched on the role of traditional library materials as well as digital and online information sources in the 21st Century knowledge landscape.