Justification

Justification:

The monetary investment of purchasing the lab will be minute in comparison to its academic value. “With some initial training, instructors believe that laptops help get educators connected electronically at home as well as at school. They also feel that the laptops help spur educators on to swapping ideas and designing new curricula,” claims Bruce Whitehead author of Planning for Technology. With the assistance of the technology committee staff training can easily be planned during in-service days, team meetings, and monthly technology workshops. We can distribute the wealth of knowledge, skills, and creativity that our staff possesses in order to meet the needs of the staff and students and to develop cutting edge lessons!

Currently Palombi Middle School has three teaching labs and one open lab. However with an increasing population and larger class sizes, it is often difficult for teachers to get all of their classes into a lab when needed. The current labs and equipment are frequently used. A mobile lab would provide more computers without having to sacrifice a classroom in our already crowded building.

A mobile lab creates an ideal 1:1 computer to student ratio. The mobile lab will support integration of technology into the classroom. The familiar and complacent environment of the classroom united with these advanced technologies will grant teachers with the opportunity to conveniently utilize technology into everyday learning experiences. In addition a mobile lab saves and frees up classroom space, promotes differentiation, targets individual learning needs, and will be a valuable tool for facilitating the NWEA testing.

The mobile lab would support not only state standards addressing many areas of technology, but also the school improvement objectives and the school’s technology plan. Expanding differentiated curriculum, enhancing the Accelerated Reading, Writing, and Math programs, implementing career units into the curriculum would be achieved through the use of the a mobile lab. The mobile lab would also support goals to create students with technologically rich skills needed in high school, college and/or the workplace, it would accommodate the needs of the current mentoring programs for students and staff, and it would ensure that all learning environments within the school would have equitable equipment.

The Palombi Middle School staff identifies the following benefits of employing a Wireless Mobile Lab System:

• Access to textbook websites
• Access to educational websites
• Differentiated instruction
• Cooperative learning
• Cross-curricular instruction
• Addressing student interests
• Real life applications
• Flexibility in seating arrangement within the classroom
• Adequate equipment for all students
• Integrating technology into “their own” classrooms
• Research
• Addressing individual learning needs
• Promote use of current software and other equipment
• Preparation for NWEA and ISAT testing (Study Island)
• Consistency in classroom management
• Increased communications

With an immense emphasis on technology integration, the mobile lab will promote a change from a traditional instructional approach to a more contemporary constructivist method where the students are responsible for their own learning. Research conducted by Microsoft’s Anytime Anywhere Learning Program discovered that, “the use of laptop computers in schools has found positive effects on student writing and collaboration, and deeper involvement with schoolwork. Teachers also benefited, changing their teaching style from an emphasis on lecturing to fostering more independent student learning” (Edutopia- pg.29). They will have access to resources of every shape and size. They can communicate with people from around the globe. They can view live conferences, performances, and interviews. All of this can be retrieved from any classroom in the building with a mobile lab!

“Schools of the future will not only be considered processors of knowledge; they will also become connectors of knowledge. School leaders will be providing students and teachers with portable technology that will allow them to travel electronically around the world faster than ever before. Wireless portable technology will provide a very high level of connectivity for everyone. New innovations will provide resources, arrangements, and lifelong learning experiences for the full development of all individuals and their communities. New creative designs will provide self-directed, other-directed, individually supported group learning, team building, and societal connections for our world and its people. In sum, educational technology will unfold in a way that nurtures learning and fosters communication among all members of the global community” (Whitehead-pg. 172).

Proposal:

Executive Summary

Budget

Budget Justification

Conclusion