TechTalk

Implementing

a One-to-One Technology Initiative

in HigherEducation

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the process of conceptualizing

and implementing a one-to-one technology initiative

at a regional comprehensive university. Organized

around the principle that sustainable change requires

attention to clear, justifiable goals, attention to key

decisions, the development of stakeholder investment,

adequate training, building appropriate infrastructure,

and a concern for sustainability, the authors provide

specific examples detailing how the change initiative

in which they participated addressed each of those

areas.

Keywords

: iPad, One-to-One technology, higher

education, teacher education

Daryl Fridley, Ph.D.

Diana Rogers-Adkinson, Ph.D.

College of Education,

Southeast Missouri State University

the college. One of the group’s conclusions that day

was that the college needed to be more proactive

about integrating emerging technologies into

curriculum and instructional practices. During the

same academic year, several school districts in the

region were involved in planning or implementing one-

to-one initiatives in which students in those districts

would all be provided with a personal electronic

device (PED) to use in the classroom and at home.

n January of 2013, College of Education faculty

at Southeast Missouri State University met to

discuss the goals, mission, and future plans of

Building upon the momentum created by faculty

and P-12 partners, the Dean of the college began

discussions with a several different stakeholders

about the possibility of implementing a one-to-one

initiative in the College of Education. In the fall of

2014, the university began distribution of iPads to

nearly all students enrolled in the Teacher Education

Program (TEP) under the auspices of a project that

was by then titled EDvolution®. In the following pages

we discuss many of the issues and decisions involved

in developing and implementing our one-to-one

initiative over that year-and-a-half.

While we intend that this narrative be of use to

anyone involved in integrating new technology

into an educational environment, the experiences

documented here also provide specific examples

related, generally, to making institutional changes. As

such, this paper is organized upon the premise that

there are certain areas to which change leaders must

attend if they hope that a particular initiative will be

successful and sustainable. These are

Clear, justifiable goals. Everyone integral to the

project’s success must have a clear sense of

what the project is intended to achieve. At various

junctures, project participants will have to

make choices that may impact the potential for

success. They must be able to make those

decisions in the context of understanding the

initiative’s ultimate goals, and they need to be

able to justify those goals within the context of the

broader institutional mission.

Attention to key decisions. Early in the planning

stage, key decisions need to be identified and

addressed. A project can quickly unwind if, once

started, long delays in critical decision-making

sap momentum. In addition, key decisions made

without appropriate research and reflection

can lead to significant problems in later stages.

Development of stakeholder investment. The

people upon whom the success of the project

depends must believe in the value of the project. At

various points—or throughout—the

initiative will depend upon their willingness to invest

their time, efforts, and (at times) money.

They need to feel that there is a reason to do so.

Adequate training. Intellectual investment in a

project is not a substitute for understanding

one’s role in it and having the knowledge and skills to

carry out that role. Proper training for

enacting those roles is essential.

Appropriate infrastructure. No matter how much

stakeholders want to enact the identified

changes, and no matter how well they are trained to

do so, they will be unlikely to succeed if the

environment in which they are asked to fulfill those

new roles does not nurture their efforts.

Their commitment will be undermined by the lack of

resources necessary to be successful.

Stakeholders would often rather function at their

previous levels of success without the initiative’s

changes than face the significant risk of failure

engendered by an environment that is

not conducive to those changes.

A concern for sustainability. Change worth

enacting is change worth continuing. In order to

avoid having an initiative cave in under its own weight

once leaders leave or become engaged in

a new project, there must be long-term commitment

to the goals of the project.

Goals

The goal of this initiative was to fully integrate the use

of personal electronic devices (PEDs) in the teaching

habits of our teacher candidates. While we chose

to use iPads (see the following paragraph for an

explanation of that choice), our goal was not explicitly

to train teachers to use iPads. Instead, we aimed

to prepare teacher candidates to teach effectively

in P-12 environments that are increasingly 1:1. We

wanted graduates of our programs to understand how

PEDs could be used to increase student learning,

regardless of the specific devices being used in

particular schools.

Justification

Broadly, there were two main justifications for this

initiative. The first is one that, ethically, must exist in

any educational initiative: learning. We cannot justify

dedicating scarce resources to a project that is

unlikely to result in increased student learning. The

second justification is grounded in external

expectations. School districts in our region were

increasing employing PEDs in their classrooms, and

accrediting bodies were requiring evidence that we

were preparing teachers to appropriately use

available technology.

Learning.

To begin with, we should note that our

decision to integrate personal electronic

devices into the instructional process was more

responsive than progressive. By going “1:1”, we did

not change the way in which young adults learn.

Instead, we simply acknowledged some aspects of

the ways in which they were already learning—and

exploited them. Students arrive at our university in

the habit of using PEDs to text a friend or “Google”

when they have a question. They are used to learning,

at least about topics about which they care, by

CLEAR, JUSTIFIABLE GOALS