Project Overview

Administrators and teachers at Athens Academy, an independent co-ed day school located in northeast Georgia, began an intensive long-term initiative to integrate media into the lives of their students in 1990. Known as the Media Across the Curriculum Project (MACP), this project, supported by the Bertelsmann Foundation, has received international acclaim for its achievements. This innovative project has recently moved into its final phase. This phase, which is scheduled to last from June 1999 until June 2003, focuses on the integration of portable technologies (e.g., NEC's Compact Edition (CE) and PC laptops) into the teaching and learning environment at Athens Academy.

In preparing for the portable technologies initiative at Athens Academy, Keith and Smith (1997) prepared an initial review of the use of laptop programs in other schools, nationally and internationally. According to this report, laptops are selected for use in the schools for two reasons: to act as a catalyst for changes in the curriculum, and to integrate technology into an existing curriculum. Athens Academy already has a strong curriculum that includes many technology and media components, but the need for continual improvement is acknowledged by the entire Academy community. As a result, this institution is well positioned for bringing portable technologies into its teaching and learning environment.

A primary focus of the MACP is the infusion of technology across the curriculum. The vision established in the rationale for laptop technologies focuses on creating "…a 'toolset' that could be effectively used in almost every curriculum area" and could be used anywhere, anytime to facilitate writing, communication, and resource use (Keith & Smith, 1997). By providing each teacher and student with portable technology that can assist them in their day-to-day tasks and communication, it is believed that the anywhere, anytime goal will soon be a reality.

This belief in anywhere, anytime learning is a goal shared by others, and in fact, the Academy is not the first independent school to decide to integrate laptops into their curriculum. Rockman (1998) reported on a laptop program pioneered by Microsoft and Toshiba American Information Systems to integrate portable technologies into the classrooms in 29 schools throughout the United States. According to Rockman, "the pilot program was designed to demonstrate that providing every student within a classroom with access to "real world" business tools would produce substantial educational benefits by supporting learning anytime and anywhere" (p. 3). Rockman's evaluation provides evidence of significant learning effects as well as student and teacher accomplishments in skill development, applications of technology for schoolwork, and improved critical thinking.

Aware of the laptop successes (and challenges) documented at other schools, Athens Academy recognizes that moving forward with the final phase of the MACP project requires strong evaluation. In the summer of 1999, faculty in the Department of Instructional Technology at The University of Georgia were contacted by technology leaders at Athens Academy to conduct a long-term evaluation of the use of portable technologies in their school. The evaluation will be both formative and summative. It will be formative in describing the implementation of the various components of the MACP laptop initiative into the overall teaching and learning environment, including the community beyond the school campus, with a goal of providing information that can be used to improve the implementation. It will be summative in providing evidence of the effects of portable technologies throughout Athens Academy. In short, the primary purposes of this evaluation are to optimize and document the impact of portable technologies on teaching, learning, and other aspects of life within the Athens Academy community.

In order to have the information needed to guide decisions related to the laptop initiative, many questions must be addressed. Many new questions will be revealed during the evaluation itself, but several questions can be posed in advance:

This evaluation is a longitudinal one intended to last four years (1999-2003). Several descriptive and interpretive methodologies will be used to assist the evaluators in gathering data to answer the questions posed above as well as other questions that will surely surface during this time. A multiple case study design will be used in this project (Yin, 1994). The unit of study will be a combination of cohorts (e.g., 7th graders at the Academy) and individuals. Individual learners and teachers will be selected for in-depth examinations of the use and impact of portable technologies at the Academy. Multiple cases will be compared to identify similarities and differences between related cases. This methodology increases understanding by assisting evaluators in identifying patterns via repetition (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Several instruments will be used to gather data to address the various evaluation questions. These include surveys, questionnaires, observations, and interviews. The researchers will also analyze various documents generated by the students and teachers participating in the evaluation (e.g., test scores, writing samples). Multiple resources will be used to enable triangulation and cross-checking of findings (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992).

An inductive approach will be used to analyze the data (Hill & Hannafin, 1997). While specific questions have been posed to guide the evaluation, no hypotheses will be formed prior to data collection and analysis. Rather, the evaluators will let the data guide the patterns and themes generated (Patton, 1990). Such an approach is intended to yield a rich and meaningful portrayal of the implementation and impact of this innovative program.

In addition to this inductive approach, the evaluation data will also be analyzed within the context of several theoretical and practical frameworks. For example, the Hooper-Rieber Model of Technology Adoption in the classroom will provide one theoretical lens for examining the data as will other models emerging from scholars around the globe (Hooper & Rieber, 1995). In addition, various guidelines for technology integration proposed by professional associations such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the CEO Forum will be used in the analysis.

Janette R. Hill, Assistant Professor, The University of Georgia, and Thomas C. Reeves, Professor, The University of Georgia, prepared the proposal with information provided by two members of the Athens Academy staff, T. Mark Keith, Director of Media and Technology, and Caroline Ridlehuber, Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Additional planning assistance was provided by Professor Michael J. Hannafin, Director of the Learning and Performance Support Laboratory (LPSL) at The University of Georgia. Dr. Hannafin has directed prior evaluation projects at Athens Academy (see, for example, Hannafin & Hawkins, 1998).