The Cameron Herald of Cameron, TX, reports that about 120 seventh graders at Cameron Junior High have received laptops as part of the Texas Education Agency's Technology Immersion Pilot Program .

The Technology Immersion Pilot Program is now in it's fourth year and Cameron is one of 22 school districts to begin this year with new computers. The immersion program goes beyond one-to-one computing by including continuous professional development, wireless mobile computing device, productivity software, online content in the core curriculum areas, online formative assessment tools and on-demand technical support.

A state grant, worth about $180,000 provided Cameron Junior High School’s brand-new Dell computers. Students pay a $60 insurance fee.

The teachers begin the new program with over 100 hours of training from Pearson, and they are anxious to adapt their lesson plans. Writes Jeffery Benzing, staff writer for the Cameron Herald,

“We're preparing our kids to be lifelong learners,” Steele Cooley, director of technology for Cameron Independent School District, said. “We're going with technology.”

…Cooley said the point of the program is to find new ways to teach students. “You can't teach when that head's on that desk,” he said. “Our kids are visual learners.”

Everything a student needs to complete assignments, Cooley said, is already on the computers and students can use wireless internet anyplace at school. “It's in the gymnasium; it's in the band hall. We're 100 percent wireless.”

Students can also use the internet at home but will be held responsible for the content downloaded to their machines. According to Cooley, teachers will do random laptop checks, scanning five or six computers a day to be sure they have not been used inappropriately.

Before getting their machines, each student had to sign a contract, taking responsibility for the content on their computers.

The state program involves schools with a wide range of demographics. Seventy-five percent of Cameron Junior High School’s students are eligible for free and reduced lunch. Test scores generally hover on either side of the state average.

Source : The Cameron Herald, Looking smart: Students issued laptops