Maine Learning Technology Initiative - Background

Background

In 2000, former Governor Angus King proposed The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI), an initiative to put laptops in the hands of every middle school student and teacher in the state of Maine. One of the primary reasons that Governor King proposed the initiative was that he had a $71 million surplus in the budget in 1999. He “immediately called for a large portion of this surprise windfall to be put into an endowment for ‘the procurement of portable, wireless computer devices for students.’” After the initial public reaction to the plan it became clear that more discussion and examination of this concept was needed and thus in the summer of 2000 the Legislature and Governor Angus King convened a Joint Task Force on the Maine Learning Technology Endowment which had the task to look in-depth at the issues around this proposal and recommend the best course for Maine to follow. In a Wired Magazine interview, Governor King said, "'I think we're going to demonstrate the power of one-to-one computer access that's going to transform education...the economic future will belong to the technologically adept.'"

John Waters explains that the keys to the success of MTLI are the professional development accompanying the implementation of the program, the strategic vendor relationship with Apple, and quality local leadership.

In early 2001 the Task Force issued its report with the recommendation that Maine pursue a plan to deploy learning technology to all of Maine's students and teachers in 7th and 8th grade and then to look at continuing the program to other grade levels. The Task Force report also included several guiding principles which have been embedded into the work of MLTI. During that spring legislation was authorized to begin the program for the school year beginning in September, 2002.

In late September 2001, the Department of Education issued the RFP for MLTI and after scoring all of the proposals selected Apple Computer, Inc. as the award winner. In late December 2001 the Department and Apple formally began to implement the Maine Learning Technology Initiative.

According to Garthwait and Weller, “By fall of 2002, more than 17,000 seventh grade students and their teachers had laptops during school. By the beginning of the 2003-2004 school year, another 17,000 laptops were introduced to the new seventh graders.

From the start, MTLI included professional development for teachers and principals. According to Geoffrey Fletcher,

The program brings Maine's principals together twice a year for either a half day or a full day, in clusters based on the counties they work in. During the sessions, staff from Apple, the supplier for the 1-to-1 program, demonstrate new applications that have been or will be installed on the computers, MLTI staff help with administrative and logistical issues, and members of both staffs discuss different ways these applications can be used with students.

When the program was conceived, the MTLI team decided that school districts would decide whether or not the students could take the iBooks home at the end of the school day. As of January 2004, “more than half the school districts in Maine allow the students to take the iBooks home."