'1:X Computing' Aims to Tailor Digital Tools to Learning Tasks

As it is, more than 2,000 schools around the country now provide each student with their own digital device, according to the One to One Institute, a nonprofit providing support for districts implementing 1-to-1 computing programs. Many more schools employ a variety of digital technologies that may or may not fit together coherently. But the idea of a coordinated strategy to provide students with access to a variety of devices from which they may choose depending on the task at hand is a potentially powerful new development, said Douglas A. Levin, the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association, or SETDA. “In the professional world, the idea of different devices for different jobs is already a normal way of doing business,” Levin said. “It’s unrealistic for schools to think there’s going to be one killer device that’s going to do all things for all types of learners in all subjects.”