Positive Feedback Loop Revised

At our faculty meeting yesterday, I shared my diagram for what I thought created a positive feedback loop in technology programs in schools, probably specific to independent schools. The teachers were able to help me fill in the parts I had left out: professional development, long and short range planning and and peer modeling. It seems like we have covered most things. What do you think?

Mini Notebooks for the Classrooms

The computers we have in our classrooms could probably qualify better as doorstops than computers. They're about 9 years old and of course they're slow as sorghum (that's molasses for ya'll who were NOT raised in the south). As I'm going through the process of building a 3 year plan for the technology department, the single greatest desire our teachers have is working classroom computers. Thus, we're looking into laptops (for space savings) and most likely we'll be purchasing some of the new mini-notebooks. I especially like the Acer Aspire One. It is rated quite well by both CNET and the Washington Post. Plus, it's about $400! The Linux OS is awesome, but I worry about our kids being able to cross-platform in the lower grades, so I think we'll probably end out spending $50 more for the Windows version. This may even be our solution for our friends in Belize!