It's been a week and I'm pretty happy thus far with the 1:1 iMacs in class. If I had to guess, I would suggest they get used 35-45% of a class, which I'm okay with.
The first use for these machines over the week, and in the future, has been taking notes using Google Docs. I like that I can create a "fill in the blanks" style spreadsheet and have the students create their own copy to add to.
Now, before everyone on the internet tells me that this isn't the way to teach and I'm not using technology effectively - I agree. I agree, I'd like to do this all very differently, however, because of my location and the external factors I mentioned, that's not going to be possible this year. Therefore, I'll be using the machines to the best of my ability within the confines of my requirements.
A couple of students have discovered that after the "formal" notes, when we're working on problems or having a more free-wheeling discussion, they can continue to use Google Docs to share their thoughts with each other. It's working pretty well - they're strong students, which means they can both contribute to the problem, so I'm fine with it at this point.
Overall - a week in, I'm happy with the uses. I'll post in a bit about some of the other things we've been doing.
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