Maine laptop program offers lessons in ed-tech implementation

Nine years after it became the first state in the nation to initiate a 1-to-1 laptop program in its schools, Maine continues to innovate with technology and has hired technology integrators to help its schools move forward.

Jeff Mao, director of learning technology for the state’s education department, recently reflected on the groundbreaking program and its lessons learned. “What we are doing [is] relatively bleeding edge. … There isn't a book to read, there isn't really a manual that says this is how you do it … but you are kind of creating it on the fly, and from that perspective there’s a lot of invention,” said Mao. Mao said the biggest adjustment for the state and its school districts, which began the program in 2002, was not the machines themselves but the human element.