In 2000, Linda Colburn wrote an article for Reading Online that explored the change process required to integrate technology into middle school curricula. She noted that all eighth-grade students in the school she described would be using laptop computers throughout the school day "in about a year." I asked Linda to find out if a teacher and students at the school would be willing to write an article for ROL in which they would discuss uses of the laptops and their perceived benefits. Eighth-grade English teacher Kristen Meltesen, along with some of her students, graciously consented to provide such a manuscript.

The article that appears this month is the result. In it, Kristen describes how the laptops have changed her class, and Linda provides her perspective as the technology integration facilitator at the school. In addition, five eighth-grade students present their views of how technology has affected their learning in English class, as well as in content areas.

This article breaks exciting new ground for ROL's Electronic Classroom. First, it provides voices from those directly affected by the use of technology in their learning, the students themselves, who serve here not as data but as authors. Second, it reminds us that technology use is in itself a literacy practice and that this new, technological literacy is applied across content areas. Interestingly, however, it is the students' English teacher who has facilitated this discussion of technology and its effect on learning, and the students view their use of technology through this lens. The implication of technological literacy being "housed" in the literacy curriculum while applied elsewhere is a logical extension of historical discussions of literacy development and its relation to content area reading.

As I read the student and teacher testimonies that comprise this article, I was struck by several consistencies among them. One strand that came through clearly was the organizational benefits that the laptops provide; another was the expanded ability to perform research and find resources that could be used in assignments; a third was the ease and speed at which work could be done, and a fourth was the ability to display data, making it seem more immediate and concrete. However, I was constantly aware that underlying these comments about the use of laptops was the issue of literacy. None of the benefits of the laptops could have been realized if the students had not achieved sufficient "new literacy" to solve problems and communicate their messages, whether in reports, charts and graphs, or notecards.

Thus, as you read this article, there are several questions that might be useful to keep in mind: What should be part of a literacy curriculum-- that is, what should be taught, relative to literacy, for all students to become literate in the sense demonstrated by these students? How can we ensure that all our students gain the literacy skills needed to function in environments such as those described in this article? I urge you to explore fully this coauthored work, and to discuss these questions in our Online Communities. It is my wish that together, these contributions will enhance a realization of how literacy has changed for students and for teachers. You will see, as I have, that technological literacy can be merged broadly into instructional practice and that students recognize its benefits to their learning across the content areas.

Click on the links below to read the comments of each author. The students' comments also contain embedded links demonstrating their work. Enjoy!

• Linda Colburn, technology integration facilitator
  
• Kristen Meltesen, eighth-grade teacher
  
• Emily Fisher, eighth-grade student
  
• Allison Milam, eighth-grade student
  
• Kate Gregory, eighth-grade student
  
• Helen Ramsey, eighth-grade student
  
• Ryan McLaughlin, eighth-grade student