| Educational technology is a rapidly changing field; consequently deciding between a school issued 1:1 technology program and a program allowing students to bring their own devices to school is a complicated question, involving a variety of fiscal, political, and curricular factors. This study's purpose was to measure the educational impact of school provided laptops and tablets against the use of personal technology inside a middle school that had been issuing a variety of computing devices to every student. The researcher utilized the results of a district generated technology questionnaire to classify students into groups based on their preferred technology platform; school issued netbooks or tablets, or the student's personal device. Achievement results were measured using scale scores from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests. The groups were then compared using a series of ANOVA tests to determine if their results were significantly different and, when appropriate, post hoc tests were run to determine which technology delivery system produced the highest STAAR results and what the effect sizes were. The results of the study indicated, in five of the nine tested areas, students who used school issued netbooks performed slightly better on the state achievement tests than those who used school issued tablets or their own personal devices. In each case, effects sizes were small. Recommendations made related to technology programs in the selected school as well as additional research opportunities.;Keywords: educational technology, laptops, tablets, BYOD, student achievement, IPAD, Chromebook. |
