After years in the "reform wilderness" I think we can actually proclaim that 1-to-1 has gone "mainstream." Attending NECC in June this year probably brought it home, as it further reinforced my observations from CoSN in San Francisco in March. Whereas just two years ago, there were only isolated 1-to-1 sessions at both events, 2007 has now seen the acceptance of 1-to-1 as inevitable. And from a North American perspective, this is very significant, as it also has implications for other countries.

This was very evident from the large number of 1-to-1 sessions on the program at both events, and with both ISTE and CoSN establishing special interest groups, as well as running other idea-sharing sessions at their conferences. This is an important step in improving broader awareness among educators and key school district personnel who in turn can support their leadership to be better informed about 1-to-1 initiatives.

My observations from both events also reinforce two other key points. The first is for us to be even more diligent than before in helping schools and district leaders to get the prerequisites right before they embark on a 1-to-1 initiative. 

Gone are the early days when every school or district who announced they were "going 1-to-1" had enough missionary zeal and pioneering energy to overcome any shortcomings that might have arisen in implementation. As we move into mainstream, we have a greater responsibility to ensure that the fundamentals are in place. This is particularly the case in the larger, higher profile initiatives. Setbacks with an initiative of scale or high profile, can have serious implications for all schools, as we saw with the implications from the Liverpool program highlighted by the NY Times earlier this year. We can now set quite firm readiness conditions, under which a 1-to-1 program has the best chance of success, and will be both sustainable and scalable.

The second key point to come from the two conferences is that we need to repeatedly and more deeply reinforce the too often overlooked purpose of every child having their own laptop. As we know only too well, it is not simply about designing a computer that is affordable for students, and it is not just about the mechanics or logistics of making it possible for all students within a school to have their own laptop. Much of the discussion at both events was focused on this.  It is purely and simply about the extraordinary learning opportunities available to all students who have their own portable, personal computer. To put it another way, it not about the what or the how, but rather the why. 

So I think our AALF membership and associates should continue to be vigilant in reminding their colleagues of this at all times. Perhaps you might take on board the opportunity to present at either CoSN, NECC, ASCD or other country conferences next year, to ensure we keep this uppermost in everyone's mind.

Once in the mainstream, people can too often lose sight of the real purpose of an initiative as important as anytime anywhere learning, and it is our duty to ensure the conversation that takes place around 1-to-1 stays focused firmly on this agenda at all times.

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I'd finally like to take this opportunity to wish Matthew Hoover all the best as he finishes his 12 month contract as program manger with the Foundation this month. Matthew has done a great job in keeping the momentum of growth of the Foundation going. We have really appreciated his diligence in supporting our initiatives over the past year, in particular the work associated with our 1-to-1 Leadership Summit series, and we wish him all the best as he seeks to continue his earlier work in the public health policy area.