Our personal laptop program for Years 7 to 12 students has been in place since 1993. It is recognised nationally and internationally as a model for successful integration of technology with learning. Apart from the obvious advantages of equity and access, the use of laptops significantly improves the quality, efficiency and presentation of student work and can have a marked effect on learning outcomes.

Students take their computers from class to class and from school to home. The wireless network covering the Torrens Park campus ensures that students have access to the College’s intranet, the ScotchWeb, and the internet.

Their ability to access a wide variety of research tools is considerably enhanced. This means the teacher is not the only source of knowledge in the classroom. Our students quickly become familiar with a wide variety of information resources, the latest technologies and their practical application.

Each student in the Middle School and Senior College owns his/her own laptop computer. Students and staff take their laptops from class to class and home at night. Ownership and contextual use are key concepts.

ICT skills are not taught as a discrete unit of study, but are integrated within most key learning areas. For example, a geography class can plot a map from waypoints downloaded from a GPS, or analyse data from our weather station; a science class can develop a flash animation to illustrate the human reproductive cycle or a chemical reaction, or they can publish a podcast of their experiment or investigation; mathematics students can use Geometers Sketchpad to reinforce geometric concepts; music students can record, explore and shape digital sound; LOTE students can listen to or record conversations; while English students can research their work on the internet and share their views via a blog or publish on their own website. Our philosophy is that the computer is used as a tool in the delivery of the curriculum, rather than being the focus.

At Scotch a student’s laptop is a key tool in their learning. The usage of the laptop is very much process oriented, and enables learning to be structured in a flexible, interactive and open-ended way. Because the laptop is personal it adds to each student's knowledge and skills - enhancing what they do. It provides a personal learning environment and gives them more choice and responsibility for their learning. Through their notebook computers students have the opportunity to be autonomous users of technology, and access to vast information on the world-wide electronic communications network.

There is a decreasing reliance on text books and photocopying and a commensurate trend at Scotch College towards e-learning. Many texts are published digitally and the majority of resources and course material are now accessed electronically.

The wireless network enables students and staff access from virtually anywhere on the campus enabling them to:

• Download units of work to their laptops
• Access curriculum materials and search the Scotch Web or the internet for information
• Backup their school work into their personal network areas
• Transmit documents between students and teachers
• Print to laser printers that are distributed, one for every two classrooms
• Use email (staff and boarding students only)

Middle School and Senior College students still have access to desktop computers in the resource centre and laboratories, where they can access the internet for research or use software not installed on their laptops. For example, art and design students explore Adobe Photoshop, while students interested in movie making import video clips from the digital cameras into iMovie or Final Cut on the iMacs.This equips students with a strong ICT knowledge base which they can draw on in the future.