Authors Binbin Zheng, Kathleen Arada, Melissa Niiya and Mark Warschauer conducted a study that gauged the perspectives of students because students are usually not included in planning instructional technology that impact them. Using 362 blog postings that covered a two-year period, the authors analyzed K-12 students’ perspectives about the implementation of one-to-one laptops. They recommended based on their analysis that schools introducing new technology should see students as learners as well as “real writers with valuable opinions.” Schools should provide opportunities for students “to write for an authentic purpose and audience using diverse forms of digital media.”  The authors found that students’ perspectives on use of technology in schools could be grouped into seven themes: “more efficient and productive learning, tools for better writing, access to information, engagement with new media, remaining relevant in a technological world, share and learn from peers, and individualized and differentiated instruction.

This study resonates the importance of putting into active practice the inclusion of all stakeholders when planning or designing new instructional programmes.