NORMAL - Delayne Durdle, a sophomore at University High School, used to dislike history class, but a new pilot program at his school has changed that.

"World history used to be boring and everything," said Durdle, 15, of Bloomington. "Now I'm more motivated to go."

The reason for the change: laptop computers.

The self-described "computer person" has two classes, writing and U.S. history, in classrooms equipped with laptop computers. Four classrooms went into service with laptops when school started this fall as part of a four-year pilot project.

"I'm enjoying the laptops," Durdle said.

The goal of the project is to improve learning in the classroom, not just increase access to computers, said Jim Kurz, the school's technology coordinator. Laptops in the classroom let students access a wider range of online resources and collaborate with their teachers and each other in new ways, advocates say.

"It's not about laptops. They are just tools to get the done. It's about if kids get excited about learning," said Robert Dean, superintendent for laboratory schools at Illinois State University.

About half of the school's students participate in the program now. If things go according to plan, four classrooms will be added each year, said U High Principal Jeff Hill.

The pilot project, which will be evaluated annually, required about $150,000 for startup equipment and teacher training.

To help cover the cost of the Dell computers, the student technology fee was increased from $25 to $100, Hill said. The fees raised about $50,000, and the rest of the cost came from ISU, which runs U High and Thomas Metcalf School.

Students use the laptops in class, but they don't take them home. Leaving the computers at school instead of assigning them to individual students cut costs and made maintenance and training easier, Kurz said.

"We are not ready to ask parents or kids to make that investment," Dean said of buying laptops. "We absorbed the cost, management and ownership."

Many other laptop-classroom projects target younger students, but Dean said it makes sense for a high school to do it too.

High schools generally are more resistant to change, so it makes sense to direct this "dynamic" learning option to them, Dean said.

Students and teachers say they see benefits.

For example, online resources and software can supplement or replace textbooks, which are expensive and become outdated quickly.

"It's nice not to have to carry books all around," said Sara McCullough, 15, a sophomore who has three courses in the laptop classrooms.

McCullough said she has learned in U.S. history how to use primary sources instead of relying on textbooks.

Science teacher Janeice Ives said the laptops help her engage students more than using one computer with a projector at the front of the classroom can. Students can follow along on their own laptops and collaborate.

"Students learn to learn," Ives said.

Ives, a 13-year veteran of the classroom received extensive training in the summer for the laptop program. She had to prepare new lesson plans to make best use of the interactive technology.

"It's like being a first-year teacher," she said.

Durdle said he enjoys getting a chance to check his e-mail in the first few minutes of class, but that stops when teacher Diane Walker starts class. "It's hardcore writing," said Durdle.

"It's tempting," said McCullough of using the computer for something other than the topic at hand. "But you have to put schoolwork first," she said.

McCullough who has U.S. Studies, Accelerated Chemistry and Oral Communication in laptop classrooms this semester, still picks up a pencil in her traditional math classroom.

For her, using the laptops to join online discussions and similar activities is akin to the work she will do in college. "It's kind of like a prep course," she said.

Sometimes there is lively discussion around the laptops, but other times it is quiet, almost relaxing, as students work, she said.

"In Oral Comp class, we can turn the lights off and it feels just like home," McCullough said.

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At other schools

Normal-based Unit 5 and Bloomington District 87 use mobile wireless laptop computer labs in their elementary schools. Neither currently participates in a laptop pilot project.

- The laptops at Unit 5 elementary schools are based in the instructional media centers/libraries. The teachers sign out a cart or two of 16 to 18 laptops for a class as they are needed, said Loren Baele, director of technology for Unit 5.

- District 87 also has mobile laptop labs for each of its elementary schools, said Jim Peterson, the district's technology director.

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SPRINGFIELD - A handful of schools elsewhere in Illinois also are using laptops in the classroom, thanks to Technology Immersion Pilot Project, a $5 million state program.

For the 2006-07 school year, nine schools in seven districts received laptop computers for all participating students and classroom teachers, teacher training and technical assistance. Almost 1,800 students are in the program.

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said in a prepared statement that he and the Illinois State Board of Education launched the program "to ensure that no Illinois child is left on the wrong side of the digital divide."

The three-year initiative will focus on sixth-grade students.

"Laptops are the textbooks of tomorrow, and I salute these schools for participating in an innovative program which helps their students learn anytime and anywhere," Quinn said in the statement.

The districts in the program are:

- City of Chicago School District 299.

- Community Consolidated School District 59, Arlington Heights.

- Woodstock Community Unit School District 200.

- Joliet Public School District 86.

- Springfield School District 186.

- Southeastern Community Unit School District 337, Bowen.

- Calhoun Community Unit District 40.

By the Pantagraph staff