This paper presents the results from a three-year study of 1-1 laptop use in two Swedish secondary schools. During the study the TPACK-framework (technical, pedagogical and content knowledge)(Koehler & Mishra, 2008) has been used to capture some of the intriguing relations between the teachers’ pedagogical skills, their content knowledge and the technical artefacts (i.e. laptops).

The Swedish government’s investments in ICT in education have, still in an international comparison, been extraordinary during the last three decades. The economical frame for the investments has by far outperformed other investments on school development (Karlsohn, 2009; Riis, 2000). In spite of these massive investments Swedish teachers still use computers for education less than 10 percent of the time spent in the classroom (Skolverket, 2009). 

Since the beginning of the twenty first century though, there seem to be a gradual change emerging. A number of reports and evaluations show a significantly increased interest in the use of laptops in education (Fried, 2008; Lowther, Ross, & Morrison, 2003; Warschauer, 2006). The interest in investing in laptops for school use has noticeably grown in Sweden as well as in other European countries during the last few years. The reasons for this increased interest are various, but the reduced costs (the prices for a laptop have halved in the last five years), computers' higher performance, better battery capacity as well as the reduced size and weight have precipitated this development. It would be rather naïve to not also consider the growing interest from the computer manufactures in the emergent market for computers in schools.

These facts imply that the rising interest for 1-1 computing gives new opportunities for a successful implementation of computers in educational settings. The Swedish governments´ and the Swedish school authority’s determination to put computers into practice can be regarded as a natural development in their long time efforts to change the teachers’ ways of teaching. The focus during the different development programs has always been to enhance pedagogical development and the efforts has emphasized the teachers’ own responsibility and freedom to organize the activities in the classrooms(Karlsson, 2004).  Computers have merely been considered as a tool (never the less very powerful) to improve and develop the way teachers teach and the rising interest for 1-1 project is hence a natural step in this ongoing process.

Using the TPACK-framework as a lens makes it possible to regard the changes in the way teaching is performed during a 1-1-project. It also presents a way of tracking the relationship between teaching and technology and it gives you a hint of the demands on the 21st century teacher.

This leads to the following research questions:

-        In what ways do teachers change their ways of teaching due to a 1-1 laptop-project?

-        Is TPACK a useful framework for understanding the relation between teaching and technology?

Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused - computers in the classroom. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Denzin, N. K. (1997). Interpretive Ethnography: ethnografic practices for the 21st century. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Fried, C. B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its effect on student learning. Computers and Education, 50(3), 9. Koehler, M., J., & Mishra, P. (Eds.). (2008). Introducing TPCK. New York: Routledge. Lowther, L., Deborah, Ross, S., M., & Morrison, G., M. (2003). When Each One Has One: The Influences on Teaching Strategies and Student Achievement of Using Laptops in the Classroom. Educational Technology Research and Development, 51(3), 23-44. Mishra, P., & Koehler, M., J. (2006). Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge. Teachers Collage Record, 108(6), 1017 - 1054. Nisbett, R., E., & Wilson, T., D. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(4), 250-256. O'Shea, T., & Koschmann, T. (1997). The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer. Journal of the Learning Sciences 6(4), 401 - 415. Papert, S. (1997). Why School Reform Is Impossible. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 6(4), 417 - 427. Riis, U. (2000). IT in schools between vision and practice: a research overview. Stockholm: The National Agency for Education. Rittell, H., &Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in the general theory of planning (Vol. 4). Shulman, L. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4-14. Tallvid, M., & Hallerström, H. (2009). En egen dator i skolarbetet - redskap för lärande. Falkenberg. Warschauer, M. (2006). Laptops and Literacy: Learning in The Wireless Classroom. New York: Teacher College Press. Zhao, Y., & Frank, K. (2003). Factors Affecting Technology Uses in Schools: An Ecological Perspective. American Educational Research Journal, 40(4), 807 - 840.