Project Ideas - 1 to 1 laptop initiave

I am working at MMUHS with the principal, Jennifer Botzojorns, and 4 classroom teachers to implement a 1 to 1 laptop initiative this year.  We gave 25 9th grade students HP 6535 laptops to use and keep for the school year.  We are about 1/2 way through the year now and there have definitely been bumps in the road but we are feeling that this is a project that we want to move forward with but have not yet determined how that will look for the next school year.  I would like my project in this class to help me determine what the next year (Part 2) of this project will look like and how it will work.  Here is a website of this year's information on the project that give an overview and more data on what we have done to date. http://help.cesu.k12.vt.us/studentlaptop.html

Things I am seeing as being important in implementing a 1 to 1 laptop initiative are:
1. Be realistic - determine how the program will work, who the participants will be and what the goal of the project is. I think we have the goals determined, who will participate determined but we are still being challenged at this time with the nuts and bolts of how the program will work.  If we could have started over with this pilot program I would have like to have had some professional development and curriculum planning time with the teacher that have the kids with laptops to help them at the start of the year to know how to use them with the kids.

2. Be prepared by understanding and addressing training and development needs.  We have found as we reached the 1/2 way point of this 1 to 1 initiative that when we started we did not have a well enough defined goal for the teachers who had these kids with laptops.  We needed to work more with them on how they would use these laptops in class with the kids.  Another area that we found was in need of improvement was the file management skills of the students.  We thought that they would have a much better handle on how to save files in an orderly fashion, using folders and backing up their data to the server at school on a regular basis.  This has not been the case and we are addressing that now with the students and teachers as the kids begin to work on a term paper, these skills will be reviewed as part of that project.

3. Be supportive!  We have found to date that there needs to be resources for our students and teachers to lean on when the kids run into trouble. We have a tech support Helpdesk at school that the students can bring their laptops to if they are having technical difficulties, or damaged hardware.  They also come to us with general use questions as well.  We have also had to address the issues of some students having a computer of their own at home for the first time ever and the dynamic that plays out as a result of this at home has make some parents call into us for help and support around that.  Finally we have to be a resource for the impacted teachers to come and discuss challenges they have had in the classroom and we try and work out resolutions with them on this.

Going forward, I have to admit that there are some issues that I am still nervous about such as how we will grow this program, what we will use for funds given the current economic situation and how we can support the growth without addition human resources.  These are the challenges of my job that make it exciting and never the same from day to day.  Stay Tuned!
Jean

Social Networking sites and Cyber Bullying

In class last Tuesday night, I heard classmates discuss the benefits of using Social Networking sites.  I have a Facebook page myself and I enjoy using is during leisure time.  I however think that social networking sites for middle and high school students can be an area of concern.  In my school district, our administration has determined that it is in the best interest of our students to have these sites blocked by the internet content filter.  Given that I am the technology person that has to set this up, I have found this to be challenging to say the least.  Kids are continually finding ways to sneak around the filters such as using proxy sites or secured Facebook sites.  Once I get one "hole" plugged to access these sites, they find another way around it.  Students want to be able to access these sites during the school day for legitimate reasons such as accessing documents or pictures there that they need to use for a school related project that they are working on.  They also want to access it to socialize with friends.  I am asked on a regular basis if I can open up Facebook for just a few minutes so the student can access some needed material.  My standard answer to them is, "You know that we block Facebook at school, so why do you put materials there that you will need?"  There are many other ways to store information online and make it accessible at home and school.  We provide an online "locker" for such a purpose and students can always email attachments to their school email accounts as well.  Many of our students also use Moodle which is an online classroom area that they can post material.

The flip side to this is the cyber bullying that I have seen take place on social networking sites that can be cruel, hurtful, and dangerous to kids.  Posting inappropriate pictures of classmates, writing slanderous comments, as well as connecting with sexual predators are all risks that can be found in sites like  Facebook and MySpace.  In a very informal survey I have asked many students at our high school if they think Facebook should be open at school.  Many of them say that although they think it would be good if it was, they also admit to me that they would waste a lot of time there as well.
In a related topic, the amount of time kids are online has grown damatically over the past few years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.html?scp=1&sq=kids%20and%20technology&st=cse

Here is a link that you may find interesting related to this topic:
http://blog.absolute.com/cyberbullying-more-prevalent-on-social-networking-sites/

I had mixed feelings over whether these sites should be allowed in school or not but as I have seen the trouble it can cause for some students and the overwhelming amount of time wasted that would occur if they were open, I have decided (just my personal opinion) that I think it is best that we do not allow social networking sites to be available in our middle and high school levels.   I also think that many businesses today do not allow access to social networking sites because it can be deemed such a "time waster" so we may as well let our students be familiar with that policy in the workforce today.

Creativity in schools

After listening and watching the Youtube Ken Robinson's YouTube video stating that schools are killing creativity by focusing on core classes, I do not agree.  I think there is plenty of areas of creativity in schools especially in content areas where teachers are willing to experiment with technology.  In my school, our history department is currently working on a long term project with the entire sophmore class that involves World History.  Part of that project requires every student to create a movie  based on the historical content that they selected.  The movies are then posted on SchoolTube.com and the culmination is a school wise movie contest where the movies are judged on criteria such as content, technology skills, and creativity.

I think there are plenty of opportunities to use technology as a creative medium, but it depends on whether the educators are willing to change what they have done in the past to incorporate this type of learning.

Sir Ken Robinson Video: Do Schools Kill Creativity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

GED 589 Information Technology Influences in Learning

1st Post - Hi World, I am just setting up this blog to begin posting for the class I am taking at St. Michael's College, GED 589 Information Technology Influences in Learning.