Many of the younger teachers and teachers that are more skilled with computers do bring their own laptops simply for the ability to have access to all of the files they create during work hours at home. Everyone, though, is given a computer, flat-screen monitor (about 19in?? Mine rotates… I love that feature, as I hate scrolling), and a desktop printer with the ability to print to a centralized (by hallway) lazer printer.

I really enjoy all of the technological advances that this school has, and it makes it extremely easy to keep the classroom flowing smoothly. Additional items that some co-workers and I have found are that the ipad and ipod touch allow access to the wireless server and therefore allow him to walk around the room and take roll or access other online school material (it would be great if he couldd figure out how to project to the smart board from the ipad, but for now the computer must be connected to the wall). I (theoretically, once the wireless is accessible in my building) could take roll while in my classroom, despite having my computer in the office down the hall (not leaving my kids and taking attendance within the first 10 minutes of class currently poses a problem…).

The attendance and grading are items we use daily, so many of us are pretty much masters of PowerSchool by now, but there are many features that I would like to use that are inaccessible to “teachers”, though I don’t know if that is a site based decision or a program flaw. For example, once first quarter is over, I can no longer see the attendance of a student for those 9 weeks (important for a PE credited class). I can see the grades for the entire semester, however, I had to change my grading system to meet the requirements of the program, which has caused me to have to be more strict about precise grades. It makes it easier for others to understand the grades, but the way the system was when I did it by hand was more fair (In my eyes) for a performance-based class.

The problems I see are not so much with the technology, but the training and implementing of the incredible opportunities available through these items.

Before the school opened (before we were able to access our classrooms, due to construction, yet the week before school started… problem #1), we were trained on the smart board technology. We were amazed and awestruck and SOOOO excited to be able to use this incredible device to teach our classes. But by the time we were able to access the boards, work out the kinks, and get all of the software loaded on our laptops (well, those of us that used them), all the majority of us could remember to use was the whiteboard feature and Jeopardy (though a plus, not the most awesome of the features). We haven’t been trained since, including new teachers on staff.

I would also like to see more use of classroom to classroom learning (is there a proper name for this?). My neighbor works in a school district in Canada and he said that their school works very closely through video connection and shared projects with many schools in the U.S. in many of their classrooms. They feel that this promotes a more worldly understanding and connection between the students. I totally agree, and think it would be great for our students to get a better understanding of how schools around the world are run.

Mainly I would have to say that I feel technology like what you have listed is extremely important in the classroom, and if it were just the technology I was looking at, I’d plan on staying at my school forever. But yearly training and full use of the items that are being added to help facilitate better instruction is equally as important, as without understanding of how to use the wheel, it makes for a rather large paper weight.

Also, though I can’t speak much on the topic for lack of knowledge, a neighboring school, Poston Butte in the Florence Unified School District actually gave out laptops to each of their students to use during the time they are in high school. They have rules on returning the equipment and fees for lost, damaged, etc. I haven’t heard either way about the outcome of the decision to use technology funds in this way, but I imagine in conjunction with an educational platform such as Blackboard, it could create a much more personal education experience. In a time where many students are turning to online school for more than credit recovery, it is important to keep this individualism in the public school system.

This is just one of the lists in my “Video in T&L” section at
http://www.shambles.net/multimedia

Hope things going well for you

WOW … just realised this post is over a year old … picked up in one of my RSS feeds ….

Combine that with ad-free, no-cost hosting of Edublogs.tv, and you could give us a narrated tour of Windows Vista and enable us to see the gadgets in action!

A GNU/Linux fanboy,
Miguel
8->

Speaking of targeted video, might some of this include the use of handheld devices? We could then either direct or deliver video content based on each student’s need… Talk about targeting.

Thanks for the info. By the way, I am a big fan of your site. Keep up the great work.

Glad the link was helpful to you!

Miguel