Take inventory of your current access to digital learning
In order to get an idea of the technology resources available within our building and district, we completed a Digital Learning Inventory during our 8-week Global Education course. The purpose of this questionnaire was to assess the types of technology tools, programs, and supports that were available to help us implement student-centered learning in our classrooms. Additionally, sharing a few of our observations on the discussion board allowed other TGC participants to help contribute to finding possible solutions and ideas for improvement. I have included the results of my assessment, considering both my classroom and school building's resources.
Digital Learning Environment Inventory
1. What tools, software, operating systems, and equipment are available in your school and classroom? (including but not limited to: videoconferencing, streaming, photos sharing sites, video sharing sites, document sharing sites, podcasts, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, etc.
Tools and equipment:
Teachers also have the ability to check out the following tools from the library media center:
Operating Systems Available:
Software Available:
2. How does your school make use of school and/or teacher websites?
Park Hill High School has a website that encompasses a multitude of information: daily announcements, event calendar, teacher contact info, access to student grades, a remote-desktop feature, and links to sports and extracurricular websites (if applicable). The school does not mandate that teachers have a website, although I know several that have individual pages. As a group, our art department has created a great website that shows student work throughout the year- a nice way to see students’ talents outside the core classroom environment. You can check it out here: High School Art Department Showcase
3. How are you currently utilizing technology for learning?
My current use of technology: I am currently the “incubator” classroom for hosting a permanent laptop in the room for every student. I am trying to use the laptops in the most meaningful way possible- not as just a neat tool to use. I have been working on project-based learning in both my world history and AP Human Geography courses. I have moved away from using the laptops as a fun way to review information, and instead am building lessons that utilize Web2.0 technology authentically in the classroom. This has consumed a great deal of my time, as I find it is difficult to maintain a focus on using the laptops to produce an “end goal” or a demonstration of student understanding of content as well as the application of their knowledge to real-world scenarios. I have also used technology to record my lectures (unavoidable in the subjects I teach) and then I post to youtube for my students to review and watch, especially if I am out of the building and have a substitute in the room. If either myself or a student is gone for a day, there is now an easy way to make sure teaching and learning still take place.
4. Which websites are blocked by your school's firewall?
In terms of websites blocked by our school’s firewall, I have been given access to just about every site out there… I have only run in to one site that is blocked, which is the Westboro Baptist Church website- not necessarily a bad thing to block. I used to use the Westboro church group (the ones that protest military funerals) as an example of religious extremism in Christianity- trying to drive home the idea that not all Muslims are extremists- they are just the ones that are seen on the media. Likewise, the Westboro Baptist Church is shown in the media quite often- perhaps sending a message that all Christians believe in their doctrine. I’m not upset that the site it blocked, but for my upperclassmen, viewing it often elicited a shocked response- not something I can’t replace with a few pictures of their children holding signs spreading hateful messages.
5. What websites and tools are colleagues in your building using?
6. Is there a system for evaluating student technology literacy in your school? If so, how effective or helpful have you found the assessment?
To my knowledge, and from asking around the building, there is currently no system for evaluating student technology literacy at my high school.
7. Gather suggestions from students on their ideas for integrating technology into their learning.
A few suggestions I have heard from students on the integration of technology into their learning:
8. What tools that are not presently available would help to achieve district objectives?
9. Does your building promote BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies for students?
Currently my high school does not allow students to bring their own devices to school. Devices outside the district technology tools are not allowed access to the high school's wireless connection, nor access to the network. It took until this past spring for our administration to allow students to use their cell phones in the hallways before and after school, during passing times, and during lunch. Interesting, however, that cell phones are still not allowed in classrooms.
10. Using your Digital Learning Environment Inventory, develop a solution or suggest an improvement customized to your school/classroom circumstances.
In order for my high school to embrace the 1-to-1 laptop initiative that will be coming in 2017, we need to begin showing teachers how to utilize technology in a meaningful way now. Due to our network being limited and unreliable for many years, many of my colleagues are hesitant to use technology in their classrooms. We recently acquired a new district director of technology and I believe he is aware of the network problems and is working to first eliminate network issues before pushing out new tech hardware to teachers. Once the network is improved, I believe our district technology department should provide examples of classrooms outside our district that are using technology in incredible ways. After reflecting on our technology inventory, I realized that in terms of resources, our district has the funding to secure better than average technology tools. Unfortunately, we are way behind in the student-centered implementation of this technology. We need to see examples of 1-to-1 in a successful setting, where teachers are relinquishing control of their classroom to student-centered learning approaches. Our critical, hesitant teachers need to hear positive remarks from teachers using 1-to-1. It should be emphasized that technology issues will occur from time to time, but due to improvements at the district network level, problems are manageable and can be quickly resolved. We need to see examples of technology being used in classrooms of our content areas, with students that have similar backgrounds to our own. It may not need to be traveling to see these teachers in action- perhaps using technology (Skype, video casting) to view the successful use of 1-to-1 would be enough to instill confidence in the initiative and
excitement toward the possibilities.
1. What tools, software, operating systems, and equipment are available in your school and classroom? (including but not limited to: videoconferencing, streaming, photos sharing sites, video sharing sites, document sharing sites, podcasts, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, etc.
Tools and equipment:
- Every teacher has access to: a Dell laptop, laptop docking station in each classroom, an LCD projector in every classroom, and a document projector in each classroom.
- There are 12 classrooms with stationary SmartBoards, out of 106 classrooms.
- One classroom has a permanent laptop cart with 30 student laptops (this is my room- the “incubator classroom” for the upcoming shift toward 1 to 1) An additional three classrooms have been chosen to host permanent laptop carts- this should go in to effect in January.
Teachers also have the ability to check out the following tools from the library media center:
- Digital cameras (flip cams)
- Laptop carts (20 total in the building, each with 15 computers)
- 5 sets of 30 CPS clickers
- 10 MOBIs, or tablets linked to SmartBoards
- Teachers can also check out space in the library for student work- there are 75 desktops available and 15 laptops that can be used within the library media center.
Operating Systems Available:
- All laptops are Dell, with Windows operating systems. The technology department is currently upgrading all laptops to Windows 2013. Laptops also have Internet Explorer and Chrome.
Software Available:
- Teachers and students use Desire2Learn internet platform (similar to Blackboard) update: Desire2Learn has been renamed BrightSpace (8/2014)
- Teachers and students have Microsoft Outlook email accounts
- Teachers and students have Google accounts (use of google docs, google forms, google books, etc.)
- Teachers have access to Youtube, The Mid-Public Continent Library resource database, and a culture collection database,
- All teachers have access to Skype for videoconferencing, Safari Montage media, United Streaming media, NBC Learn media, and SmartNotebook
- A few of our teachers and students have access to Adobe products (graphic design, yearbook, etc.)
- We have a credit recovery program (E 20/20) which provides online coursework
- My students have additional access to GoogleEarthPro on my classroom’s laptops
2. How does your school make use of school and/or teacher websites?
Park Hill High School has a website that encompasses a multitude of information: daily announcements, event calendar, teacher contact info, access to student grades, a remote-desktop feature, and links to sports and extracurricular websites (if applicable). The school does not mandate that teachers have a website, although I know several that have individual pages. As a group, our art department has created a great website that shows student work throughout the year- a nice way to see students’ talents outside the core classroom environment. You can check it out here: High School Art Department Showcase
3. How are you currently utilizing technology for learning?
My current use of technology: I am currently the “incubator” classroom for hosting a permanent laptop in the room for every student. I am trying to use the laptops in the most meaningful way possible- not as just a neat tool to use. I have been working on project-based learning in both my world history and AP Human Geography courses. I have moved away from using the laptops as a fun way to review information, and instead am building lessons that utilize Web2.0 technology authentically in the classroom. This has consumed a great deal of my time, as I find it is difficult to maintain a focus on using the laptops to produce an “end goal” or a demonstration of student understanding of content as well as the application of their knowledge to real-world scenarios. I have also used technology to record my lectures (unavoidable in the subjects I teach) and then I post to youtube for my students to review and watch, especially if I am out of the building and have a substitute in the room. If either myself or a student is gone for a day, there is now an easy way to make sure teaching and learning still take place.
4. Which websites are blocked by your school's firewall?
In terms of websites blocked by our school’s firewall, I have been given access to just about every site out there… I have only run in to one site that is blocked, which is the Westboro Baptist Church website- not necessarily a bad thing to block. I used to use the Westboro church group (the ones that protest military funerals) as an example of religious extremism in Christianity- trying to drive home the idea that not all Muslims are extremists- they are just the ones that are seen on the media. Likewise, the Westboro Baptist Church is shown in the media quite often- perhaps sending a message that all Christians believe in their doctrine. I’m not upset that the site it blocked, but for my upperclassmen, viewing it often elicited a shocked response- not something I can’t replace with a few pictures of their children holding signs spreading hateful messages.
5. What websites and tools are colleagues in your building using?
- All teachers are using Desire 2 Learn (BrightSpace as of 8/2014) this year, a new learning management system after our district discontinued its contract with blackboard. The program was introduced a few days before school, so there have been some major growing pains, but occasionally a technology assistant will visit the building to help teachers learn how to use the program. Teachers use the site to post content for students, to assess students, and to provide a forum for student discussion. I’m not sold on the program yet, as I have experienced many problems with it- something I fear will cause less flexible teachers to give up on the idea of using the web for their classes.
- Teachers also use PowerSchool for grade entry, emails home, and daily announcements for students. At this point, Desire2Learn and PowerSchool are not linked in any manner.
- In addition to these two programs, teachers and staff use google docs and google forms to collaborate, access frequently used documents, and participate in professional development.
- There is a pre-engineering program used by our engineering and technical education department
- Teachers use flip cameras to allow students to create videos, posting to youtube or a class site.
- Last year many teachers had begun using edmodo.com as their learning management system, as it is user-friendly and free- also something the district cannot access- which sounds terrible- but the district has been known to take teacher’s work off of the district learning management system and then have other teachers/administrators present the material at conferences or in virtual classrooms. Apparently once you post your content on to the site networked to the district, you no longer have any ownership of your intellectual property (or the hours of time you put in to creating original content)
6. Is there a system for evaluating student technology literacy in your school? If so, how effective or helpful have you found the assessment?
To my knowledge, and from asking around the building, there is currently no system for evaluating student technology literacy at my high school.
7. Gather suggestions from students on their ideas for integrating technology into their learning.
A few suggestions I have heard from students on the integration of technology into their learning:
- Teachers should have a back-up plan in case the technology doesn’t work
- Students dislike reading long passages from laptops- they would rather have readings as hard copies
- Teachers should practice with the technology they are going to use prior to class, so it doesn’t end up wasting time while they tinker with the tools/programs.
- Any use of technology is better than none- students appreciate even the most traditional teachers trying something new
- Allow students to have access to cell phones during class, for internet and learning purposes. Many students already use their phone as their planner and can access sites for school through the web or apps. Currently our school allows students to use their phones in the hallways during passing time and lunch, however they are still not allowed in the classroom.
8. What tools that are not presently available would help to achieve district objectives?
- Our school has limited wireless capabilities, so when several students log in at the same time, the network is overloaded and can stall, causing computers to remain disconnected. A larger network with more servers will be necessary to implement 1-to-1 laptops in the future.
- Our building also needs to have a technology specialist in-house. Any time a teacher needs help with technology- it tends to be last-minute because something isn’t working as it should. If we need help with our projectors, SmartBoards, laptops, phones, etc. we have to submit a work order through the district’s online portal. The complaint is then “opened” at the district level and is assigned to a technology worker- someone that works at Central Office rather than in the building. This is pretty frustrating because most of the time tech problems have an easy one-step solution (plugging in a cord, accepting flashmedia, hitting the blinking button, allowing content from external sites, etc.), yet we have to wait days to get a response- long after we have altered our original lesson plans to exclude the technology gone awry.
9. Does your building promote BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies for students?
Currently my high school does not allow students to bring their own devices to school. Devices outside the district technology tools are not allowed access to the high school's wireless connection, nor access to the network. It took until this past spring for our administration to allow students to use their cell phones in the hallways before and after school, during passing times, and during lunch. Interesting, however, that cell phones are still not allowed in classrooms.
10. Using your Digital Learning Environment Inventory, develop a solution or suggest an improvement customized to your school/classroom circumstances.
In order for my high school to embrace the 1-to-1 laptop initiative that will be coming in 2017, we need to begin showing teachers how to utilize technology in a meaningful way now. Due to our network being limited and unreliable for many years, many of my colleagues are hesitant to use technology in their classrooms. We recently acquired a new district director of technology and I believe he is aware of the network problems and is working to first eliminate network issues before pushing out new tech hardware to teachers. Once the network is improved, I believe our district technology department should provide examples of classrooms outside our district that are using technology in incredible ways. After reflecting on our technology inventory, I realized that in terms of resources, our district has the funding to secure better than average technology tools. Unfortunately, we are way behind in the student-centered implementation of this technology. We need to see examples of 1-to-1 in a successful setting, where teachers are relinquishing control of their classroom to student-centered learning approaches. Our critical, hesitant teachers need to hear positive remarks from teachers using 1-to-1. It should be emphasized that technology issues will occur from time to time, but due to improvements at the district network level, problems are manageable and can be quickly resolved. We need to see examples of technology being used in classrooms of our content areas, with students that have similar backgrounds to our own. It may not need to be traveling to see these teachers in action- perhaps using technology (Skype, video casting) to view the successful use of 1-to-1 would be enough to instill confidence in the initiative and
excitement toward the possibilities.