NolinPhysics

I was having trouble getting the local clickers we purchased in Taiwan working with resources purchased from the text publisher.  We were encouraged to buy locally because the Taiwan military makes it very difficult to import certain electronics like clickers.  Anyway, because of all this mix up, I came across Pool Everywhere on the internet.  Pool everywhere may be the best solution to my problem, at least in the short term until I am able to get Smart Clickers.

For my project, I will plan a unit using Poll Everywhere clickers in my lessons.  I think the
students will really like this as they will be able to use their cellphones for educational purposes in the classroom…..could be a first at TAS.  I also think this is possible a glimpse of the future classrooms.  As I alluded to in my last post, One-To-One Going Public, classrooms across the globe will be moving towards every student having a handheld (either a smartphone or tablet) in the next 5 to 10 years.  With prices dropping and most students having a smartphone anyway, it is a resource waiting to be exploited by the classroom teacher.  So I will give it a try to stay a ahead of the curve.

As a science teacher I find it easy, almost natural to use the computer in the classroom.  Virtually everyday students are using their computers in the classroom.  My classroom has become almost paperless since the school went one-to-one with computers.  Tests are one online Blackboard. Homework is done online with WebAssign.  Many labs are done using the Vernier software, LoggerPro and then the lab reports are written up using Google docs.   All handouts are posted on Blackboard.  Students can follow PowerPoint lessons or SmartBoard lessons by downloading them from BlackBoard.  As well, Dyknow is used  where the lesson appears on the students screens.   There is very little need for me to print something for the class.

As far as classroom management of the laptop goes, I have very few concerns.  Partly because I am teaching Honors and AP classes I have more motivated students than regular
classes.  So I have fewer and less serious misuse of laptop issues.  If I am teaching and I see a student looking at their screens too much, I usually say something smart like, “stop chatting with so and so”.  If the students are on task which they often are, they tell me what they were doing.  If not they usually just get back on task.   I am a little less worried about this near the end of class.  If students have worked hard all class (which they usually do), I usually cut them a little slack and not be overly vigilant near the end.  If they are working on problems or writing up a lab, I usually walk around periodically to see their screens.  As well, I also use Dyknow monitoring when I am giving a test or sometimes just as a random check if they are on task.  Just last Friday I did this by projecting the off task students screen onto the SmartBoard; www.NBA.com.

With computers steadily dropping in price I can see a major change in education on the horizon, especially public education.  Over the next 5 to 10 years more and more schools will be going one-to-one.  As the cost of laptops, tablets, and handhelds drop it becomes that much more affordable and enticing for school divisions to move in that direction.  At some point there will be a tipping point, where enough schools have gone one-to-one that the rest will rapidly follow.  Kind of like scientific calculators where just 15 years ago.  I remember the school I was at then.  They had a class set of TI-83 calculators that teachers had to sign out and cart into class.  The cost back then was more than $100 a pop.  Not that far off what a simple laptop runs today and if you take inflation into consideration probably about the same as a laptop cost today in relative dollars.  Teachers are going to have to adapt.  Colleges of education are going to have to adapt. There will be a flood of new teaching pedagogy coming out on how to use technology in a one-to-one setting.  The amount of resources on the net will explode as more people start to post lessons they are developing.  Curriculums will be re-written to better align with a one-to-one classroom. Certain skills that were once important will be removed from curriculums.

These changes are not just for public education on rich countries either.  Developing countries will be able to afford handhelds too just like they can afford cars.  Countries like India, Venezuela, Brazil, Russia, and China all have programs where car companies put out a line of cars that the lower class can afford.  It is causing an explosion in the number of cars on the road.  A similar thing will happen with one-to-one education in these countries.  An educational handheld model will be promoted joinlty by governments, educational institutions, and tech companies.

Our school just had a PD day with Dr. Michelle Borba presenting a workshop on building moral intelligence.  There were a few things that really caught my attention.  One was that research says that moral intelligence can be taught. Researchers can tell within seconds which child is susceptible to being bullied and which kids are more likely to bully.  My own 5 year old has been the victim of bullying so I was especially keen to hear what she had to say about this.  Borba says that one way to help children not be bullied is to teach children to make eye contact; to see the color of the speaker’s eyes.  Apparently, this is a big factor in reducing bullying.  My 5 year old never looks people in the eyes.  I know if I work with her on this she will be able to it.  So it was very encouraging to learn this information.

Another thing that struck a nerve inside me was when Dr. Borba read a quote from a holocaust survivor.  I don’t remember the exact wording but the message was that the victim witnessed Doctors do terrible experiments on people, nurses kill babies, and engineers build chambers to mass kill people.  All of them were well trained professionals from a school system.  The person doesn’t trust education.  It kind of made the audience think of the need for a moral education in our schools. I can’t help but think of terrorism today.  There are very intelligent people with great educational backgrounds making  bombs and designing weapons to mass kill in the name of some ideology.    And then I think to myself, what if a former student of mine got caught up in some of this?  Having worked in public education back home, I bet the chances are at least a few former students are up to no good; maybe not to the extreme of terrorism, but likely some are involved in things like organized crime.  God forbid they may be using some of the skills they learned in my sciences classes.

There are many variables and many people responsible to ensure that the technology standards are met in a school.  In the top international schools it starts at the hiring process.  Administrators need to hire qualified people who are not only experienced competent teachers in their subject matter, but also teachers who have the tech skills required for their particular school.  For example, in a one-to-one learning environment it is important the new teachers have the tech skills to not only survive but rather thrive when in a tech savvy school.  They shouldn’t see the tech at the new school as weight hanging over their shoulders, but rather as incredible support for better teaching.  It is hard enough to adjust to a new school let alone learn all the new tech skills at the new school if the teacher is not up on their tech. As mentioned before, the curriculum coordinator must also play an overseeing role in all of this.  With programs like Atlas Rubicon they have the tech support they need to ensure technology standards are being met.  After them there is the principal and department heads.  They too have access
to Atlas Rubicon and should be popping into classrooms to see what is going on.  From informal and form visits they can get an idea of the technology being used in the classrooms and the technology skills that students are learning and using.

LoggerPro Graph

I think the question depends on the grade level.  For elementary, there should be a separate class like PE, Music, or Library, where students go for a 30 minute class in a computer type room and a specialist works with them.  I say this from a point of view of a parent of a kindergartener.  My daughter has minimal tech time at home.  He mother and
I want her to be physically active rather than spending hours sitting down using technology like video games, watching TV, or playing with I-pods, I-phones.   So at home she is currently exposed to a nominal amount of technology.  Therefore, I think
the best way for her to gain the skills contained in the NETs would be for the school
to offer a separate class.

Speaking from the point of view of an US teacher, I don’t think a separate class is necessary, or at most an elective course for new students to TAS who don’t have the same background skill level as our current students.   The students that I teach have superb tech
skills.  They can do much more than I can do.  By the time they have gotten to US
they know or are able to learn on their own new tech skills.  For example, just the other day a student asked me how to paste their LoggerPro graph into their Google Doc lab
report.  The simple answer was to ask a classmate as almost all could help them.

To get back to the main question of who’s job is it to teach the NETs standards.  I think all teachershave some responsibly regardless of a school’s programs or make up.  Each teacher should have unit plans that target some NETs.  For teachers who are using
Best Practices, they probably don’t even worry about making sure they are
addressing the NETs in their units planning.  They are naturally just present.
I don’t think individual teachers should be concerned with meeting all the NETs.  Different subjects and different teaching style can more easily address certain NETs.  But if all the teachers are addressing some then the overall program will have all the standards addressed.  The person that should ensure they are in fact met is the curriculum coordinator.  They are the only ones who really take a look at the overall program on a regular basis.  Through programs like Atlas Rubicon they have access to everyone’s unit plans.  They should therefore, be overseeing that all the NETs are not only in the curriculum but are being implemented at a school as well.  If they identify gaps then it
is their responsibility to work with teachers to fill them.  For example, if it was brought to the staff attention that none of the US teachers where addressing one particular NET, then it would be easy for some department to take role in addressing that.