Technology is Changing the Face of a 21st Century Education
"Perhaps the biggest promise of technology is that it can mass-personalize, per an individual student's learning style. It strengthens education because it scaffolds the learner in multiple learning dimensions - visual, auditory or tactile, for example," he adds. "Technology also motivates, because young learners are drawn to it; and it connects them to a world of people and information."
-Charles Fadel Cisco's Education Global Lead |
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Index: |
BYOD Proposal Questions
How do we intend to use the tablets provided or devices students bring in? What grade? What classes? What group of students? How will your assessment data be considered in this decision?
We explore the answer to this question more thoroughly throughout this site. But in terms of class usage, we teach an age range from 9-12th grade and would ask for a class set of approximately 35 tablets. We would plan to share usage of the class set, scheduling by day and/or period.
You can see specifically what tablets in our classrooms might look like here.
For BYOD, what do you do when students don’t have their own device?
There are several differentiation options for students without their own devices. One alternative would be to have students collaborating, or working in small groups/pairs. A second option would be to alternate usage days (A/B days). Students would be aware ahead of time to which group they belong, and when their scheduled days are. Thirdly, teachers could split class time. With 90 minute periods, we could easily group instruction. Have two lessons going on congruently and then rotate; one that involves the tablets and one that does not. Next, given the wireless hotspot, students could rotate between usage of a tablet and their own personal device. Finally, utilize school-supplied technology. We have access to CPS clickers, computer labs, and portable laptops. This serves a major advantage in expanding the use of BYOD. While at first it may appear that there would be no purpose to supplying LHS with this technology. However, from a cost effective perspective, Linganore is more prepared for this type of implementation than many other schools. We can enhance the use of technology found otherwise faulty without the advantage of an open wireless network, expand with a staff that already has development and training, and work with students who are already using technology on multiple devices and formats. This allows Linganore a unique opportunity to do with BYOD in one semester what many others can not. We do not need to spend time implementing and training- we already have that. We can hit the ground running. We also have access to tools and experience with applications that make BYOD more universal outside of the tablets. At Linganore, we would not be dependent on a class set of tablets and figuring out ways to work around problems. We have applications with computer labs, portable laptops, student owned devices, and other resources- like projecting through an interactive whiteboard (Smartboard or Promethean). One problem we have spent troubleshooting at Linganore has been network access and reliability. Many of our devices go unused by the less persistent because of this. BYOD could take Linganore High School to a whole new level of technology integration and our data output would be significantly more diverse than a school only beginning to work with tablets.
What curricular connections and student outcomes do you intend to target?
This question is explored on the Common Core Curriculum page. We also explore specific FCPS curricular objectives in the Reading and Writing Units under Bloom's Taxonomy. In just our classrooms alone, we can target over 150 students, ranging in age from 14-18, and of differentiated abilities. Through school wide professional development and instruction, we can target using BYOD with over 1500 students! Running monthly after school sessions with applications will allow us time and ability to work with teachers in other curricular subjects. Starting student development sessions will allow us to give students outside of our classrooms a chance to work with the technology they may not see in their own classrooms. One idea that has come up would be starting a BYOD Club for the 2013-2014 school year. This would be run with combined efforts from trained teachers in order to show students how they can be using their phones, tablets, and laptops to further their education. It will also allow us to establish student leaders in the community who can help outreach the technology to less fortunate or technology-able students. This is just one of many ways we can utilize the technology at LHS.
How does your proposal support the Salient 5?
Our use of technology supports all five aspects of Salient 5, and will continue to do so with the addition of tablets and / or BYOD wireless technology. We teach our students to use technology as a form of expression as well as a format of delivery for both formative and summative assessments, and in preparing them for college and career readiness. Our students are a mobile generation, and preparing them for a college and career path that will inevitably include global interaction and technology interaction is key to success. This style of diversification in learning is also effective in AP, SAT, HSA, and ACT testing. Many of the different types of technology mentioned on this page easily meet these criteria. Much like the goal of Salient 5, we look to prepare our students for jobs in the 21st century by giving them options and allowing them to use critical thinking skills to determine which type of technology can help them meet their needs in the most efficient way possible. You can see more information on the Salient 5 Page!
What would students be doing with the devices?
This question is explored more thoroughly throughout this website. See what will BYOD look like and the stages of BLOOMS Digital Taxonomy.
Are you considering utilization of particular programs, applications, and/or online resources? If so, provide detail.
This question is explored more thoroughly throughout this website following the progression of Blooms Digital Taxonomy and also on the What BYOD will look like page.
How will you measure effectiveness?
This question is explored more thoroughly throughout this website, notably under each phase of Bloom's Taxonomy we provide a sample rubric for each assignment. Additionally, a more general assessment outline has been provided under The General Assessment page. We plan to measure instructional effectiveness through project based assignments, including frequent formative assessments, etc. We also plan to keep records of how well the tablets measure up to the performance expectations and how well the BYOD wireless works through our frequent surveys and interview processes. You can see a brief sample survey on our General Assessments page, but another aspect would include parent feedback through email surveys, correspondence, and access to our blog updates/ twitter feeds/ newsletter-type updates/feedback. This opens communication up for students and parents to let us know what works and what needs improvement. The most important parts of planning a BYOD program are communication, support, patience, and feedback. Inevitably, as with any technology implementation, nothing is fool proof. The full support of students, parents, and administration as we navigate the best practicum is invaluable.
How will you work to safeguard student safety/acceptable use issues?
The first step is to teach proper usage and care of the technology. Students need to know the basics: how to turn on/off, maintain battery life, store, clean, reboot/update, etc. Students also need to know about FCPS policy Reg 400-73. Letting students know about the policy and supplying copies to parents sets a tone for appropriate use. Next, and this is very important, students need to take ownership of responsible digital citizenship (see the lesson on the above page). Before we can expect students to maintain responsible and productive online identities, they need to be taught how. They also need to take ownership of this information by applying it to their own lives. Finally, as with any classroom activity, it is important to vet and monitor any application students are using. Applications that allow teachers to directly monitor comments, posts, and activities are especially useful, as are apps that sync directly between tablets. Applications should be secure and students should not have administrative abilities. More importantly, however, they need to understand clearly the purpose, guidelines, expectations, and assessment of each activity. In this sense, you monitor and mange the same way you do in the classroom- through presence and feedback. You can also utilize any number of the behavioral management and encouragement applications (like badges). In the end, the benefit to digital learning is the footprint: students are aware they are always monitored and therefore more careful in their usage and construction. Commonsense Media has also supplied various age-appropriate units/lessons for teaching an expansive digital literacy, citizenship, and footprint. This can be seen on the responsible digital citizenship page. Also, utilizing Linganore's journalism and media resources, LHS can create a webcast similar to this one (from North Canton City Schools) which advertises the impeding BYOD initiative and offers explanation in addition to explanation of policies and procedures. Letting students and parents know it's coming, and keeping the webcast running through announcements and on the webpage, establishes a foundation for responsible use and accountability.
How will your school (outside of the BYOD/Tablet component) take advantage of the wireless environment?
Our school is filled with teachers who are eager to use the technology we have available. Many teachers already use the wireless environment we have for our students, but like the two of us they can see where we can take it further. By providing us with a BYOD type of wireless environment we can encourage students to bring their own devices to school and take ownership of their learning, rather than just providing them with our own materials. Teachers in our building encourage the use of technology already and will continue to do so with a new sense of excitement if provided with this opportunity. Also, see Kate Lane's proposal for use with the Little Lancers Program on the "What Will BYOD Look Like" page
What training and/or professional development do you require, and from whom?
Having worked for so long with various forms of technology and web applications, being tablet owners ourselves, and working with Tony Bollino over the past 3 school years, we both feel confident that we would need very limited training and professional development in order to successfully pilot this program. Our training would be limited to necessary instructions for establishing accessibility and care of tablets, and goals/specifics from central office. As far as the applications and technology itself, we both feel extremely confident that we are more than able to not only use the tablets, but instruct students in proper care and application as well. You can see specific examples of what we do (and will continue to do) in our classrooms on the About Us Page. Not only are we using websites to keep our students engaged and informed, but we are using social media (Edmodo) to keep them collaborating with each other. Additionally, we use technologies to keep our students connected (remind101 and twitter) and to turn them into publishers (wikispaces and blogs)! Our students have been collaborating, tweeting, blogging, posting, presenting, tagging, researching, highlighting, searching, creating, cartooning, embedding, etc for many years and we have been documenting.. and troubleshooting... the process along with way. This year alone, our students have downloaded and used the following free apps on their own personal devices: edmodo, mindmeister, voicethread, edublogs, remind101, twitter, quizlet, diigo, flickr, and more!
We explore the answer to this question more thoroughly throughout this site. But in terms of class usage, we teach an age range from 9-12th grade and would ask for a class set of approximately 35 tablets. We would plan to share usage of the class set, scheduling by day and/or period.
You can see specifically what tablets in our classrooms might look like here.
For BYOD, what do you do when students don’t have their own device?
There are several differentiation options for students without their own devices. One alternative would be to have students collaborating, or working in small groups/pairs. A second option would be to alternate usage days (A/B days). Students would be aware ahead of time to which group they belong, and when their scheduled days are. Thirdly, teachers could split class time. With 90 minute periods, we could easily group instruction. Have two lessons going on congruently and then rotate; one that involves the tablets and one that does not. Next, given the wireless hotspot, students could rotate between usage of a tablet and their own personal device. Finally, utilize school-supplied technology. We have access to CPS clickers, computer labs, and portable laptops. This serves a major advantage in expanding the use of BYOD. While at first it may appear that there would be no purpose to supplying LHS with this technology. However, from a cost effective perspective, Linganore is more prepared for this type of implementation than many other schools. We can enhance the use of technology found otherwise faulty without the advantage of an open wireless network, expand with a staff that already has development and training, and work with students who are already using technology on multiple devices and formats. This allows Linganore a unique opportunity to do with BYOD in one semester what many others can not. We do not need to spend time implementing and training- we already have that. We can hit the ground running. We also have access to tools and experience with applications that make BYOD more universal outside of the tablets. At Linganore, we would not be dependent on a class set of tablets and figuring out ways to work around problems. We have applications with computer labs, portable laptops, student owned devices, and other resources- like projecting through an interactive whiteboard (Smartboard or Promethean). One problem we have spent troubleshooting at Linganore has been network access and reliability. Many of our devices go unused by the less persistent because of this. BYOD could take Linganore High School to a whole new level of technology integration and our data output would be significantly more diverse than a school only beginning to work with tablets.
What curricular connections and student outcomes do you intend to target?
This question is explored on the Common Core Curriculum page. We also explore specific FCPS curricular objectives in the Reading and Writing Units under Bloom's Taxonomy. In just our classrooms alone, we can target over 150 students, ranging in age from 14-18, and of differentiated abilities. Through school wide professional development and instruction, we can target using BYOD with over 1500 students! Running monthly after school sessions with applications will allow us time and ability to work with teachers in other curricular subjects. Starting student development sessions will allow us to give students outside of our classrooms a chance to work with the technology they may not see in their own classrooms. One idea that has come up would be starting a BYOD Club for the 2013-2014 school year. This would be run with combined efforts from trained teachers in order to show students how they can be using their phones, tablets, and laptops to further their education. It will also allow us to establish student leaders in the community who can help outreach the technology to less fortunate or technology-able students. This is just one of many ways we can utilize the technology at LHS.
How does your proposal support the Salient 5?
Our use of technology supports all five aspects of Salient 5, and will continue to do so with the addition of tablets and / or BYOD wireless technology. We teach our students to use technology as a form of expression as well as a format of delivery for both formative and summative assessments, and in preparing them for college and career readiness. Our students are a mobile generation, and preparing them for a college and career path that will inevitably include global interaction and technology interaction is key to success. This style of diversification in learning is also effective in AP, SAT, HSA, and ACT testing. Many of the different types of technology mentioned on this page easily meet these criteria. Much like the goal of Salient 5, we look to prepare our students for jobs in the 21st century by giving them options and allowing them to use critical thinking skills to determine which type of technology can help them meet their needs in the most efficient way possible. You can see more information on the Salient 5 Page!
What would students be doing with the devices?
This question is explored more thoroughly throughout this website. See what will BYOD look like and the stages of BLOOMS Digital Taxonomy.
Are you considering utilization of particular programs, applications, and/or online resources? If so, provide detail.
This question is explored more thoroughly throughout this website following the progression of Blooms Digital Taxonomy and also on the What BYOD will look like page.
How will you measure effectiveness?
This question is explored more thoroughly throughout this website, notably under each phase of Bloom's Taxonomy we provide a sample rubric for each assignment. Additionally, a more general assessment outline has been provided under The General Assessment page. We plan to measure instructional effectiveness through project based assignments, including frequent formative assessments, etc. We also plan to keep records of how well the tablets measure up to the performance expectations and how well the BYOD wireless works through our frequent surveys and interview processes. You can see a brief sample survey on our General Assessments page, but another aspect would include parent feedback through email surveys, correspondence, and access to our blog updates/ twitter feeds/ newsletter-type updates/feedback. This opens communication up for students and parents to let us know what works and what needs improvement. The most important parts of planning a BYOD program are communication, support, patience, and feedback. Inevitably, as with any technology implementation, nothing is fool proof. The full support of students, parents, and administration as we navigate the best practicum is invaluable.
How will you work to safeguard student safety/acceptable use issues?
The first step is to teach proper usage and care of the technology. Students need to know the basics: how to turn on/off, maintain battery life, store, clean, reboot/update, etc. Students also need to know about FCPS policy Reg 400-73. Letting students know about the policy and supplying copies to parents sets a tone for appropriate use. Next, and this is very important, students need to take ownership of responsible digital citizenship (see the lesson on the above page). Before we can expect students to maintain responsible and productive online identities, they need to be taught how. They also need to take ownership of this information by applying it to their own lives. Finally, as with any classroom activity, it is important to vet and monitor any application students are using. Applications that allow teachers to directly monitor comments, posts, and activities are especially useful, as are apps that sync directly between tablets. Applications should be secure and students should not have administrative abilities. More importantly, however, they need to understand clearly the purpose, guidelines, expectations, and assessment of each activity. In this sense, you monitor and mange the same way you do in the classroom- through presence and feedback. You can also utilize any number of the behavioral management and encouragement applications (like badges). In the end, the benefit to digital learning is the footprint: students are aware they are always monitored and therefore more careful in their usage and construction. Commonsense Media has also supplied various age-appropriate units/lessons for teaching an expansive digital literacy, citizenship, and footprint. This can be seen on the responsible digital citizenship page. Also, utilizing Linganore's journalism and media resources, LHS can create a webcast similar to this one (from North Canton City Schools) which advertises the impeding BYOD initiative and offers explanation in addition to explanation of policies and procedures. Letting students and parents know it's coming, and keeping the webcast running through announcements and on the webpage, establishes a foundation for responsible use and accountability.
How will your school (outside of the BYOD/Tablet component) take advantage of the wireless environment?
Our school is filled with teachers who are eager to use the technology we have available. Many teachers already use the wireless environment we have for our students, but like the two of us they can see where we can take it further. By providing us with a BYOD type of wireless environment we can encourage students to bring their own devices to school and take ownership of their learning, rather than just providing them with our own materials. Teachers in our building encourage the use of technology already and will continue to do so with a new sense of excitement if provided with this opportunity. Also, see Kate Lane's proposal for use with the Little Lancers Program on the "What Will BYOD Look Like" page
What training and/or professional development do you require, and from whom?
Having worked for so long with various forms of technology and web applications, being tablet owners ourselves, and working with Tony Bollino over the past 3 school years, we both feel confident that we would need very limited training and professional development in order to successfully pilot this program. Our training would be limited to necessary instructions for establishing accessibility and care of tablets, and goals/specifics from central office. As far as the applications and technology itself, we both feel extremely confident that we are more than able to not only use the tablets, but instruct students in proper care and application as well. You can see specific examples of what we do (and will continue to do) in our classrooms on the About Us Page. Not only are we using websites to keep our students engaged and informed, but we are using social media (Edmodo) to keep them collaborating with each other. Additionally, we use technologies to keep our students connected (remind101 and twitter) and to turn them into publishers (wikispaces and blogs)! Our students have been collaborating, tweeting, blogging, posting, presenting, tagging, researching, highlighting, searching, creating, cartooning, embedding, etc for many years and we have been documenting.. and troubleshooting... the process along with way. This year alone, our students have downloaded and used the following free apps on their own personal devices: edmodo, mindmeister, voicethread, edublogs, remind101, twitter, quizlet, diigo, flickr, and more!
See BYOD Across the Nation...
Source:
Andrew Church's Bloom's Digital Taxonomy
blooms_digital_taxonomy_v3.01.pdf | |
File Size: | 14300 kb |
File Type: |