As we begin to imagine and discuss what technology will be like in the next five years, I don’t want to forget where we are now. The school, facilities, equipment, and personnel, has made tremendous advancements over the past 10 years. We live and work in a truly technology-rich environment.
As you look at the equipment, software, and procedures that we have established so far consider
- What do you really like?
- What makes the job of a teacher easier and more effective?
- What parts of the technology “infrastructure” could we could expand or use even more?
Note: There will be other posts for concerns and complaints. These comments should focus on the positive.
I love the idea of a wireless environment – I just wish my classroom was connected – I have a router in my room that is not connected.
I like the electronic grading concept – not a huge fan of the program we use, I have used others in the past that are more user friendly – ThinkWave Educator was one.
My vision for the technology ‘infrastructure’ is a pc/laptop at every desk, not with every student, and a pda for each student to use to link up with the pc in each classroom.
I would LOVE to have a PC at every desk. I don’t know how we ever afford that. Not only would this require new types of desks, but we would probably have to redo the wiring of the entire campus.
I’m in complete agreement that the model we should be pursuing is completely portable data. Machines will be used in several places and take several forms, but the data will be accessible anywhere.
I really like GradeQuick and Edline. Edline is beneficial for both myself and my students as I can post assignments, website links, PowerPoints, lesson schedules and miscellaneous items. It is also beneficial for parents who want to keep up on their child(ren)’s grades and assignments/tests. Prior to Edline I used to have to complete many grade check forms and send out emails with grade updates.
What I like is the CPS system. If you haven’t heard of CPS or seen them, you must. Each student has a wireless device about the size of a remote control, the teacher has a USB wireless base station that connects to each of these “remotes” and there is software on the teacher’s computer that displays a question (MCQ or T or F). Once the question is projected on the screen, the students press the corresponidng button on the remote and the answers are immediately sent to the teacher computer, tabulated, scored and can be sent to GradeQuick. Is that cool or what?! Karin Peterson has all the remotes and basestation and she can check these babies out to whoever wants to use them.
View this website http://blueclickers.com/ and see what all this is about.
It helps a lot if you have Exam View test bank on your computer because you can import the questions directly from Exam View into the CPS software. Also Karin has the technology to import the classes and student names into the CPS suite and she knows how to export the grades back into GradeQuick.