-TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION, VISION-
Julie Bohnenkamp
HIGH TECH JOURNEY
I'd like to consider myself a "change agent." After years in the field, I have watched new technologies emerge into the field and become just part of our daily practices. I have had the chance to experience how people react to change. I hope to capture some of my "lessons learned" through this site.
Let's Hear It For the Girls
I was honored to be a guest speaker at the ITGIRLS Club at Center Grove Middle School North. If we are to continue to build the field of technology innovators, we all should recognize the importance of mentoring young girls and supporting their interest in the field. They came up with a list of questions and you can find my answers to the questions at http://tinyurl.com/pxybqk5.
In their last question, they asked me to sum up what it has been like to be an IT Girl. My answer was....... "rewarding."
Making GAINS with SAMR
In support of our "Mobile Minds" 1:1 iPad project, I spoke to the Center Grove High School Professional Development Committee about the SAMR Model for Technology Integration today. In one of our activities, this group of professionals was asked to give specific examples that they have already implemented with their students and what category of the model the activities should be classified in. In a few short months, teachers report that they are using the app Socrative for quick checks for understanding, exit responses at the end of class, as well as student input. Educreations is a powerful app that is being utilized to redefine a topic, student-to-student teaching, and creation of student-led presentations over specific problems with their audio and shared with other students. Google Docs is a favorite especially for real-time peer editing. Our English teachers are using Haiku Deck for visual character analysis. The iPad Camera is being used in thoughtful ways for taking pictures to demonstrate different stages in all subjects and in Science labs for observational purposes. Videolicious is used for students to give introductions at the start of the year by student-to-student prepared interviews and then posted in our CMS -Canvas- on a discussion board so the entire class can review and respond. Data and instant feedback is one of the positive benefits of technology. Our teachers understand the power of instant feedback and use our SIS -Skyward- for electronic quizzes and Socrative for quick feedback. Neu.annotate is used to annotate feedback for students and then electronically sent back to students via the CMS -Canvas.
Realizing that projects of this sort take time to reach full implementation, I am quite impressed at the headway we are making in our Mobile Minds project.
Go Straight to the Source!
When you are seeking out the true impact of transforming classrooms with the integration of a mobile device, I would suggest reaching out to the students. While visiting classrooms today at Center Grove High School, I had the pleasure to speak with hundreds of students about the project. I asked them to list the pros and cons. They immediately raised their hands and started listing all of the pros of having an iPad at their 24/7 "beck and call". Interesting enough, the only negative was that they could not print directly from the iPad. Students easily and quickly listed the following benefits after only two months .
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When they miss school, they can still keep up with the work by having access to their course content on their iPad, including classroom instructional videos, handouts, and assignments.
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They loved the fact that their backpack is no longer heavy! With the addition of the iPad and multimedia/digital resources, students no longer have to bring their books to school. In fact, most of their content is on their iPad.
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Studying for a test is much more efficient! All of the notes and papers necessary for preparing for an exam are all in one place on the iPad.
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Information is at their fingertips. Students loved the fact that the iPad is an instant-on device with no wait time for login.
To sum up our Mobile MInds project at this time, I will quote a high school senior, Kayley, in a Psychology class today. "It took a little getting used to, but now I can't imagine living without it."
Center Grove Teachers Give Specific Examples for their Collegues
Professional Development Takes a Village
I'm becoming increasingly aware of the importance of shared ownership in the success of a large-scale project. An educational initiative with a shared vision as well as a highly innovative professional development plan increases the likelihood of success. Success of a 1:1 project would be described in terms of positive indicators towards student learning. In the case of the "Mobile Minds" project at Center Grove High School, the teachers, administration, and technology department all have ownership into the success of the project. With each playing an important role in the professional development of teachers AND students, we are already observing an increase in the utilization of the integration of the tool in the classroom. In reviewing the elements of effective professional development for technology use, I am encouraged to see a variety of these characteristics being modeled.
Collegial Learning - In this video, the high school assistant principal, Benji Betts, introduces the topic and Kelly Scholl, AP Physics teacher, discusses her use of an app called Videolicious with her students. She details her utilization and then invites her colleagues to discuss how this could be applied to their content area. This video is showed at each department meeting.
Active Participation of Teachers - Center Grove High School convened a teacher-led Professional Development Committee for the purposes of launching and supporting Mobile Minds. The teacher leaders meet to prepare and plan quality professional development. During their meetings, the district representatives assist and serve as consultants to the team. For example, the district literacy coach prepared a presentation on effective professional development modeling. I spoke on the SAMR model and gave example of how this would be our target for the future.
Ongoing Process - This team will support their teachers all year. We realize that professional development is not a "one-shot" workshop but an established learning environment where continued opportunities and conversations happen. As Speck stated "Professional development takes time and must be conducted over several years for significant change in educational practices to take place."
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT =1:1 Computing
In an effort to continuously look at data and what impact the Mobile Minds project is making at Center Grove High School and specifically in classrooms, we are in discussions with what type of data and observations we want to gather. The question of “How do we measure student engagement?” has been a challenge to us. In a recent article April 2012 by Edutopia magazine entitled “Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement” the students responses compiled broke down into ten different categories.
1) Working with their peers
2) Working with technology
3) Connecting the real world to the work we do
4) Clearly love what you do
5) Get out of Your seat
6) Bring in Visuals
7) Student choice
8) Understand your clients
9) MIx it up!
10) Be human
In an effort to identify student engagement with our 1:1 project, I have captured examples in this video describing activities based on one walk-through visit through Center Grove High School. 1:1 Moblile Computing = Student Engagement