The ticker…

…is quite extensive. Faculty meet individually with our principal and technology director to discuss ways in which they are using- and want to use- different types of technologies in their classrooms to better engage students. At these meetings they also get a chance to discuss feedback provided by student, parent and teacher surveys. In the summer, faculty meet in the library for 2-3 days to work on ways to use new technologies in their classrooms. Small group collaboration and impromptu “how-to” sessions are the norm during these sessions. In the fall, faculty conduct peer observations in which they sit in on a colleague’s class and then have a chance afterwards to share ideas and ask questions. Faculty also meet 3-4 times a year to discuss key questions related to student engagement and learning in the classroom, as well as to look at new websites, software and technologies that others are using. Finally, teachers are encouraged to present their technology “expertise” to others via our website Promising Practices page, and at conferences around the state and country.  Links:

• Student tech survey 2009
• Teacher Survey
• Peer Observation standards
• Key questions to ask in group meetings
• Promising Practices on-line
• Diagram of the complete professional development cycle
• Format, questionss and results of individual teacher meetings

The on-line course software used by most U-High students and teachers, Blackboard, will be undergoing a major upgrade to version 9 the week of June 1. You will immediately notice a new look to the program, and more importantly, everything becomes “drag and drop”; that is, you’ll be able to drag and drop items between areas. In addition, almost every item includes a drop-down menu that will make it easier for you to do things you want to do.

When Dr. Carol Benson was scheduled to be away from her U-High math classes for a period of time, she was concerned about losing contact with her students. She wanted to make sure she was available to them through more than just email and telephone. After consulting with colleagues and friends, she came up with the strategy of using Skype, an internet free phone/video web-based software package, and OneNote live to interact with her classes.

Here’s how it worked: at the beginning of class, Dr. Benson and her substitute teacher in U-High room 216 would connect via Skype. Dr. Benson would send the class her One Note live session internet address and the substitute would project OneNote on the screen in the classroom so that the class could talk to her, listen to some lecture, and ask questions; Dr. Benson could even look into her students’ faces to see if they understood. 

Dr. Benson could keep in close contact with her class (the next best thing to being there) and still enjoy the view in Alaska (note the visitors to the back yard where she was staying.)

As part of a culture unit in Jean Gorski’s Sociology class, her students conducted research about aspects of Korean history and culture and then made Power Point presentations to their classmates about their topics.  Sample topics included Korean fads, the Korean War, Korean Buddhism, and gender issues in Korea.  Her students then visited the economics wiki of Mr. Kevin Duncan, an American teacher currently working in Korea, and viewed semester projects created by his students. U-High students then did some research about those topics and responded to the Korean students via a discussion thread.  Finally, students videotaped themselves asking questions about Korean life (mostly about KIS), and the Korean students responded.

“My students really enjoyed watching the video clips of their Korean counterparts,” said Ms. Gorski.  “The Korean students’ answers were so much more ‘real’ in that format(as opposed to a discussion board) and helped my students learn so much just by observing the class.”

Here is the link  to Mr. Duncan’s wiki in Korea that students accessed; you can see photos of the two classes of Korean students as well as the videos of U-High students asking questions about KIS (Korea International School) and his students answering them.

We continue to investigate the possibility of buying and equipping all students with netbooks/tablets for the 2010-11 school year.  A surge of new machines from a wide variety of vendors makes this option potentially affordable. This market is expected to change dramatically over the next years as a flurry of low-cost portables with touch screen capability come out. Some of the machines we are looking at right now: The ASUS eeePC prices at $349 and includes a 9.5 hour battery. The tablet version of this pc is expected in May. http://promos.asus.com/US/Spotlight/Feb2009/1000HE_Story.html

We also just purchased and are testing a Classmate 2 tablet from CTL. This low-cost unit is extremely durable and has been well-reviewed by a number of publications. Tablet features make it a good choice for use in our math and science classrooms. At the moment, it’s a rather pricey $500, but we expect prices to fall over the next year.

An oddball entry in this market comes from Web 2.0 Mogul Michael Arrington. He’s been developing a $200 tablet that features no keyboard. Initial thoughts from this end are that the specs are too lightweight, though the cost is appealing. You can view more here: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/04/leaked-photos-w.html.

We’ll be meeting extensively with both parents and students over the next 9 months to look at the issues associated with this type of initiative. If you have an interest in being part of this, please send a note (jmkurz@ilstu.edu)!

Students conducted an inquiry lab looking at two variables, pressure and volume, in relationship to gasses. In the experiment, students moved a plunger in to increase pressure while decreasing the volume of the gas inside while holding the sample of gas and the temperature constant. Attached probes measured the pressure increase and fed that data onto the screens of the tablet pcs that each group had at its station. Students used Vernier Logger Pro & Graphical Analysis software to capture and plot that data into a graph using 8 separate data points.

“The students’ level of understanding of this concept is really improved by them being able to see it hands-on,” said teacher Janeice Ives. “Having the tablets and software there allows them to see and manipulate data in a very precise way.”

In Jim Potter’s French III class, students were asked to use their French language skills and a number of technology resources to plan a spring break trip to France. During the planning process, students wrote a letter to reserve a room in a hotel, used a number of interent travel sites to find transportation to and from France including train transportation to the specific city, planned an itinerary, and made a Photo Story presentation to highlight their chosen trip city. You can view the entire unit plan here and a sample student project here.

One of the hottest areas in pc sales these days is the purchase of netbooks, small, lightweight computers that typically cost under $400. We are intrigued by the possibilities that these open up for U-High students in future years. Even now, $350 models sport 10″ screens, 4-5 hour battery life, and almost full-sized keyboards, and at less than 3 pounds, they are lighter to carry around than a typical textbook. Principal Jeff Hill has been using a $400 netbook for all of his work, and has found it to be extremely full-featured and easy to transport. Student-owned computers would enable all U-High classes to have access to computer software as well as the interent at any time. Going forward, we’re going to be looking at the issues that arise when you talk about student-owned computers including software costs, support, surfing safety, and computer security to try to figure out if this presents a good option in the future. Let us know if you are interested in being on our student or parent groups looking at these issues!

Helping students engage in effective research is an important goal of a U-High education, and the school’s library staff have long played a key role. Now, using technology, Librarian Anita Beaman is piloting a virtual librarian program to make herself available to students during the school day directly from their classroom computers. Students will be able to use instant messaging to ask questions related to classroom topics, with Anita providing timely responses to help them along in their projects. Students can get “better-than-google” research help without leaving the classroom, and the librarian can reach out to students all over the building at any time of the school day.  Several U-High classes will pilot the program this spring and if successful, it will be available to all students in the coming school year.

Teacher Katie Orrego has been using wikis- basically an on-line document that everyone can contribute to- to help students learn vocabulary in her Spanish class. You can view their site at “wikispaces” and take a closer look at how they created the site here.