The New York Times reported yesterday that Liverpool High School in Liverpool, New York is phasing out its student laptop program. The article is a perfect illustration of exactly what schools do wrong when they issue laptops to each student.

[T]echnology is often embraced by philanthropists and political leaders as a quick fix, only to leave teachers flummoxed about how best to integrate the new gadgets into curriculums.

The article’s refrain seems to be that teachers didn’t know what to do with the laptops, students only played with them, and nothing of any educational value happened as a result.

I am fortunate to teach at a school where students can reasonably be expected to have access to a computer at home. We have a wonderful computer lab at school. In fact, I am currently debating with myself whether it’s feasible to require my students to purchase a USB flash drive as part of their school supplies for my class next year (they are currently available online for as low as $9, which is certainly less than the graphing calculators required in math). I mention this because I think it illustrates the level of comfort our school community feels with technology. Many of our students bring their own laptops to school.

Because access to technology is not a problem for my students, I am perhaps not the best person to comment on whether laptop programs are valuable or not, as they are not relevant to me. I was disturbed by some elements of the article. Was there not one teacher who used the laptops in innovative, educationally sound way? No use of wikis or blogs, no research? No composition using word processors or presentation software? I just can’t believe no one found the laptops valuable at all.

Second, I am confused about what the school authorities hoped to accomplish in issuing laptops without first offering professional development to educators. I also cannot understand why the school didn’t anticipate the problems that ensued with students’ misuse of the laptops. In the photograph at the top of the article, it looks as though the student using the laptop has even applied stickers to it. What sort of discussion about how the computer should be handled was generated? The stickers are not exactly small, and if the student has been using the laptop in class, surely someone has seen them. I probably shouldn’t even get into the appropriateness of the student’s attire, but did a school that allows students to wear shirts that seem to advocate underage drinking actually expect its students to know how to take care of and properly use a school-issued computer?

It sounds to me as if the faculty was resistant to the idea of using the laptops, but the school authorities were convinced the computers would be a panacea — test scores and grades would magically rise just because students had 24-hour access to a laptop. That is simply not the case, and of course studies coming out now showing no difference between schools who have embraced laptops versus those who haven’t are going to bear that out. However, standardized tests cannot very well measure some of the learning that takes place in Web 2.0 classrooms:

Mark Warschauer, an education professor at the University of California at Irvine and author of “Laptops and Literacy: Learning in the Wireless Classroom” (Teachers College Press, 2006), also found no evidence that laptops increased state test scores in a study of 10 schools in California and Maine from 2003 to 2005…

But Mr. Warschauer, who supports laptop programs, said schools like Liverpool might be giving up too soon because it takes time to train teachers to use the new technology and integrate it into their classes. For instance, he pointed to students at a middle school in Yarmouth, Me., who used their laptops to create a Spanish book for poor children in Guatemala and debate Supreme Court cases found online.

“Where laptops and Internet use make a difference are in innovation, creativity, autonomy and independent research,” he said.

Integrating technology comes with its own set of problems, and if you really expect positive results, you have to address those problems head-on. The overall tone of the article is clearly biased against the laptops — it does not appear to me that much effort was expended to find examples of innovation and creativity in learning with laptops. I have to agree that throwing laptops at the students and expecting something great to happen as a result is foolish at best, but schools have to decide what results they would like to achieve and actually work toward achieving those results, just as they do with any set of standards in any field of study. We don’t check out books to students and expect them to learn course material themselves. Why should we expect that tactic to work with laptops?

[tags]laptops, education, New York Times, Web 2.0[/tags]

I mentioned the fact that I use a SMARTBoard interactive white board in my classes, and I have received an e-mail and a comment about SMARTBoards.  In my book, if two people are wondering about it, perhaps it warrants a post.  Before I begin, however, I need to issue a disclaimer.  I haven’t used other interactive white boards, so I’m not sure how they work.  Second, I don’t work for SMART Technologies, and I am not necessarily endorsing their product.  I am very happy with their product, but it could be that other interactive white boards are just as good.  Finally, I need to add that this is my first year teaching with a SMARTBoard, and I don’t know it inside-out myself yet, so I haven’t begun to figure out all its potential uses; I can only speak to how it has transformed my own class.

What is a SMARTBoard?  It is an interactive white board, which means that it is hooked up to my classroom computer and works much like a touch-screen monitor.  I can access any program on my computer from the SMARTBoard at the front of the room.  Here is an FAQ for the kind of SMARTBoard I have.

SMARTBoards come bundled with software specifically for use with the SMARTBoard, including gallery content and templates.  I think the math materials look pretty good, but I will be the first to admit that the content provided for English/language arts is elementary and not really helpful for high school.  However, if you keep in mind that you are only limited by what you can do with a computer, then the fact that the bundled content isn’t that great shouldn’t be a problem.

What do I do with my own SMARTBoard?  The biggest way in which my SMARTBoard has changed my teaching is that I am able to save notes written on the board in class.  I tend to save them as pdf files so that my students can download them at home, but they can also be saved as SMART Notebook files (for which one has to have free SMART software installed), images, and Power Point files.  I write on the board as I would any white board, but the difference is I don’t have to erase.  I can add as many new pages as I need to add to get the content up, and then I can save the whole thing.  I can copy and paste images into my notes, as I did when I wanted to show students the parts of a Greek theater (see the second page).

I use the SMARTBoard to access the Internet in class.  We have viewed YouTube videos with the SMARTBoard (it’s also great for displaying DVD’s played through the computer).  I also have used it to demonstrate how to do something in a computer program, such as how to login to our class blog and post an entry, how to alter our wiki, or how to manipulate text in programs such as Word.  It’s so easy to demonstrate how to do something on the computer with a SMARTBoard.

Another frequent activity my students do on the SMARTBoard is correcting usage errors.  Many language arts teachers may be familiar with the DOL activity in which students are presented with two sentences containing grammar, usage, and mechanical errors.  The students learn grammar through correcting the errors.  What I am able to do with DOL’s on the SMARTBoard is type the sentences up in Power Point and display them.  Students come to the board and make the corrections using proofreading marks (which has an added benefit in that they understand what the marks mean on their own papers when I use the marks).

SMARTBoards work great with Power Point presentations, enabling the presenter to switch slides easily.  One can also write on the slide using the SMARTBoard pens to add information or clarify or emphasize a point.  You know how it is when you’re a teacher — it’s easier to keep tabs on all the students if you’re in front of the room, and a SMARTBoard enables you to access your computer from the front.

One thing I really like about having a SMARTBoard is that if a student has a question I can’t answer, we can explore it together right then.  I can pull up the Internet and we can search for the answer.

I know many other features exist, and as I said, I am still learning all the uses myself.  For instance, I know that I can record our SMARTBoard sessions like a video.  One of our math teachers can access the graphing calculator and demonstrate calculations.  You are only limited by your creativity and what you can do with a computer.

[tags]SMARTBoard, interactive white board, technology, education[/tags]

I am excited about using blogs and wikis in the classroom, and my students have used both to create content, discuss books, discuss writing and grammar, and to share their ideas. You can see their work at Room 303 Blog and Mrs. Huff’s English Classroom Wiki. I have to admit I’m daunted by podcasting for some reason. Many educators are beginning to use podcasting to great effect. Mike Hetherington and Bud Hunt have used podcasts to great effect, and I know both Will Richardson and David Warlick champion their use. I know there are many others, and if you know of someone or are someone using podcasting, please show me so I can check it out.

On Wednesday my freshman are going to participate in Socratic Seminar on the topic “Who is responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths?” I had a brainwave that it would make an excellent podcast, but frankly, I’m not sure we have the proper tools to make one. I’m checking into that. At any rate, don’t look for a podcast soon. A certain level of comfort is required, and I’m not quite there yet. I also want my students to be prepared for and comfortable with doing one. I don’t think springing the idea that their discussion will be recorded the day before they have it would be a good idea.

I guess you could say I’m in the exploratory stage; I’m not ruling out podcasts in the future, but I’m not ready for one yet. However, you can learn about how one school is using podcasting to share what they’re learning about Jamestown in this 400th year of its founding.

You know, I don’t even own an MP3 player? I look longingly at them behind the glass in my local department store, but I have not yet been able to sock away the funds necessary to purchase one.

[tags]podcasting, education[/tags]

Ample Sanity provided two intriguing links that English teachers might enjoy.

The Free Library offers “free free, full-text versions of classic literary works from hundreds of celebrated authors, whose biographies, images, and famous quotations can also be found on the site” as well as “a massive collection of periodicals from hundreds of leading publications.” I spent about five minutes on the site and was immediately hooked. The potential for use in schools is enormous.

DailyLit offers books via e-mail to those “too busy for books.” I scratched my head at first, but then realized that this idea has a lot of potential. I know that I have trouble finding time to read books with three kids and a full time job. I sometime feel like I don’t read enough (I can impose more guilt trips on myself, I swear!), but I always have a book going. Getting books via e-mail can ensure that I will spend at least a few minutes reading, and the selection is great. I think I’m finally going to read Moby Dick.

[tags]Free Library, DailyLit[/tags]

What do you think schools will look like in ten years? In twenty? I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey today, and it made me think. In some ways, the 1968 film was oddly prescient about what the year 2001 would look like, but in others it missed the mark entirely. I have found this to be true in many works of science fiction. Predicting the future is incredibly difficult. Thinking about this made me remember a film made by Karl Fisch back in November:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=7281108124087435381" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]

I graduated from college in 1997 — ten years ago this year. I started teaching during the 1997-1998 school year. I taught at a poor, rural school in Middle Georgia. We didn’t have computers in the classroom. I can’t remember a computer lab or other widespread computer access, but I do remember we had to save our grades on a computer disk. I did mine on a laptop that had been a graduation gift. I can’t remember what the other teachers did. I realize that we had less than many other schools; the school where I did my student teaching had two computer labs. My supervising teacher had a computer in her classroom, but I think that was because she was the Journalism teacher and needed it to lay out the newspaper.

For the next three years, I taught at my alma mater, Warner Robins High, and we had classroom computers. We had a document camera in one classroom, and we thought it was amazing. I know we had a lab, but it was difficult to get into. I had to plan far in advance for time in the lab. This is probably still true in many places. I left that school in the year 2001.

I taught pre-K for a year, then returned to public schools, teaching middle school in suburban Atlanta. Again, we had a computer lab, but competition was even more fierce. I observed a class and saw my first online scavenger hunt, and I thought it was amazing. A fellow teacher had students reading online articles to learn about the Middle East. A peer showed us how to create Jeopardy games using Power Point software. It was hard to get my hands on the projector, however.

I began teaching at Weber in the year 2004. I had a computer in my classroom and access to computer lab most of the time when I needed it (provided someone hadn’t signed up before me — which rarely happened, and not because no one used it, but because our school is small). One of our teachers used a SMART Board. I couldn’t even imagine all it might do.

When we moved into our new building, I received a SMART Board. We have two sizable computer labs with new computers. All of us who had computers older than two years old received new classroom computers (I was one). The SMART Board has so completely transformed my teaching that I’m not sure how I did without it. I introduced my colleagues to blogs and wikis in the classroom on our January staff development day.

My point in recounting all of this is that in my first year of teaching, I hardly could have imagined what might be available to my students and me as far as technology, and this was ten years ago. I suppose some possibilties in the next ten years might include the following:

• Widespread use of laptops. I would say about 20-50% of my students use them, but I do teach at a somewhat affluent private school. In the future, as laptop prices drop and schools become forced to be more open to technology, I think laptops will be everywhere.
• Interactive white boards (SMART boards) will be commonplace. Mine has transformed my classroom, and I cannot help but feel it will have a similar effect on others.
• Blogging and wikis will be used widely in education; in many circles, they may be required. The middle school where I worked required us to use School Notes. I think my administrators are reluctant to require all teachers to have websites, but mine has been well-received by parents (even if it hasn’t quite been used by the students as much as I wish they would).
• Increasingly, teachers will be responsible for teaching students to navigate the sometimes murky waters of technology; lest we hope such education would be relegated to parents alone, I remind you (or inform you, if you didn’t know) that character education is required by the state of Georgia.
• Students will increasingly produce products such as videos, podcasts, websites, and the like for school.
• Students might one day opt for distance learning, plugging in to a school across the country, if they wish, to learn from the comfort of their own home.

That barely scratches the surface. What do you think the future holds in store for education?

[tags]technology, education, future[/tags]