Note-taking is a very important skill that students can use in many classes to help them better organize and learn. The process of note-taking can be very valuable because it helps the note taker make the information meaningful, stay focused on what is being said, and identify important concepts. In addition, students are able to review notes taken to help them recall key points, apply them to future projects and use them to study for tests. With the WBAIS laptop program in full functioning mode, paper-and-pencil note-taking continues to fade away and note taking becomes more and more high tech.
Teachers at WBAIS offer several opportunities for students to take notes with their laptops. During HS lectures, teachers often ask students to take notes. In addition, students in both the middle school (MS) and high school (HS) take digital notes when researching for projects, similar to the way they used to use note cards.
Digital note-taking programs offer students options that they don't have available with pencil-and-paper. For example, most programs allow the note-taker to quickly move ideas around a page while taking notes, highlighting along the way. In addition, some note-taking software allows students to add images, audio and video files to their notes, as well as automatically pull citations for bibliography use directly from websites.
Students and teachers in the MS and the HS have lately been experimenting with a wide variety of note-taking programs. In the MS Microsoft OneNote seems to be catching on. Often utilized in the business world, OneNote can help students gather, organize and store information in individualized ways, especially for research.
Also, some students, especially in Resource and ELL classes, have been using open source Webspiration, a graphic organizing tool that helps students map out ideas and thoughts.
Other note-taking programs happening around campus include the ubiquitous GoogleDocs, which allows for web-based storage and easy access almost anywhere. Blogs are also being employed as note-taking devices. In some classes teachers select individual students to take notes, which then are shared with the group at large.
Other note-taking programs exist: Note Scribe, Take Note, Sticky Notes, Tiny Notepad, etc. One of these should probably work for your child.
So as the school year continues, students in our MS and HS will probably try out a number of the note-taking options available. Hopefully, each student will discover which program works for him.
Resources:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote/default.aspx
http://www.mywebspiration.com/
http://docs.google.com/#all
http://www.notescribe.net
http://www.takenote.com
http://www.sticky-notes.net
http://www.sharewareconnection.com/tiny-notepad.htm
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Going Digital 9: HS Laptop Program
The first quarter of the school year recently ended and with it the first quarter of the WBAIS high school laptop program. Without a doubt, across the the wide spectrum of the high school curriculum, each student's laptop clearly functions as an essential in-class learning tool.
In science, students analyze animations, do simulations, and create labs straight on their laptops rather than through overhead projection. Also, students often answer teacher-generated questions on their laptops to show that they can apply concepts learned. During labs the students work with laptops by reading instructions and filling in tables with data from experiments. Specifically in physics, students draw graphs using computer applications, especially programs for regression lines for various correlations between variables.
In Middle East History, as a small group of students discuss thought-provoking issues in the center of the class, the other class members backchannel, allowing them to be "quiet" participants through live blogging comment and reflection. Later on their teacher has easy access to their comments and reviews, offers feedback, and evaluates their backchanneling.
Students in AP English 11 have benefitted from the technology to develop their cross-curricular research notecards and outlines as well as to search on-line using many internet resources and search engines. Yes, students still use books for research but now more than ever they incorporate on-line books through sites like Questia and GoogleBooks.
In other ways in the humanities classes students employ laptops. In several social studies classes, power point presentations are viewed through Blackboard as reviews for tests; in AP English, students see posted documents in Blackboard, replacing multiple paper copies; in AP English 12, students blog their creative writing and then share via the internet or through the class projector. And in Art History, students create charts for each unit (ie. Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek, etc.), allowing them to insert the most pertinent information such as the name of art piece, its date, the culture, the important characteristics – all of which is a fantastic learning and study tool.
The Study Skills course unit on Information Literacy allows students learn how to search the Internet, to stay safe online, and to use digital collections and Web 2.0 tools for research papers.
Resource and ELL teachers utilize laptops in many ways too. Inspiration and its sister program Webspiration, software programs that help students who have written language deficits, are visual graphic organizers that help students with the pre-writing stage by turning ideas into an outline. Also, simple word processing on laptops greatly enhances how well teachers can foster student learning and improve the steps of the writing process. And students in Resource classes take advantage of a variety of assistive technology programs to address their learning needs like Kurzweil, which reads text and also allows students to highlight and extract highlighted text in a formatted manner. It is a tool that teachers can use for testing too.
In the Modern Language Department, laptops are integral. Students access online newspapers and read texts based on individual reading skills. Videos and speakers are also available for oral comprehension, and students blog in writing or report back orally using their laptops. Specifically in upper level and AP Spanish, students experience interactive exercises and online literary readings.
Finally, in mathematics, laptops often figure in class learning. Geometer's Sketchpad, a dynamic software for exploring math, enables the students to examine, construct and measure geometric sketches in a tangible, visual way, which reinforces a more complete understanding of the core concepts of Geometry. In Algebra, Excel is also a great asset in improving student evaluation of expressions. Also, students sometimes work with a math website to solve a series of problems to unlock a number of boxes to win. The answers to the problems are then used as the address to get to the next box. And like in many subjects, worksheets and lab activities appear on Blackboard for the students rather than on photocopied pages.
Even though our high school laptop program has only been functioning for a few months, teachers and students clearly have discovered many benefits with the technology. No doubt student laptop usage will continue to grow. Teachers will discover and apply more innovative educational activities with the technology. And students will continue to learn on the cutting edge of technology.
In science, students analyze animations, do simulations, and create labs straight on their laptops rather than through overhead projection. Also, students often answer teacher-generated questions on their laptops to show that they can apply concepts learned. During labs the students work with laptops by reading instructions and filling in tables with data from experiments. Specifically in physics, students draw graphs using computer applications, especially programs for regression lines for various correlations between variables.
In Middle East History, as a small group of students discuss thought-provoking issues in the center of the class, the other class members backchannel, allowing them to be "quiet" participants through live blogging comment and reflection. Later on their teacher has easy access to their comments and reviews, offers feedback, and evaluates their backchanneling.
Students in AP English 11 have benefitted from the technology to develop their cross-curricular research notecards and outlines as well as to search on-line using many internet resources and search engines. Yes, students still use books for research but now more than ever they incorporate on-line books through sites like Questia and GoogleBooks.
In other ways in the humanities classes students employ laptops. In several social studies classes, power point presentations are viewed through Blackboard as reviews for tests; in AP English, students see posted documents in Blackboard, replacing multiple paper copies; in AP English 12, students blog their creative writing and then share via the internet or through the class projector. And in Art History, students create charts for each unit (ie. Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek, etc.), allowing them to insert the most pertinent information such as the name of art piece, its date, the culture, the important characteristics – all of which is a fantastic learning and study tool.
The Study Skills course unit on Information Literacy allows students learn how to search the Internet, to stay safe online, and to use digital collections and Web 2.0 tools for research papers.
Resource and ELL teachers utilize laptops in many ways too. Inspiration and its sister program Webspiration, software programs that help students who have written language deficits, are visual graphic organizers that help students with the pre-writing stage by turning ideas into an outline. Also, simple word processing on laptops greatly enhances how well teachers can foster student learning and improve the steps of the writing process. And students in Resource classes take advantage of a variety of assistive technology programs to address their learning needs like Kurzweil, which reads text and also allows students to highlight and extract highlighted text in a formatted manner. It is a tool that teachers can use for testing too.
In the Modern Language Department, laptops are integral. Students access online newspapers and read texts based on individual reading skills. Videos and speakers are also available for oral comprehension, and students blog in writing or report back orally using their laptops. Specifically in upper level and AP Spanish, students experience interactive exercises and online literary readings.
Finally, in mathematics, laptops often figure in class learning. Geometer's Sketchpad, a dynamic software for exploring math, enables the students to examine, construct and measure geometric sketches in a tangible, visual way, which reinforces a more complete understanding of the core concepts of Geometry. In Algebra, Excel is also a great asset in improving student evaluation of expressions. Also, students sometimes work with a math website to solve a series of problems to unlock a number of boxes to win. The answers to the problems are then used as the address to get to the next box. And like in many subjects, worksheets and lab activities appear on Blackboard for the students rather than on photocopied pages.
Even though our high school laptop program has only been functioning for a few months, teachers and students clearly have discovered many benefits with the technology. No doubt student laptop usage will continue to grow. Teachers will discover and apply more innovative educational activities with the technology. And students will continue to learn on the cutting edge of technology.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Going Digital 8: MS Laptop Program
How does it work?
This year as the WBAIS high school begins its first year with laptops, the middle school has moved into the final stage of implementing its 1-to-1 program.
All sixth, seventh and eighth graders at WBAIS are now using school-purchased laptops every day on campus. Seventh and eighth graders have the option of taking their computers home, while sixth graders are presently checking them out on a daily basis. (This policy may be changed later in the year at the discretion of the 6th grade teachers.) Checkout is conducted from our new Laptop Center, located below the library in Room 475, where students pick up their laptops every morning between 7:45-8:07 a.m. and return them at the end of the day.
What do the middle schoolers do with their laptops?
Middle school students use their laptops in a variety of ways throughout the school day. Here are a few examples:
• In science classes, students have digital microscopes available to plug in to their laptop to take photos and videos. They can also use digital probeware to find the temperature and pH of substances they are observing. Also, students manipulate data on their laptops, writing up lab reports as shared documents.
• Humanities students use their laptops for web-based research projects. They sometimes listen to audio books online, complete literature analysis in graphic format and play online vocabulary games. In addition, they visit daily websites that directly correlate to literature and history topics covered. Finally, humanities students produce and share presentations in a variety of formats.
• As part of the mathematics program, students are introduced to new topics by watching brief online videos. Their math skills are reinforced when they visit online puzzle and practice sites like Quia, Math Forum and AAA Math. Later in the year, sixth and seventh grade math textbooks will be available online.
• Laptops are used in many other middle school courses, including ELL and modern language classes and a variety of exploratory classes such as Robotics, Stock Market and Info Tech.
What can parents do to support the program?
Parents of middle school students who take their laptops home should make sure that their children remember to bring their laptops to school every day and that they arrive fully charged each morning.
For those with children who check out their computers on a daily basis, please make sure the students arrive at school early enough to check out their computers from the Laptop Center.
Even with middle schoolers, it’s a good idea to ask about their school day. When doing this, be sure to question them about how they are using their laptops and ask them to share some of their digital experiences!
References
WBAIS library online collections
USB Microscopes
Quia Online Games for vocabulary and more
Brainpop Educational Videos
Math Forum
AAA Math
NY Times article on digital textbooks
This year as the WBAIS high school begins its first year with laptops, the middle school has moved into the final stage of implementing its 1-to-1 program.
All sixth, seventh and eighth graders at WBAIS are now using school-purchased laptops every day on campus. Seventh and eighth graders have the option of taking their computers home, while sixth graders are presently checking them out on a daily basis. (This policy may be changed later in the year at the discretion of the 6th grade teachers.) Checkout is conducted from our new Laptop Center, located below the library in Room 475, where students pick up their laptops every morning between 7:45-8:07 a.m. and return them at the end of the day.
What do the middle schoolers do with their laptops?Middle school students use their laptops in a variety of ways throughout the school day. Here are a few examples:
• In science classes, students have digital microscopes available to plug in to their laptop to take photos and videos. They can also use digital probeware to find the temperature and pH of substances they are observing. Also, students manipulate data on their laptops, writing up lab reports as shared documents.
• Humanities students use their laptops for web-based research projects. They sometimes listen to audio books online, complete literature analysis in graphic format and play online vocabulary games. In addition, they visit daily websites that directly correlate to literature and history topics covered. Finally, humanities students produce and share presentations in a variety of formats.
• As part of the mathematics program, students are introduced to new topics by watching brief online videos. Their math skills are reinforced when they visit online puzzle and practice sites like Quia, Math Forum and AAA Math. Later in the year, sixth and seventh grade math textbooks will be available online.
• Laptops are used in many other middle school courses, including ELL and modern language classes and a variety of exploratory classes such as Robotics, Stock Market and Info Tech.
What can parents do to support the program?
Parents of middle school students who take their laptops home should make sure that their children remember to bring their laptops to school every day and that they arrive fully charged each morning.
For those with children who check out their computers on a daily basis, please make sure the students arrive at school early enough to check out their computers from the Laptop Center.
Even with middle schoolers, it’s a good idea to ask about their school day. When doing this, be sure to question them about how they are using their laptops and ask them to share some of their digital experiences!
References
WBAIS library online collections
USB Microscopes
Quia Online Games for vocabulary and more
Brainpop Educational Videos
Math Forum
AAA Math
NY Times article on digital textbooks
Monday, June 08, 2009
23 Things to Do Over the Summer
Whether it began because of Michael Jordan's jersey, someone special's birthday date or just a convenient number, the number 23 has caught on recently as the ideal number of "things to learn" in technology. This spring our library staff guided a group of teachers through the K12 Learning's "23 Things About Web 2.0" program where they learned about things such as podcasts, wikis, and social bookmarking; PC World published "23 Things to do with a Thumb Drive" and the Design for Learning blog has a post entitled "23 Things about Classroom Computers"
With vacation approaching quickly, the tech department is proud to present "23 Things to Do Over the Summer" - a list of technology based activities for both you and your child. We hope you will find these activities both interesting and enjoyable!
At this time we bid farewell to Steve Roberts, tech coordinator and Kim Eggerton, tech team member. We will miss you both tremendously and wish you all the best in your new locations.
Have a safe, fun vacation!
The WBAIS Tech Team
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 Things to Do Over the Summer
1. Purchase a new family laptop. As part of our one-to-one laptop program in 2009-2010 ALL high school students will be REQUIRED to bring a laptop to school. If you have not yet purchased a laptop for your child to use in school, this summer is the time to do it! Talk to your child about his/her computer use and do research together to find the machine that best meets your budget along with these needs, then go buy your new computer and start using it!
2. Organize and clean up your email. Delete messages that you no longer need, including those in your "Sent Mail" and "Trash" folders. Organize the remaining messages with a folder or tagging system and leave your "Inbox" for new incoming messages only.
3. Create a family blog about your summer travels. You can easily do this by signing up to use Google's blogger tool (http://www.blogger.com) or any other free blogging program.
4. Learn more about the features of your family's digital camera. Read the manual or simply play with the different buttons! Many camera companies also include online instruction on how to use your camera, so be sure to check out the site of your camera's manufacturer for more ideas.
5. Make an online photo album of your family's summer activities and share it with others. There are a number of free online tools to do this, including PicasaWeb (http://picasaweb.com), Photobucket (http://photobucket.com), Flickr (http://www.flickr.com), Kodak Gallery (http://kodakgallery.com) and others.
6. Create a book of your travel photos. Many photo storage sites (like those listed above) include this feature. If you are a Hebrew speaker, you may also be interested in the Lupa program (http://lupa.co.il) for creating photo books and t-shirts.
7. Use Google Docs (http://docs.google.com)to write a collaborative story about your summer, along with your children and others who share in your travels.
8. Ask your child to show you the social networking sites that s/he uses (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, Ning, etc.). If you don't already have one, open up an account of your own and get in touch with some old friends in a new way!
9. Find a game you played as a child that now has an online version and teach your child how to play, like Scrabble, Monopoly, Risk, Gin Rummy, Go Fish, etc.
10. Practice keyboarding skills! Use the program we teach with in school, UltraKey, by purchasing it or downloading its trial version (http://bytesoflearning.com/english/view/807), take some online typing lessons at a site such as "Typing Lessons" (http://www.typing-lessons.org), or play some typing games at a site such as "Free Typing Games" (http://www.freetypinggame.net)
11. Go to the Atomic Learning (http://atomiclearning.com) website, log in with our school's community log in and password (available through our library site) and learn something new about various software and programs. Lessons in Atomic Learning range start at less than a minute long so you can easily split your studying into short or long sessions depending on your time.
12. Check out the WBAIS Library's blog for parents (http://aisparents.blogspot.com or click on "Library Buzz - Parents" from the library home page). Their most recent post is about Summer Reading but you will also find past articles full of interesting information.
13. Take apart an old computer and explore its contents, visiting a site such as How Stuff Works (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pc.htm) to learn more about what you see.
14. Create a podcast about your favorite hobby. If you do not have software to do this on your home computer, you can download Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) program for free. If you do use Audacity and want to create mp3 files of your podcasts, be sure to download the "lame" file as well at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows.
15. Organize your music files on iTunes or a similar program for storing music.
16. Have your child teach you how to play a game that s/he likes to play on the computer.
17. Send your favorite WBAIS photo to our tech team for posting on the school's web site.
18. Have your child go to the WBAIS Library's blog for students (http://libbuzzstudent.blogspot.com or or click on "Library Buzz - Students" from the library home page).
19. Plan a road trip using GoogleMaps (http://maps.google.com)
20. Make a podcast where you read a book to your child, then have him/her listen to it while following along in the book Your older children can do this for their siblings as well! If you do not have software to do this on your home computer, you can download Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) program for free. If you do use Audacity and want to create mp3 files of your podcasts, be sure to download the "lame" file as well at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows.
21. Download the program Jing (free at http://www.jingproject.com) and create a video to teach others how to do something you're good at doing on your computer.
22. Read and comment on posts in the WBAIS TechTalk blog (http://wbaistech.blogspot.com)
23. Think of your own, original technology based project. Share your idea with others by clicking on the "comments" button below this post in the WBAIS TechTalk blog (http://wbaistech.blogspot.com)!
With vacation approaching quickly, the tech department is proud to present "23 Things to Do Over the Summer" - a list of technology based activities for both you and your child. We hope you will find these activities both interesting and enjoyable!
At this time we bid farewell to Steve Roberts, tech coordinator and Kim Eggerton, tech team member. We will miss you both tremendously and wish you all the best in your new locations.
Have a safe, fun vacation!
The WBAIS Tech Team
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
23 Things to Do Over the Summer
1. Purchase a new family laptop. As part of our one-to-one laptop program in 2009-2010 ALL high school students will be REQUIRED to bring a laptop to school. If you have not yet purchased a laptop for your child to use in school, this summer is the time to do it! Talk to your child about his/her computer use and do research together to find the machine that best meets your budget along with these needs, then go buy your new computer and start using it!
2. Organize and clean up your email. Delete messages that you no longer need, including those in your "Sent Mail" and "Trash" folders. Organize the remaining messages with a folder or tagging system and leave your "Inbox" for new incoming messages only.
3. Create a family blog about your summer travels. You can easily do this by signing up to use Google's blogger tool (http://www.blogger.com) or any other free blogging program.
4. Learn more about the features of your family's digital camera. Read the manual or simply play with the different buttons! Many camera companies also include online instruction on how to use your camera, so be sure to check out the site of your camera's manufacturer for more ideas.
5. Make an online photo album of your family's summer activities and share it with others. There are a number of free online tools to do this, including PicasaWeb (http://picasaweb.com), Photobucket (http://photobucket.com), Flickr (http://www.flickr.com), Kodak Gallery (http://kodakgallery.com) and others.
6. Create a book of your travel photos. Many photo storage sites (like those listed above) include this feature. If you are a Hebrew speaker, you may also be interested in the Lupa program (http://lupa.co.il) for creating photo books and t-shirts.
7. Use Google Docs (http://docs.google.com)to write a collaborative story about your summer, along with your children and others who share in your travels.
8. Ask your child to show you the social networking sites that s/he uses (i.e. Facebook, MySpace, Ning, etc.). If you don't already have one, open up an account of your own and get in touch with some old friends in a new way!
9. Find a game you played as a child that now has an online version and teach your child how to play, like Scrabble, Monopoly, Risk, Gin Rummy, Go Fish, etc.
10. Practice keyboarding skills! Use the program we teach with in school, UltraKey, by purchasing it or downloading its trial version (http://bytesoflearning.com/english/view/807), take some online typing lessons at a site such as "Typing Lessons" (http://www.typing-lessons.org), or play some typing games at a site such as "Free Typing Games" (http://www.freetypinggame.net)
11. Go to the Atomic Learning (http://atomiclearning.com) website, log in with our school's community log in and password (available through our library site) and learn something new about various software and programs. Lessons in Atomic Learning range start at less than a minute long so you can easily split your studying into short or long sessions depending on your time.
12. Check out the WBAIS Library's blog for parents (http://aisparents.blogspot.com or click on "Library Buzz - Parents" from the library home page). Their most recent post is about Summer Reading but you will also find past articles full of interesting information.
13. Take apart an old computer and explore its contents, visiting a site such as How Stuff Works (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pc.htm) to learn more about what you see.
14. Create a podcast about your favorite hobby. If you do not have software to do this on your home computer, you can download Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) program for free. If you do use Audacity and want to create mp3 files of your podcasts, be sure to download the "lame" file as well at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows.
15. Organize your music files on iTunes or a similar program for storing music.
16. Have your child teach you how to play a game that s/he likes to play on the computer.
17. Send your favorite WBAIS photo to our tech team for posting on the school's web site.
18. Have your child go to the WBAIS Library's blog for students (http://libbuzzstudent.blogspot.com or or click on "Library Buzz - Students" from the library home page).
19. Plan a road trip using GoogleMaps (http://maps.google.com)
20. Make a podcast where you read a book to your child, then have him/her listen to it while following along in the book Your older children can do this for their siblings as well! If you do not have software to do this on your home computer, you can download Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) program for free. If you do use Audacity and want to create mp3 files of your podcasts, be sure to download the "lame" file as well at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows.
21. Download the program Jing (free at http://www.jingproject.com) and create a video to teach others how to do something you're good at doing on your computer.
22. Read and comment on posts in the WBAIS TechTalk blog (http://wbaistech.blogspot.com)
23. Think of your own, original technology based project. Share your idea with others by clicking on the "comments" button below this post in the WBAIS TechTalk blog (http://wbaistech.blogspot.com)!
Going Digital 7: Sharing with Others
On Sunday, May 31 two members of the tech department were invited to the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa to talk about our technology program here at WBAIS. The presentation focused on our current use of Blackboard and Google Apps, as well as the history and implications of our laptop program.
Questions from the Leo Baeck staff reminded us of those that have been raised by our own staff as we have gone through similar stages with our program. It was a pleasure to be able to share knowledge that we have gained with others, discussing how we have worked with our own staff to get where we are today. In addition, various programs and sites* that have been useful to our staff were shared with the group.
Throughout the implementation of our own school's technology program we have looked to others, to learn from their experience and to gain ideas. We look forward to continued collaboration with other international schools, as well as local schools, as we move forward with our own technology program.
*Programs and sites mentioned in our visit to Haifa:
Blackboard Online Learning System: http://blackboard.com
Google Apps for Sharing and Collaboration: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html
Quia for Creating Online Activities and Tests: http://www.quia.com
WBAIS Presentation to Staff on Lifelong Learning: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df79qwfs_229hgsmg5gs
Videos about Classroom Management in a One-to-One Laptop Program: http://www.irvingisd.net/one2one/classroom_management/cm_video_series.htm
Questions from the Leo Baeck staff reminded us of those that have been raised by our own staff as we have gone through similar stages with our program. It was a pleasure to be able to share knowledge that we have gained with others, discussing how we have worked with our own staff to get where we are today. In addition, various programs and sites* that have been useful to our staff were shared with the group.
Throughout the implementation of our own school's technology program we have looked to others, to learn from their experience and to gain ideas. We look forward to continued collaboration with other international schools, as well as local schools, as we move forward with our own technology program.
*Programs and sites mentioned in our visit to Haifa:
Blackboard Online Learning System: http://blackboard.com
Google Apps for Sharing and Collaboration: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html
Quia for Creating Online Activities and Tests: http://www.quia.com
WBAIS Presentation to Staff on Lifelong Learning: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=df79qwfs_229hgsmg5gs
Videos about Classroom Management in a One-to-One Laptop Program: http://www.irvingisd.net/one2one/classroom_management/cm_video_series.htm
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Going Digital 6: 1 to 1 Learning - Share your Thoughts!
As WBAIS continues its evolution into a 21st century school, it is important that students have access to the tools that will build their digital literacy skills and prepare them for a 21st century workforce. 1 to 1 learning with the use of a mobile digital device is an initiative that WBAIS has implemented as part of this evolution. Family owned laptops used by all students in high school, school owned laptops used by all students in middle school, and sets of 1 to 1 laptops in upper elementary school will strive to meet the following objectives for WBAIS students:
Technology support is shared by users and the school. The technology department provides Internet access to all school community users who agree to follow the school's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Students and parents are responsible for the proper care and maintenance of school laptops as they are with band instruments, athletic uniforms and any other expensive equipment. Laptop maintenance and support depends upon ownership, warranty, configuration and usage and is provided accordingly by the tech support team.
As the use of digital tools in education increases to enhance teaching and learning, we continually seek the input of our community members to assist us in planning, clarification and use of technology at WBAIS. We would like to answer your questions and are interested in hearing what you have to say about our 1 to 1 program! Please visit our ongoing WBAIS Community Technology Survey (http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cEdBY2N6R3JaSmhsdzE4SHY4U21oTHc6MA) to communicate with the tech team on this topic.
Please submit each of your questions, recommendations and commendations separately . Feel free to return to this site as often as you like. Thank you for your input.
As stated in an earlier Tech Talk article, we believe “as so eloquently conveyed in The World is Flat, there is no turning back. New technologies will constantly emerge—and, with them, will come social, political, educational, and civic change. One-to-one learning ensures that students will be ready to seize such opportunities competently, intelligently, and with social conscience.” (From “One-to-One Learning, A Review Analysis” by the Metiri Group).
- Create virtual work spaces
- Explore and develop 21st century skills
- Improve student organizational skills
- Build digital literacy skills
- Practice digital citizenship skills
- Create a culture of academic and productive users
- Increase student engagement in learning activities
- Production of video and audio for assignments
- Use of multimedia resources
- Reading and writing blogs, journals and wikis
- Creating and listening to podcasts of class notes and assignments
- Online collaboration, sharing and communication
- Digital word processing, analyzing and diagramming
- Management and storage of files online
- Researching and presenting online
Technology support is shared by users and the school. The technology department provides Internet access to all school community users who agree to follow the school's Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Students and parents are responsible for the proper care and maintenance of school laptops as they are with band instruments, athletic uniforms and any other expensive equipment. Laptop maintenance and support depends upon ownership, warranty, configuration and usage and is provided accordingly by the tech support team.
As the use of digital tools in education increases to enhance teaching and learning, we continually seek the input of our community members to assist us in planning, clarification and use of technology at WBAIS. We would like to answer your questions and are interested in hearing what you have to say about our 1 to 1 program! Please visit our ongoing WBAIS Community Technology Survey (http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=cEdBY2N6R3JaSmhsdzE4SHY4U21oTHc6MA) to communicate with the tech team on this topic.
Please submit each of your questions, recommendations and commendations separately . Feel free to return to this site as often as you like. Thank you for your input.
As stated in an earlier Tech Talk article, we believe “as so eloquently conveyed in The World is Flat, there is no turning back. New technologies will constantly emerge—and, with them, will come social, political, educational, and civic change. One-to-one learning ensures that students will be ready to seize such opportunities competently, intelligently, and with social conscience.” (From “One-to-One Learning, A Review Analysis” by the Metiri Group).
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Digital Citizenship 5: A Message from Ms. Manners
Good manners and civilized social behavior has been traditionally taught by both parents and teachers. The same etiquette we've learned to apply to family, friends and professional relationships, carry into the digital world. It's important that we teach our children to apply these good manners to their use of digital tools. The following ten commandments are presented by Miss Manners as a way of extending our general behavior in society to the digital world.
1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.
3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's files.
4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
6. Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid.
7. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorization.
8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write.
10. Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect.
When in doubt about my manners in the digital world I ask myself a simple question, 'What would my grandma say?" I think many of us can recall an individual in our life who instilled in us the common since to apply good manners to a variety of settings. It's import that we instill in our children the same common sense when applying good manners in the digital settings. For more information on netiquette and internet safety you can visit the following sites.
http://course.cse.ust.hk/comp102/Info/digitethic.htm
http://www.edutopia.org/whats-next-2008-netiquette-guidelines#sidebar
http://www.edutopia.org/netiquette-guidelines
http://www.bpl.org/kids/netiquette.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Et8PzXHlcA&NR=1
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df79qwfs_149drc2x73g
http://netsmartkids.org/computers.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esj-PBmXjCU&feature=related
1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.
3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's files.
4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
6. Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid.
7. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorization.
8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write.
10. Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect.
When in doubt about my manners in the digital world I ask myself a simple question, 'What would my grandma say?" I think many of us can recall an individual in our life who instilled in us the common since to apply good manners to a variety of settings. It's import that we instill in our children the same common sense when applying good manners in the digital settings. For more information on netiquette and internet safety you can visit the following sites.
http://course.cse.ust.hk/comp102/Info/digitethic.htm
http://www.edutopia.org/whats-next-2008-netiquette-guidelines#sidebar
http://www.edutopia.org/netiquette-guidelines
http://www.bpl.org/kids/netiquette.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Et8PzXHlcA&NR=1
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df79qwfs_149drc2x73g
http://netsmartkids.org/computers.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esj-PBmXjCU&feature=related
Friday, March 06, 2009
Going Digital 5: Laptops Required for all High School Students for 2009-10 School Year
As WBAIS continues its evolution into a 21st century school, it is important that students have access to the tools that will build their digital literacy skills and prepare them for a 21st century workforce. For the past two years we have strongly recommended that students use their family-owned laptops to complete digital assignments at school. Next year, all high school students will be required to follow this college-model 1-to-1 laptop program by bringing their family-owned laptops to school when needed for learning activities. Currently 50 percent of our high school students have registered their family-owned digital assistants (laptops, net books, and/or itouches) for use on our school network. Our requirement is for 100 percent of our high school students to have their family-owned laptops registered and used on campus for the 2009-10 school year.
Why family owned in high school?
As opposed to the elementary and middle schools, our high school has a more diverse approach to laptops, in part because increasing numbers of family-owned laptops have been brought to the high school by students over the last three years. During the 2006-07 school year an estimated 40 family owned laptops were used on campus; this number has more than doubled with the move to the new campus and the increased use of computer resources by high school courses.
This diversity serves the high school students well because some benefit from inexpensive laptops, while others benefit from tablets or expensive laptops. Instead of trying to implement a uniform program as in middle school, this broad range of laptops in high school allows families to address the individual needs of their students. Fulfilling this goal for all students would be very difficult for a school our size. In addition, this makes sense in that high school students should develop the skills and maturity to care for their own laptops, as they will when they go on to university.
Why do we use the term “family-owned laptop”?
We believe in the importance of parent involvement when it comes to the use of the Internet and other digital tools by our students. Our young high school ladies and gentlemen still need parental guidance in the area of digital citizenship, digital manners and laptop care. Family-owned indicates that the laptop is shared by the family. Its use and data should be appropriate for any member of the family to operate and view. It is important that parents take an active role in monitoring the use of the laptop. The student needs to feel a since of responsibility to the family for the care and use of the laptop. While your high school student may be the primary and sometimes only user of the laptop, parents and other family member should feel free to use the laptop when not in use by the primary user. However the actual ownership, responsibility and use of the laptop are a family decision.
What laptop should our family purchase?
Your choice of laptop should match your child’s or family's needs. The educational program of some students only requires them to do Internet research, word processing and occasional multimedia presentations. In this case, simple, somewhat inexpensive laptops known as netbooks (such as the HP Mini Note or Lenovo IdeaPad) may meet their needs. Some 1-to-1 programs are even exploring the use of smart phones (such as the iPhone or Palm Treo) with Internet, word processing and spreadsheet applications to satisfy their school computing needs, but students should check the requirements of their class syllabuses before selecting this option. Some students who take multimedia-rich electives probably will prefer high-end laptops that easily handle video and other large graphic editing.
The nice thing about our program is that the choice and expense is up to you. To help you with this, you can use the following specifications as a guide when purchasing your family-owned laptop. Most school-related tasks can be accomplished with the following generic hardware specifications, the same guidelines we use for purchasing our desktop and laptop computers. Both Mac and PC models will meet these specifications. The laptop you choose may meet more, less or the same specifications depending upon your student’s needs.
* At least a 1.7 GHz processor,
* At least 1 GB of RAM
* 80 GB hard drive or higher
* 802.11 b or 802.11g integrated (internal) wireless network card
* Network/Internet: Built-in 10/100BT network card
* Combo drive DVD-R/CD-RW
* Ability to set multiple network connection location profiles
* Ports include Fire wire, USB x2, Ethernet, sound in and out, and data projector connectivity
* Built-in mic and speakers
* Battery life of 4 or more hours
* Good anti-virus software and spyware protection programs
* Three year repair and replacement warranties
Optional add-ons or replacements
* Software: Vendor’s educational bundle if available
* Protective case and bag for extra care and easy carrying.
* Extra battery of 4 or more hours of use between charges
* Extra power unit (cord and transformer)
* Additional memory and hard drive space is recommended for students doing video editing
To further explain the 1-to-1 family-owned program in high school and address some of your questions, we will have two information sessions during Parent Teacher Conference Day, on March 6, at 11 AM and 12 PM. Please plan to attend one of these sessions as your feedback will help us further customize the program to meet the needs of our school community. At that time we will also have local computer vendors on campus who can talk to you about their laptops and other digital assistant devices.
For more information about our 1-to-1 laptop program feel free to visit our Going Digital blog (currently being developed) and Tech Talk blog (which archives all our technology-related newsletter articles).
Keep Computing!
The WBAIS Tech Team
Why family owned in high school?
As opposed to the elementary and middle schools, our high school has a more diverse approach to laptops, in part because increasing numbers of family-owned laptops have been brought to the high school by students over the last three years. During the 2006-07 school year an estimated 40 family owned laptops were used on campus; this number has more than doubled with the move to the new campus and the increased use of computer resources by high school courses.
This diversity serves the high school students well because some benefit from inexpensive laptops, while others benefit from tablets or expensive laptops. Instead of trying to implement a uniform program as in middle school, this broad range of laptops in high school allows families to address the individual needs of their students. Fulfilling this goal for all students would be very difficult for a school our size. In addition, this makes sense in that high school students should develop the skills and maturity to care for their own laptops, as they will when they go on to university.
Why do we use the term “family-owned laptop”?
We believe in the importance of parent involvement when it comes to the use of the Internet and other digital tools by our students. Our young high school ladies and gentlemen still need parental guidance in the area of digital citizenship, digital manners and laptop care. Family-owned indicates that the laptop is shared by the family. Its use and data should be appropriate for any member of the family to operate and view. It is important that parents take an active role in monitoring the use of the laptop. The student needs to feel a since of responsibility to the family for the care and use of the laptop. While your high school student may be the primary and sometimes only user of the laptop, parents and other family member should feel free to use the laptop when not in use by the primary user. However the actual ownership, responsibility and use of the laptop are a family decision.
What laptop should our family purchase?
Your choice of laptop should match your child’s or family's needs. The educational program of some students only requires them to do Internet research, word processing and occasional multimedia presentations. In this case, simple, somewhat inexpensive laptops known as netbooks (such as the HP Mini Note or Lenovo IdeaPad) may meet their needs. Some 1-to-1 programs are even exploring the use of smart phones (such as the iPhone or Palm Treo) with Internet, word processing and spreadsheet applications to satisfy their school computing needs, but students should check the requirements of their class syllabuses before selecting this option. Some students who take multimedia-rich electives probably will prefer high-end laptops that easily handle video and other large graphic editing.
The nice thing about our program is that the choice and expense is up to you. To help you with this, you can use the following specifications as a guide when purchasing your family-owned laptop. Most school-related tasks can be accomplished with the following generic hardware specifications, the same guidelines we use for purchasing our desktop and laptop computers. Both Mac and PC models will meet these specifications. The laptop you choose may meet more, less or the same specifications depending upon your student’s needs.
* At least a 1.7 GHz processor,
* At least 1 GB of RAM
* 80 GB hard drive or higher
* 802.11 b or 802.11g integrated (internal) wireless network card
* Network/Internet: Built-in 10/100BT network card
* Combo drive DVD-R/CD-RW
* Ability to set multiple network connection location profiles
* Ports include Fire wire, USB x2, Ethernet, sound in and out, and data projector connectivity
* Built-in mic and speakers
* Battery life of 4 or more hours
* Good anti-virus software and spyware protection programs
* Three year repair and replacement warranties
Optional add-ons or replacements
* Software: Vendor’s educational bundle if available
* Protective case and bag for extra care and easy carrying.
* Extra battery of 4 or more hours of use between charges
* Extra power unit (cord and transformer)
* Additional memory and hard drive space is recommended for students doing video editing
To further explain the 1-to-1 family-owned program in high school and address some of your questions, we will have two information sessions during Parent Teacher Conference Day, on March 6, at 11 AM and 12 PM. Please plan to attend one of these sessions as your feedback will help us further customize the program to meet the needs of our school community. At that time we will also have local computer vendors on campus who can talk to you about their laptops and other digital assistant devices.
For more information about our 1-to-1 laptop program feel free to visit our Going Digital blog (currently being developed) and Tech Talk blog (which archives all our technology-related newsletter articles).
Keep Computing!
The WBAIS Tech Team
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Going Digital 4: ES Tech Program
Many of our recent newsletter articles have addressed our one-to-one laptop program. This program is being implemented this year in the 7th and 8th grades and will be extended to the entire middle school (school owned computers) and high school (family owned computers) next year. One may ask, “What about elementary school?” This article will address our current technology program for our younger students, highlighting ways we prepare them with 21st century skills.
Elementary school students work both in the lab and in the classroom on integrated projects as well as acquiring and reinforcing basic skills, sometimes through whole class instruction with the use of Smartboards and projectors and other times individually or in small groups on computers.
The kindergarten, first and second graders have a weekly time in the computer lab and third, fourth and fifth graders visit the lab according to projects they are working on. There are times when weeks may pass between projects but there are other times when these students may work in the lab twice or three times a day!
K-2 children’s weekly classes alternate between using educational software and online activities that reinforce topics covered in class and doing integrated audio, video and graphics projects. Some of the programs used include:
• Kidpix - Graphics (Grades K, 1 and 2)
• Mango Plumo Space and Weather (Grade 2)
• Fun with Architecture (Grades K and 1)
• Millie’s Math House, Sammy’s Science House and Trudy’s Time (Grades K, 1 and 2)
• Map Machine (Grade 1)
• Scholastic Keys (Grades 1-2)
Lower elementary students’ activities and work can be viewed by logging in to the class’ Blackboard site. Here’s how you do this:
1. Go to Blackboard by clicking on “Blackboard” on the right hand side of our school site or by going there directly at http://nesa.blackboard.com
2. Log in with the username “esfamily.wbais.il” and password “ShalomK-5”
3. Click on your child’s grade
4. Click on “Computer Projects”
An integral part of our third and fourth grade program is keyboarding. All third and new fourth graders have basic keyboarding classes and returning fourth graders work on improving their skills. Students in these grades also work with images to create presentations (i.e. the third grade rock project) and they do some guided research through selected sites (i.e. fourth grade sea mammals work). Fourth graders are introduced to Inspiration to brainstorm and learn formatting as they word process various projects throughout the year. This year third and fourth graders are also invited to contribute to our library’s WBAIS Book Review Blog, preparing them for future digital collaboration projects.
Our oldest elementary school students jump fully into the world of the Internet and Web 2.0 tools. Participating in the NE/SA Virtual Science Fair for 5th Graders (NVSF5th), these kids contribute to group blogs and wikis, produce multimedia projects and collaborate with high school mentors in another school. In addition, fifth graders learn research skills through various social studies and science projects, produce various types of digital projects, and they participate in grade level Blackboard blogs about literature and more.
Getting school email accounts, independently researching via the Internet and using Web 2.0 tools may be new to many fifth graders. As a result, digital citizenship is emphasized with them and lessons are taught in web etiquette, advanced searching and Internet safety. It is our hope that these skills, along with all technology skills covered in elementary school, will serve as a solid base for our students as they enter our one-to-one program and throughout their lives.
Happy Holidays from the entire tech team! See you next year!
Elementary school students work both in the lab and in the classroom on integrated projects as well as acquiring and reinforcing basic skills, sometimes through whole class instruction with the use of Smartboards and projectors and other times individually or in small groups on computers.
The kindergarten, first and second graders have a weekly time in the computer lab and third, fourth and fifth graders visit the lab according to projects they are working on. There are times when weeks may pass between projects but there are other times when these students may work in the lab twice or three times a day!
K-2 children’s weekly classes alternate between using educational software and online activities that reinforce topics covered in class and doing integrated audio, video and graphics projects. Some of the programs used include:
• Kidpix - Graphics (Grades K, 1 and 2)
• Mango Plumo Space and Weather (Grade 2)
• Fun with Architecture (Grades K and 1)
• Millie’s Math House, Sammy’s Science House and Trudy’s Time (Grades K, 1 and 2)
• Map Machine (Grade 1)
• Scholastic Keys (Grades 1-2)
Lower elementary students’ activities and work can be viewed by logging in to the class’ Blackboard site. Here’s how you do this:
1. Go to Blackboard by clicking on “Blackboard” on the right hand side of our school site or by going there directly at http://nesa.blackboard.com
2. Log in with the username “esfamily.wbais.il” and password “ShalomK-5”
3. Click on your child’s grade
4. Click on “Computer Projects”
An integral part of our third and fourth grade program is keyboarding. All third and new fourth graders have basic keyboarding classes and returning fourth graders work on improving their skills. Students in these grades also work with images to create presentations (i.e. the third grade rock project) and they do some guided research through selected sites (i.e. fourth grade sea mammals work). Fourth graders are introduced to Inspiration to brainstorm and learn formatting as they word process various projects throughout the year. This year third and fourth graders are also invited to contribute to our library’s WBAIS Book Review Blog, preparing them for future digital collaboration projects.
Our oldest elementary school students jump fully into the world of the Internet and Web 2.0 tools. Participating in the NE/SA Virtual Science Fair for 5th Graders (NVSF5th), these kids contribute to group blogs and wikis, produce multimedia projects and collaborate with high school mentors in another school. In addition, fifth graders learn research skills through various social studies and science projects, produce various types of digital projects, and they participate in grade level Blackboard blogs about literature and more.
Getting school email accounts, independently researching via the Internet and using Web 2.0 tools may be new to many fifth graders. As a result, digital citizenship is emphasized with them and lessons are taught in web etiquette, advanced searching and Internet safety. It is our hope that these skills, along with all technology skills covered in elementary school, will serve as a solid base for our students as they enter our one-to-one program and throughout their lives.
Happy Holidays from the entire tech team! See you next year!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Going Digital 3: Technology Tools Commonly Used at WBAIS
At WBAIS we strive to meet the growing demand for access to digital tools and develop a culture of digital literacy, citizenship and productive use of technology in the learning environment
While working with computer technology, students develop a set of skills with various digital tools that they utilize at school and at home. Some programs have been purchased by the school but as more and more alternate Open Source software is available we are providing students with a wider variety of tool choices to get their work done. Here are some of the programs that are presently installed/used on school computers:
Office Tools (Word Processing/ Spreadsheets / Presentations)
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Google Docs *
Open Office *
Graphics Editors:
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Macromedia Fireworks
GimpShop *
Internet Browsers:
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox *
Multimedia:
Photostory 3 for Windows
Windows Movie Maker
Adobe Premiere Elements
Creating and Editing Audio Files:
Audacity *
Learning how to Keyboard:
UltraKey
Graphic Organizers:
Inspiration
Tools used primarily by K-2 students:
Clicker
Kidpix
Please note that all programs marked with an asterisk (*) are free Open Source software and can be downloaded on to your home computer by following the links provided. You may also be interested in other Open Source alternatives, listed in the article The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives, or in reading about the pros and cons of Open Source Software.
We hope that by familiarizing yourselves better with the tools your children use in school you will better understand them as they discuss their laptop and other computer use. If you would like further information about technology tools used on campus, feel free to contact anyone on the tech team .
As always, you can learn more about our school's technology program by reading the WBAIS Tech Talk Blog .
We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
WBAIS Tech Team
While working with computer technology, students develop a set of skills with various digital tools that they utilize at school and at home. Some programs have been purchased by the school but as more and more alternate Open Source software is available we are providing students with a wider variety of tool choices to get their work done. Here are some of the programs that are presently installed/used on school computers:
Office Tools (Word Processing/ Spreadsheets / Presentations)
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
Google Docs *
Open Office *
Graphics Editors:
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Macromedia Fireworks
GimpShop *
Internet Browsers:
Internet Explorer
Mozilla Firefox *
Multimedia:
Photostory 3 for Windows
Windows Movie Maker
Adobe Premiere Elements
Creating and Editing Audio Files:
Audacity *
Learning how to Keyboard:
UltraKey
Graphic Organizers:
Inspiration
Tools used primarily by K-2 students:
Clicker
Kidpix
Please note that all programs marked with an asterisk (*) are free Open Source software and can be downloaded on to your home computer by following the links provided. You may also be interested in other Open Source alternatives, listed in the article The Top 50 Proprietary Programs that Drive You Crazy — and Their Open Source Alternatives, or in reading about the pros and cons of Open Source Software.
We hope that by familiarizing yourselves better with the tools your children use in school you will better understand them as they discuss their laptop and other computer use. If you would like further information about technology tools used on campus, feel free to contact anyone on the tech team .
As always, you can learn more about our school's technology program by reading the WBAIS Tech Talk Blog .
We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!
WBAIS Tech Team
Friday, October 31, 2008
Going Digital 2: Future School Plans
Laptop Initiative Expands K-12 in 2009-2010
As part of our new campus vision, 2007-08 marked the beginning of an initiative for WBAIS to become a laptop school. Following a successful pilot program with 7th grade, plans were put in place to phase in 8th grade, recommend the required use of family owned laptops in high school and explore the use of laptops in elementary classrooms. This initiative supports our technology mission with a focus on Digital Literacy, Digital Citizenship and enhancing the learning opportunities that multimedia and collaborative communication bring about. It is a student centered educational program designed to use digital tools in the learning environment while meeting our growing demand for student access to computers. Students are learning to digitally receive, organize, produce, communicate and submit course materials and how to make choices about learning tools.
The WBAIS laptop initiative is a natural progression from the teacher laptop initiative implemented 5+ years ago. Students' skills and knowledge will be integrated into the instructional program the same way that teacher laptops digitized the way teachers manage, create and present learning materials, as well as report on student progress. The term laptop in this document includes any personal digital assistant tool that can be used to meet the academic computer needs of a student.
As teachers, students, parents and administrators prepare and plan future educational opportunities, the general statements in the box below will be included in next year's school documents to inform the WBAIS community and guide our evolution in the use of laptops as a learning tool. In addition, the MS 1 to 1 laptop project FAQ document will contain similar statements to reflect our current direction in each division. While these statements speak primarily about the distribution of hardware the initiative is very much an educational initiative with a focus on laptop use as a learning and management tool.
In Order to meet the growing demand for access to digital tools in the learning environment and develop a culture of digital literacy, citizenship and productive use of technology in the learning environment,
As part of our new campus vision, 2007-08 marked the beginning of an initiative for WBAIS to become a laptop school. Following a successful pilot program with 7th grade, plans were put in place to phase in 8th grade, recommend the required use of family owned laptops in high school and explore the use of laptops in elementary classrooms. This initiative supports our technology mission with a focus on Digital Literacy, Digital Citizenship and enhancing the learning opportunities that multimedia and collaborative communication bring about. It is a student centered educational program designed to use digital tools in the learning environment while meeting our growing demand for student access to computers. Students are learning to digitally receive, organize, produce, communicate and submit course materials and how to make choices about learning tools.
The WBAIS laptop initiative is a natural progression from the teacher laptop initiative implemented 5+ years ago. Students' skills and knowledge will be integrated into the instructional program the same way that teacher laptops digitized the way teachers manage, create and present learning materials, as well as report on student progress. The term laptop in this document includes any personal digital assistant tool that can be used to meet the academic computer needs of a student.
As teachers, students, parents and administrators prepare and plan future educational opportunities, the general statements in the box below will be included in next year's school documents to inform the WBAIS community and guide our evolution in the use of laptops as a learning tool. In addition, the MS 1 to 1 laptop project FAQ document will contain similar statements to reflect our current direction in each division. While these statements speak primarily about the distribution of hardware the initiative is very much an educational initiative with a focus on laptop use as a learning and management tool.
In Order to meet the growing demand for access to digital tools in the learning environment and develop a culture of digital literacy, citizenship and productive use of technology in the learning environment,
By the school year 2009-2010:
• ES Program: School owned laptops and handhelds will be used in kits to provide 1 to 1 computer use in classrooms (primarily 5th and 4th grade)for projects and activities at scheduled times. Computer lab will be available for instruction and project use (Primarily K-3).
• MS Program: School owned 1 to 1 student laptop program for grades 6 – 8 to provide 24/7 access to a standard set of digital tools and resource for all Middle School students. Thus developing a culture of productive use of these learning tools. Tech support provided by WBAIS and laptop support partner.
• HS Program: Family owned 1 to 1 laptop program is required for all students following a college model. This program is designed to meet the individual computing needs of the student's program of study. A list of basic computer specifications will be made available. Tech support is the family's responsibility. Two computer labs are used for high end technology rich courses and special projects.
• Teacher Program: Teachers will continue to be provided with a laptop to serve as their teacher computer for school to home to school use. This will be instead of a desktop not in addition to a desktop. All desktops currently in classrooms will remain but will not be replaced or upgraded
once they are retired. Teacher laptops are upgraded annually by request and recommended on a 4 year use schedule.
Why school owned in ES and MS:
• We are establishing a culture of laptop use as a learning tool not an entertainment and recreational tool. School owned laptops gives us the control needed to begin establishing this kind of culture.
• Equality of computer need is standard in elementary and Middle School. Providing school owned laptops maintains this standard and equity among student peers.
• School owned Laptops can easily be configured for our network, supported through a cloning process and installed with software needed for MS courses ans ES classes. This would be very difficult to manage with family owned laptops and elementary and middle school students may not be as capable as high school students in managing their own tech support and formatting needs.
• We have the option of clearing hard drives and reformatting laptops in instances of inappropriate use with school owned laptops. We would not have that option with family owned laptops.
Why family owned in HS
• The diversity in courses and the interest of the student requires different standards of computers for different groups of students.
• This diversity serves the HS students well because some benefit from inexpensive handhelds, netbooks, PCs or laptops, while others benefit from tablets or expensive laptops.
• We are moving toward the use of a broad range of laptops in the high school instead of trying to implement a uniform program as in the middle school.
• HS students should develop the skills and maturity to care for their own laptops, as they will when they go on to college and universities.
• Managing the Tech Support for this diverse use of laptops is better achieved on an individual basis by the student's family.
We believe "as so eloquently conveyed in The World is Flat, there is no turning back. New technologies will constantly emerge—and, with them, will come social, political, educational, and civic change. One-to-one learning ensures that students will be ready to seize such opportunities competently, intelligently, and with social conscience." (From "One-to-One Learning, A Review Analysis" by the Metiri Group).
Our staff is spending in-service time this year preparing for our expanding laptop program. Families of students entering grades 9-12 next year should be preparing to purchase a laptop for their high schooler if they have not already done so. Suggested laptop specifications are available near the end of the student handbook in the section titled, "Recommendations for Home Computers."
Friday, September 26, 2008
Going Digital 1: Technology-Related Terms used at WBAIS
This year marks the second year of our 1 to 1 student laptop initiative. The purpose of this program is to meet the growing demand for access to digital tools and develop a culture of digital literacy, citizenship and productive use of technology in the learning environment.
Currently all 7th and 8th grade students have school owned laptops. In addition, a growing number of our high school students are registering their family owned laptops for use on campus, following a 1 to 1 laptop model that is similar to those used by colleges. This year we also hope to begin exploring the use of laptops as an integrative tool in our elementary school. While working with our computer technology, students develop a vocabulary of digital tools that they use at school and at home. Here are a few of those terms with a brief explanation of each.
We hope that by familiarizing yourselves better with these terms you will better understand your children as they discuss their laptop and other computer use. If you would like further clarification of technology terms used on campus, feel free to contact anyone on the tech team.
You can learn more about our school's 1 to 1 laptop program by reading these upcoming Tech Talk articles: Going Digital 2: Future School Plans and Going Digital 3: Digital Tools. Previous articles are also available to you in the WBAIS Tech Talk Blog.
We wish you all a happy, healthy fall holiday season!
WBAIS Tech Team
Currently all 7th and 8th grade students have school owned laptops. In addition, a growing number of our high school students are registering their family owned laptops for use on campus, following a 1 to 1 laptop model that is similar to those used by colleges. This year we also hope to begin exploring the use of laptops as an integrative tool in our elementary school. While working with our computer technology, students develop a vocabulary of digital tools that they use at school and at home. Here are a few of those terms with a brief explanation of each.
- Our Network: The system that connects all campus computers, printers, wireless access points and other devices to each other and provides these devices with access to the World Wide Web (Internet). This is also call a Local Area Network (LAN) because it covers a small geographical area like our campus. Students who move with laptops from home to school sometimes need to reconnect to our network through an IP switcher or other device when they return to campus.
- Servers: are computers with large hard drives designed to store teacher and student files. WBAIS school servers can be accessed from any school owned computer on our network but they cannot be accessed from home.
- G Drive: is how our student and teacher server is identified on our network. As the G Drive is one of our school servers it is not available off campus.
- Novell: This is the WBAIS user management and security system which students and staff must log into in order to connect to the servers on our network. Novell is currently only installed on school-owned computers and it is not available off campus.
- Squirrel Mail: This is the WBAIS web based email system used by students in grades 5-12 and staff. Students are expected to use Squirrelmail for all school communication and they are given the option to use it for private mail from home as well. Squirrelmail is available through the Internet at school or at home.
- Blackboard: Blackboard is a secure online course delivery system that provides students in grades 5-12 with a web based portal to access class materials, have class discussions and turn in assignments. In addition, parents and students in grades K-5 may find class newsletters and other information by logging in to this system. Also referred to as the NE/SA Virtual School (NVS), our Blackboard site is shared by 19 schools in the Near East South Asia Council of Overseas Schools. Blackboard is available both at school and at home.
- PowerSchool: is a WBAIS secure web based system that facilitates communication on students academic progress to students in grades 6-12, parents of children in grades 6-8 and staff. This system is available both at school and at home through the Internet.
- Google Applications: These publicly accessable web based applications are accessed by logging in to Google with any email address. They may be reached from school or at home and are managed by Google.
- GoogleDocs: This system includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentation and online forms. It is used by many staff and students to share documents, collaborate on projects and manage course materials. This system is available to anyone through the Internet at school and at home.
- GoogleCalendar: This web based calendar is used by students and staff in grades 6-8 to show major projects and tests coming up. Some students in these and other grades have also set up a private calendar through this system. Staff members use Google Calendars to share meetings, events and facilities use with each other and the community at large.
- GoogleBookmarks: This is an online system that allows users to set up a bookmark system with links to individually chosen web sites that can be reached whenever a user logs in.
- iGoogle: This is a web page set up by an individual with links to various applications. For example, students in grades 7 and 8 have set up their own school iGoogle pages with links to their calendars, documents and bookmarks.
We hope that by familiarizing yourselves better with these terms you will better understand your children as they discuss their laptop and other computer use. If you would like further clarification of technology terms used on campus, feel free to contact anyone on the tech team.
You can learn more about our school's 1 to 1 laptop program by reading these upcoming Tech Talk articles: Going Digital 2: Future School Plans and Going Digital 3: Digital Tools. Previous articles are also available to you in the WBAIS Tech Talk Blog.
We wish you all a happy, healthy fall holiday season!
WBAIS Tech Team
Friday, August 29, 2008
Digital Citizenship 4: Avoiding Bandwidth Wasters
Our growing use of Internet resources brings with it increased network traffic and a concern about Internet connectivity slowdown. WBAIS believes that educating students is the best way to address these concerns so that the same understanding, respect and responsibility that apply to our social, professional, hardcopy world applies to our digital world. The fifth WBAIS Technology Standard, adopted from the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE), includes a statement that students at our school will “advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.”
Digital citizens use technology wisely, responsibly and for the common good. They understand that using a home computer or small home network is different than using a large network devoted to academic purposes. At WBAIS we strongly believe that everyone should strive to be good digital citizens. This includes being conscious of the effect our use of a shared network has on other users.
The amount of data transferred through a network is called network traffic. Just as traffic on a highway can slow down when use is at its highest, traffic on a local area network (LAN) can slow down its users’ connectivity to the Internet. Good digital citizens help to keep network traffic down by avoiding certain sites when on a LAN, such as our school network, which is shared by many users for academic use. Examples of sites to avoid include the following:
Bandwidth Wasters = traffic slowdowns
Other Sites to avoid on shared networks
The Tech Team
Digital citizens use technology wisely, responsibly and for the common good. They understand that using a home computer or small home network is different than using a large network devoted to academic purposes. At WBAIS we strongly believe that everyone should strive to be good digital citizens. This includes being conscious of the effect our use of a shared network has on other users.
The amount of data transferred through a network is called network traffic. Just as traffic on a highway can slow down when use is at its highest, traffic on a local area network (LAN) can slow down its users’ connectivity to the Internet. Good digital citizens help to keep network traffic down by avoiding certain sites when on a LAN, such as our school network, which is shared by many users for academic use. Examples of sites to avoid include the following:
Bandwidth Wasters = traffic slowdowns
- Sites that are dedicated to instant messaging and chat should not be used in school. Even running these sites in the background while waiting for contact from another user causes repeated packets of data to be sent to and from your computer, increasing network traffic. WBAIS network users should make sure that these sites (i.e. Skype, msn, icq, etc.) do not automatically open on their computers when started up and that they are not used during school hours, unless a teacher has specified using them for an academic activity.
- Music and video download sites can cause network slowdowns for other users as these files are often very large. Any downloading for academic purposes should be limited to after school hours.
- Network and Internet gaming sites and software which require a constant connection between computers can also increase network traffic as data is constantly traveling between computers. Unless used for an academic activity, we ask that these sites not be used at WBAIS during school hours.
Other Sites to avoid on shared networks
- Time Wasters – On-line game sites and sites about how to cheat at games. Staying away from such sites helps protect our network from spyware that many of these “free games” sites install on computers. Spyware can open a window to your computer from outside and may also send repeated data packets to and from your computer.
- Inappropriate Content Sites – Sites with content of an “adult” nature, bullying and harassment. Other than the fact that they are non-academic in any way, these sites can often install a series of POP up windows that appear automatically whenever using a browser which slows down a network.
- Up-To-No-Good Sites – Sites dedicated to hacking, virus creation, and defeating content filtering are in direct violation of the school AUP. I suggest you check with your home network providers as using such sites may also violate their policy.
The Tech Team
Friday, June 06, 2008
Digital Citizenship Part 3 - Netiquette
WBAIS believes that through education, students can learn and practice digital citizenship so that the same understanding, respect and responsibility that applies to our social, professional, hardcopy world can be applied to our digital world. The fifth WBAIS Technology Standard, adopted from the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE), includes a statement that students at our school will “advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.”
Using good manners on the Internet are extremely important. The way that a person presents him/herself reflects who s/he is, whether it is in person or online. In addition, one must remember that there is a human being on the receiving end of messages written online so the “Golden Rule” should be remembered and followed at all times – do unto others as you'd have others do unto you.
The term “Netiquette,” a contraction of the words Internet and etiquette, is commonly used to refer to the etiquette of cyberspace. In other words, netiquette is a set of rules that we follow for behaving appropriately online.
A few basic rules of netiquette include:
- Avoid hurting someone's feelings with e-mail, while chatting, etc. Remember that the written word is hard to interpret. When you speak to someone, that person can hear the tone of your voice. If they can see you, they can take visual clues from your face and body to better understand your meaning. All of this is lost in text, and sometimes responses can come across as mean or rude, even when you did not intend them this way.
- Always identify yourself and what you are going to write about. Never send e-mail, messages in online social groups, etc. without including a subject on the subject line and your name at the bottom. Similarly, don't post forum messages without identifying yourself, this is seen as rude. If you have set up an online name for your child instead of his/her real one, that's fine – but one name should be used consistently.
- Don't be hasty when you send... if you write a message when you're upset, wait before you send it.
- Respect the privacy of others. Don't share someone's email address or private information without their permission.
- What's perfectly acceptable in one site may be considered rude in another. Before asking or responding in a newsgroup, discussion board, etc, take the time to feel the group out. Spend a while listening to the chat or reading the archives. Get a sense of how the people who are already there act. If the site seems like one that is appropriate for you, go ahead and participate.
- Respect other people's time and bandwidth. If a message is personal in nature, send it via email or in a personal message area instead of posting it for large groups. Set up group addresses to send mass messages, i.e. jokes. only to those who have asked to join your group. Unless they are to be printed, resize photos before sending them or upload them to a site and send the link for others to view them. Think twice before sending large audio and video files via email as well.
The WBAIS tech team suggests that before the summer begins, you go over these basic rules of netiquette with your child and explore some of the reference sites below together.
We wish you all a fun, safe vacation – both at home and in cyberspace. See you in the fall!
The Tech Team
References
The Core Rules of Netiquette
A Kid’s Guide to Etiquette on the Net
Digital Citizenship Part 2 - Content Filtering
As mentioned in our last newsletter article, the growing use of digital tools brings with it concerns of inappropriate access. WBAIS believes that educating students is the best way to address these concerns so that the same understanding, respect and responsibility that applies to our social, professional, hardcopy world applies to our digital world. The fifth WBAIS Technology Standard, adopted from the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE), includes a statement that students at our school will “advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.”
It’s important to be aware of what your children see and hear on the Internet, who they meet, and what they share about themselves online. No matter how much content filtering you may try to set up, eventually it becomes a cat-and-mouse situation as new ways of getting around filters are invented. For this reason, the Number 1 rule for content filtering is to:
Teach your child appropriate computer use
Help your child understand what to do if inappropriate sites pop up, who it’s o.k. to chat and email with and how much information can be shared online. Keep your door open to conversations about what is viewed both at home and at their friend’s houses. Help your child understand your own family’s rules about what you believe is appropriate content for his/her age level. There are a number of sites which can help you teach your child about appropriate use, including NetSmartz, iKeepSafe and SafeKids.
In addition to talking with their children, some families prefer to set up content filtering. You can do this by taking the following steps:
I. Talk to your service provider
Many Internet service providers (ISPs) provide parent-control options to block certain material from coming in to your child's computer. If you are interested in having these options set up, talk to your provider (i.e. Netvision, Zahav, Hot, etc.) to see if they provide such a service.
II. Set up Internet Browser Filters
Set the Internet browsers on your computer to filter content. This can be done both in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox:
Internet Explorer
1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Click on “Tools” then “Internet Options” then “Content” (tab)
3. Click on “Settings” under “Content Advisor” and set up your filters and password by using the tabs at the top.
4. Click “Enable” under “Content Advisor” Close all Explorer Windows
Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox does not include a built-in content filtering system, but you can download free extensions to the program such as Glubble or ProCon to add filtering for this browser.
III. Set Google Filters
You can set up your Google search filters as well. If you decide to do this, it must be done in both Explorer and Firefox (and Safari or other browsers you may use). To do this:
1. Go to Google
2. Click on “Preferences” (right of search bar under “Advanced Search”)
3. Under “Safe Search Filtering” choose the amount of filtering you would like to have.
4. Click on “Save Preferences” and “OK”
IV. Purchase commercial filtering software
If you feel that the above steps aren’t enough for your family, you may wish to look into installing commercial software that deals with content filtering, such as Net Nanny, Cybersitter or Naomi Family Safe Internet . A review of some of these software packages can be found on the Top Ten Reviews Site.
References
http://safekids.com/guidelines-for-parents
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Digital Citizenship Part 1: Appropriate Use
The growing use of digital tools brings with it concerns with student inappropriate access and use of information and communication technology. WBAIS believes that educating students is the best way to address these concerns so that the same understanding, respect and responsibility that applies to our social, professional, hardcopy world applies to our digital world. To this end the fifth WBAIS Technology Standard, adopted from the International Society of Technology Education (ISTE), is titled Digital Citizenship. This standard notes that students at our school will “understand human, cultural, and social issues related to technology and practices legal and ethical behavior.” In detail, this means that students will:
- advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.
- exhibit a positive attitude towards using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning.
- exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.
Below are a few initial strategies addressing growing concerns with our student's appropriate use of technology tools. These were discussed during the February Technology Team and Technology Committee meetings.
- Revise the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) to clarify the use of any computing or communicating device which accesses our network. This includes family owned laptops, cell phones and an assortment of handheld devices, all of which fall under the AUP when connected to our campus network.
- Review the AUP with students and publish reminders in the daily bulletin.
- Post helpful appropriate use hints in high usage areas around campus. For example, “LARK” (below)
- Encourage teachers to integrate Technology Curriculum Standard #5, Digital Citizenship into appropriate lessons and activities.
- Publish newsletter articles focusing on the Appropriate Use of Technology and Digital Citizenship
This article is the first in a series of Digital Citizenship articles that we plan to publish through our school newsletter and Tech Talk blog http://wbaistech.blogspot.com/ . We hope to raise the awareness of Digital Citizenship among all our community members and provide them with some strategies that will help educate our students both on and off campus. This is not a technological issue but a cultural issue. Only through consistent efforts at school and home will our students learn to be responsible digital citizens.
To begin this effort we would like to share the following computer use hints with you. Fell free to use these hints with your students and add comments to our Blog.
Be “LARK”: Make sure your computer use is Legal, Appropriate, Responsible and Kind *
- Legal: illegally copied or downloaded software, music, video or games may never be used on any computer at WBAIS including laptops issued to WBAIS students.
- Appropriate: only appropriate words and images are used, viewed or heard. Any material you would not show to your grandmother, parents, principal or a 1st grader is a good sign of inappropriateness. If inappropriate materials are viewed or received, it is the responsibility of the recipient to see that an adult is informed.
- Responsibility: whether intentional or not, care is taken to prevent damage, changing or misuse, with all hardware, systems settings (including shared computer screen savers, network or system files) and software.
- Kind: the rights or feelings of others in the WBAIS Community are in no way treaded upon by your use of technology.
* LARK is taken from 1 to 1 Learning: Laptop Programs that Work by Pamela Livingston.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Got a technology question? Just ask AL!
AL stands for Atomic Learning, our online resource for software training.
Atomic Learning provides a large, online library of short, easy-to-understand tutorials. AL’s innovative approach to software training focuses on answering common questions encountered when learning and using software. How do you cut and paste in Word? How do you crop photos in Photoshop Elements? Just ask AL.
Our school has taken a big step in integrating technology into our classrooms. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality technology resources available. We want to make it easier for you to use these resources. Have a question about technology? Just ask AL.
www.atomicLearning.com
Atomic Learning provides a large, online library of short, easy-to-understand tutorials. AL’s innovative approach to software training focuses on answering common questions encountered when learning and using software. How do you cut and paste in Word? How do you crop photos in Photoshop Elements? Just ask AL.
- Go to www.atomiclearning.com
- Enter user name and password. In order to get them go to the library page Online collections: http://wbais.org/%7Eaislibrary/New_Library_Page/library.php?id=520
- Type your question in the search box and click on Go!
- An answer will be provided in the form of a one to three-minute tutorial movie. The movie will walk you through all the steps needed to complete the task.
- Access for staff, students and their families 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Closed captioning on thousands of tutorials
- Numerous Spanish language tutorials
- Al’s Weekly Tech Tips and e-newsletter
- Online training sessions on Atomic Learning
Our school has taken a big step in integrating technology into our classrooms. We are dedicated to providing the highest quality technology resources available. We want to make it easier for you to use these resources. Have a question about technology? Just ask AL.
www.atomicLearning.com
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Helpful Tech Tools for Students
Required
Headphones – every AIS student in grades 6-12 is required to have a set of headphones at school on a daily basis. We have added these as a requirement for school both because students are using more and more audio for their schoolwork and because of health reasons. ES students are encouraged to bring their own headphones to school.
Recommended
Pen Drive – also known as a disc-on-key or flash drive, we strongly recommend that every student in grades 4-12 come to school with a pen drive to transfer files easily from one computer to another, both amongst computers in school as well as between school and home. We suggest a pen drive with a minimum of 256K of space, however drives that hold 1G are more common. These were included in the middle school supply list.
Personal computing device – as technology gets more integrated, laptops and other personal computing devices are becoming a more common learning tool whose use will only increase in the future. This is especially true for middle and high school students. As a result, we recommend that HS students who own laptops bring them to school on a daily basis. Check with your teachers for more details on laptop use in their classes.
Recommended for Special Interests
Card reader – if your child is interested in working with images and/or he/she is in a digital photography or media class, a card reader might be useful. Card readers for multiple types of cards are the most helpful for those who utilize various types of cameras for their work..
Microphone – if your child is "into" producing audio and video files or if he/she is involved in radio production here at school, a microphone may be a good purchase.
(Images are from: www.secretweaponlabs.com, www.areema.co.uk, www.spectrumdatarecovery.com.au, www.igadget.com.au and www.ted-kyte.com
Thursday, May 03, 2007
One-to-One Laptop Program
The pull for additional access to technology in the classroom, our move to a campus with a robust wireless network, current use of laptop kits and the teacher laptop program indicated our school’s need and preparedness for a one-to-one student laptop solution. Time restraints, budget and community preparedness have lead to the decision to fund laptops for a projected number of students. This recommendation, entirely within our projected technology budget, was made by the tech team and passed by the School Board last month. The program will be implemented during the 2007-2008 school year.
Our present use of school laptop kits, scheduling records and a broad range of research on other laptop programs indicated 7th grade as the grade level for the first year of the program. Doing a pilot year at one grade level will reduce stress and is a gradual way to explore one-to-one computing and customize a program for our school community. We will collect real evidence on usage, student preparedness and tech support needs. This low stress laptop program initiative will serve as a step towards a family owned laptop model. Initially school owned laptops will only be used at school. As the project progresses, home use of these laptops will be assessed and decided upon. Laptop management, cost, care and responsibility will become school and family concerns once there is a need for laptops to move between home and school.
The laptop model and type will be chosen by the 7th grade teachers within a price range that will meet our budget restraints. Open source software will be explored to meet some of our software computing needs during the pilot project.
Laptop use will fall within our Acceptable Use Policy as any other computer used on the school network. Students have already developed a game, movie, and music culture with personal computing devices. This project is designed to develop a culture of computer use as a productivity tool and personal digital learning assistant.
An important element of the laptop program will be meetings with parents about the laptop, its management and potential home use. These meetings will provide valuable information to develop newsletter articles, an FAQ document and parent support sessions addressing concerns unique to our school community. Increased use of our community tech blog about the laptop program and its progress will emerge as parents share their thoughts and excitement about the program.
During this first year all teachers will continue to integrate technology into their classrooms. Sixth and eighth grade classes will continue to use school laptop kits and our high school will continue to encourage the use of family owned laptops at school and home. It is during the high school years that students learn to manage and use laptops independently in preparation for college.
The elementary computer program will continue with its use of computer labs, classroom desktops, alpha smarts and moving sets of laptops. Additional handhelds with keyboards will also be integrated into some elementary classrooms. As the program in middle school progresses more resources will be freed up for elementary school use.
Assessment will be an ongoing part of the project. We will assess technology integration with a focus on higher order thinking skills, asking such questions as: Is this project successfully meeting our technology curriculum and integration goals? Are we creating a culture in school and homes that are using the systems as tools not toys? Are writing, research and communication improving? Are students more engaged in their work? Are we ready to move to a family owned laptop program? Survey Monkey assessment tools will be developed for student, parents and faculty to assess the program.
Technology is constantly evolving. The list of tools available increases daily. We are preparing our students to use the tools available today and those tools on the horizon as they develop their 21st Century skills.
We look forward to this program working in a positive fashion for everyone involved: students, faculty, parents, administrators and tech staff. Dialogue between AIS parents and staff has begun and we look forward to increased parental input as the program moves forward. We invite ALL parents, especially those of next year’s 7th grade (current 6th grade parents) to attend an informational meeting Thursday, May 17th at 7 p.m.
Our present use of school laptop kits, scheduling records and a broad range of research on other laptop programs indicated 7th grade as the grade level for the first year of the program. Doing a pilot year at one grade level will reduce stress and is a gradual way to explore one-to-one computing and customize a program for our school community. We will collect real evidence on usage, student preparedness and tech support needs. This low stress laptop program initiative will serve as a step towards a family owned laptop model. Initially school owned laptops will only be used at school. As the project progresses, home use of these laptops will be assessed and decided upon. Laptop management, cost, care and responsibility will become school and family concerns once there is a need for laptops to move between home and school.
The laptop model and type will be chosen by the 7th grade teachers within a price range that will meet our budget restraints. Open source software will be explored to meet some of our software computing needs during the pilot project.
Laptop use will fall within our Acceptable Use Policy as any other computer used on the school network. Students have already developed a game, movie, and music culture with personal computing devices. This project is designed to develop a culture of computer use as a productivity tool and personal digital learning assistant.
An important element of the laptop program will be meetings with parents about the laptop, its management and potential home use. These meetings will provide valuable information to develop newsletter articles, an FAQ document and parent support sessions addressing concerns unique to our school community. Increased use of our community tech blog about the laptop program and its progress will emerge as parents share their thoughts and excitement about the program.
During this first year all teachers will continue to integrate technology into their classrooms. Sixth and eighth grade classes will continue to use school laptop kits and our high school will continue to encourage the use of family owned laptops at school and home. It is during the high school years that students learn to manage and use laptops independently in preparation for college.
The elementary computer program will continue with its use of computer labs, classroom desktops, alpha smarts and moving sets of laptops. Additional handhelds with keyboards will also be integrated into some elementary classrooms. As the program in middle school progresses more resources will be freed up for elementary school use.
Assessment will be an ongoing part of the project. We will assess technology integration with a focus on higher order thinking skills, asking such questions as: Is this project successfully meeting our technology curriculum and integration goals? Are we creating a culture in school and homes that are using the systems as tools not toys? Are writing, research and communication improving? Are students more engaged in their work? Are we ready to move to a family owned laptop program? Survey Monkey assessment tools will be developed for student, parents and faculty to assess the program.
Technology is constantly evolving. The list of tools available increases daily. We are preparing our students to use the tools available today and those tools on the horizon as they develop their 21st Century skills.
We look forward to this program working in a positive fashion for everyone involved: students, faculty, parents, administrators and tech staff. Dialogue between AIS parents and staff has begun and we look forward to increased parental input as the program moves forward. We invite ALL parents, especially those of next year’s 7th grade (current 6th grade parents) to attend an informational meeting Thursday, May 17th at 7 p.m.
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