Much has been said about the pros and cons of using ICT in the classroom - for example, many worry about online safety and health impacts, and some also question whether ICT improves learning. For example, some studies indicate that the introduction of laptop programs in schools does not necessarily improve test scores.
While these are important concerns - of course we want to improve learning - there are other reasons for choosing to use computers in the class, and traditional test scores may not be sufficient benchmarks for evaluating the benefit of introducing ICT in the classroom. Read the rest of this entry »
The Grade 8 EXPO is the culminating project for students in the Middle School. It is a cross-curricular unit encompassing the core and exploratory subjects.
The project is based on three Enduring Understandings:
Change - Students will understand that change includes environmental, political, social, religious and economic transformations
Interdependence - Students will understand that decisions or actions can have an impact on other people or nations
Identity - Students will understand how people define themselves and their place in the world as well as how they are defined by others
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Here’s a quick update on some planned upgrades for this year and next here at ISM.
If you’re wondering what to expect with regards to hardware setup, improvements, changes or other planned IT initiatives, read on and you will hopefully find answers to some of your questions.
One obvious recent priority has been to find someone to replace Dimax, who left us in February for new (and greener?) pastures. This will hopefully be resolved shortly. In the meantime, please bear with us as we try to fill his shoes.
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Back in September, I wrote a bit about podcasting at ISM. In the months since, podcasting has really started to take off in the middle and high schools. During the last couple of months, a number of HS English classes, all the 8th graders and a number of 6th graders have started podcasting projects using www.podbean.com.
For an example, listen to this episode (from Dave Feren’s IB class podcast) featuring a fictional radio program called “Good Morning, Afghanistan”. The purpose of this podcast was to creatively show an awareness of some significant aspect of the historical context for the novel The Kite Runner.
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ISM’s Pre K - 12 technology standards will be based on the NETS standards from ISTE, and we are currently in the process of formulating indicators for the standards. As the school gets standards in place for the various subject areas and departments start entering units into Atlas Rubicon, all teachers will need to become more familiar with the NETS standards, as meeting these will require some integration of technology use in other subjects.
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On Monday this week, we started the new semester with the now annual IT @ ISM Expo. The feedback after the event was good, and many seemed inspired by what they had seen and heard, whether the new ideas came from the intended topic or just something that came up incidentally during conversations. There were several sessions devoted to podcasting, and a number of classes have started experimenting with this over the last couple of months.
One concern brought up by a presenter afterwards was the risk that you might end up preaching to the converted, as some attendees seem to select topics they already know they’re interested in, when part of the intention is to expose teachers to new ideas. However, ideas often come bubbling forth anyway, through conversations with other teachers. The interactive format with small groups gives rise to conversations with people you may not otherwise have talked to, often from other grade levels, departments and divisions.
Another concern was the timing, as some seem to have prioritized report writing over the chance to learn from each other. This is a pity of course, and we can try to avoid that for next year’s event. For those who missed a topic they would have liked to learn about, there is a folder in Staff Resources with resource files/handouts from most of the events (please note that this link only works if you are logged on to the network - if not, you have to log in and navigate to Staff Resources >> CommonFolders >> IT Expo 08 via the public site).
Thanks to all the presenters!
Okay, I’ll really try to keep it shorter this time!
Regular exercise or study is much more effective than intense but irregular bursts of effort (what we call ‘cramming’). Stephen Covey refers to this as “the Law of the Farm”: you can’t cram on the farm - only steady day-to-day work will provide a full harvest. Similarly, ongoing (well considered) ICT use in the day-to-day classroom environment offers more powerful and longer-lasting benefits than one-off, intensive projects.
I like to visualize this as the difference between a point and a line:
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“We are failing our students when it comes to teaching them about the Internet. We either block things they will eventually get access to, at home or at an internet café, or we let them loose in the World Wide Wilderness without so much as a Swiss army knife. Wikipedia, Youtube and facebook are not the biggest problems.”
That was the blurb for my session discussing the dangers of setting students free on the Net without a little guidance. Here are some of the sites and resources that I used:
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image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/javellisant/78368611/
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The majority of classrooms in our school have at least one student computer somewhere at the back, but unfortunately, not all of these machines get used to their full potential. It’s sometimes hard to think of a good use for just one or two, or even three, computers during a particular class when you’re busy teaching a whole class. People worry about students sitting at computers going off task, and the teacher may not have time to monitor this while also helping the rest of the class with whatever they’re doing. In the end, quite a few machines seem to be used predominantly for googling information during project work…
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This is from the faculty focus group session I did this morning. I shamelessly borrowed the idea from Alan November, whom I heard present at a recent conference in Shanghai. It’s deceptively simple, yet very powerful…
Over the last year, many teachers have voiced an interest in podcasting as a way to diversify students’ ways to demonstrate learning and understanding, but for a few different reasons, few ever seem to get round to actually implementing it in the classroom. Read the rest of this entry »
