And We're Live...

I haven't blogged for 9 months.  I've been busy.  And (with the help of @heza and others) now we have a 1:1 Laptop Program at SAS Middle School - and from here forward, plenty of amazing learning to blog about.  Below is the story of the last two days.

 

Turntable Trig

Today we experimented with using iPads in a math class.  We had 3 school-owned iPads as well as one brought in by a student.  Students used the Vernier Video Physics app in groups of two or three to review and investigate trig graphs.

[caption id="attachment_320" align="alignleft" width="222" caption="Turntable Graph"][/caption]

Ms. Flaherty first reviewed a couple of math concepts that the students had already  reviewed as part of their homework by watching a YouTube clip.  Then I demonstrated how to use the various tools built into the Video Physics app to plot the points of a sticky note as it travels around a Fisher Price Turntable, and to set the scale and change the location of the origin.  From there, we handed off the iPads to the students and away they went.

Once students plotted the path of the sticky note, and viewed the resulting graph, they then worked through the following prompts:

1.  Find the equation of your curve.


2. How does the equation change as you change the A.) origin, B.) scale?


3. By adjusting the position of the origin and the scale crate a graph that has:  A.) An amplitude of 5  B.) A wave axis of 10

Findings, Thoughts, Reflections:

• Students were engaged in the hands-on learning, and shared the device appropriately around the group so that everyone got a chance to manipulate the data.


• Students are really comfortable with iPads.  They took to the app quickly and were easily able to use the gestures to perform specific tasks within the app.


•  Investigative Math rocks.  I wish that when I was learning math I had had access to the tools that students have today.  Changing different variables and seeing how that affects the output helps students get a better understanding than just working out problems.


• Personal devices are better than school-owned devices.  When the teacher asked students to send her the files this became obvious.  The student who was using his own device easily emailed a few photos to the teacher because his email was already set up in the iPad's system.  Web versions of email (we tried gmail) don't allow attaching files from an iPad because they don't know how to navigate the iPad file system.  The work around is to either attach the ipad to a laptop and use iPhoto (or another photo app on a PC) to pull down the images, or have students enter their email info into the iPad system, send the files, then delete the account before the class ends and their email account and ipad are handed off to another student.

Making Music

I came across Diego Stocco's videos thanks to a post on an inspiring design blog that I read. Diego can make music out of pretty much anything (listen to what he can do with a Bonsai tree).  Our IB Music teacher, Mr. Ackerman, assigns his students something similar: to compose music using only items in the kitchen.  This "Kitchen Etude" is designed to give students, no matter their ability, an opportunity to successfully compose music.  It seems that most of our students wanted to use Apple's GarageBand to record their composition.  Check out Arye's composition using only items from his kitchen.  Arye's Kitchen Etude

Learning Event Generator

One of the best things I saw at the European Laptop Institute 2010 (Twitter hash tag:  #eurolap10) was John Davitt's Learning Event Generator.  In one of John's sessions he actually used it to get the participants involved.  You can check out the Learning Event Generator here, but the basic point is to get students demonstrating their learning in non-traditional ways. Putting students in these situations encourages them to create, collaborate, problem solve and communicate. You get some really crazy permutations which quite possibly will help the learning stick even better.   Here are a few examples:

DO how a light works AS a blues song

DO what we know about the brain AS a dot to dot activity

DO what the Magna Carta meant AS a mini opera

My group had "DO how a periscope works AS an animation."  We had fifteen minutes and we came up with the video below.  I enjoyed being involved in a creative group process, but more importantly the process made the learning stick - it has been four days since the conference and I'm still thinking about the Learning Event Generator.

Reducing the Noise

I just returned from two days of thought provoking conversations with IT Directors from a number of schools in Europe ( I was standing in for my IT Director who was unable to attend).  We discussed the education and technology issues that all international schools are dealing with.  I learned a lot from listening to others that are far more experienced in planning and managing the IT infrastructure of a school.  But the thing that kept going through my head as I left the meeting was how much I think my current school is doing "IT" the right way by keeping things simple, reducing the noise and focusing on learning.

When I first joined the school, I was surprised to find out how many systems or software we just don't have.  Don't get me wrong, we have plenty of hardware and software for students to use, but from a school administration/management/systems standpoint it is minimalist.  And I like it, because rather than spending time managing and teaching people how to use the systems, I get to focus on learning.

Here is a quick list of things that "reduce the noise" at my school and allow me to focus on learning.

Strong Preparatory MS 1-1 Laptop Program that feeds into the US 1-1 Laptop Program - The gradual 1-1 program roll-out started in the MS and built from there.  The MS program checks out school owned machines to students in grades 6, 7, and 8.  The students go through a "license to drive" type program before they earn the right to take the laptops home and back to school each day.  Students enter the Upper School with a large skill set.  The MS program prepares them for the increased responsibility that comes with owning and administering your own laptop.

Macs -  I honestly can't believe how few issues there are.  I don't want to get into the Mac vs. PC argument as I consider myself as someone who can use either OS well, but the truth is that Macs have an incredible up time and don't really have to worry about viruses.  Those two areas alone can suck up a ton of time if they go the wrong way.  Another great thing about Macs is the built in iLife suite that allows students to be content creators.  Additionally, having only one operating system allows for some students to become experts and bring the others along all the while increasing the level of average user ability.

Absence of File Servers -  We don't have them.  We don't manage them.  We don't spend money or man hours on servers or backing up servers. So, where do students and staff store their files?  Great question; I should ask them?  My guess is that most of them store files on their laptop hard drive and the ones that care to keep them backed up use external hard drives or cloud-based file storage.

Gmail and Google Apps - We have a Google Apps Education account for our faculty, but more importantly we don't have the following: email servers and the monetary and human resources costs associated with the purchasing, upgrades, backups and maintenance of those servers.

Integration Specialists at Each Division -   Our current ratio is 1 Integration Specialist for every 275 students.  My hat is off to the leadership team that was forward-thinking enough to see the impact that a dedicated Technology Integration Specialist can have on individual teachers, curriculum, and student learning.  With a IT Director focused on the big picture, the Integrationists are free from the tasks that can bog them down (budgeting, troubleshooting, managing systems) and able to be in classrooms with students and plan units with teachers to meet the NETs standards.

Open Wireless Network -  When a student enters the school and open their laptop they get connected.  We don't spend time configuring or trouble shooting.  It just works.