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Digital Resource Inventory of Bioscience HS in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona USA:
School Summary: We are a 1:1 laptop school, where students and teachers have access to Dell PCs with Windows 7 operating systems. They have access to a TON of software on these machines, including but not limited to Internet (network filter limits some use), Microsoft package, Logger Pro, Inspiration, Google Earth, Audacity, Movie Maker, ITUNES, Solidworks, and Photoshop. Students who prefer to make videos, podcasts on a Mac can check them out from the tech department with teacher permission. Additionally, all students have Rosetta Stone accounts for learning Spanish and/or a language of their choice and parents can get accounts to build their English skills. Every teacher has a laptop, and every room a SMARTBOARD and Document Camera. Our school has newly acquired clicker systems and has ordered mini Ipods for filming in class to make lessons available in flipped format. We are spoiled in the field of technology; however, we don’t use it as efficiently as possible. One thing that missing is training on the potential uses of the software and hardware and time to figure out how to implement it meaningfully. In the past, our IT department was more of a hindrance than a help, as they took weeks/months to fix student computers and were unavailable to help staff with figuring out technology. Now communication and technical support systems have improved. Ideally, we would have PD available once per month to teach staff, students, and parents how to use the various programs. The best part of our technology is that students are self-guided and teach each other and us how to use it!! We should rely on them even more so that we can all become more technologically literate. Also, as computers get older, we need the support of District to implement a system for funding and replacing all school computers. If this is not possible, we need to begin making connections and raising money in order to do it ourselves. Approximately 65% of our curriculum utilizes individual computers, so not having them would completely alter our program.
How does your school make use of school and/or teacher websites? Our district and school website have a teacher website page available; however, very few of us have even updated our individual pages. The reason being that we use Edmodo for our regular communication with students. The strength of this is that students and teachers can post comments, track assignments, and engage in meaningful discussion. The weakness is that parents don’t have a specific place to check grades, progress, etc. Ultimately, we are putting the responsibility for learning and management on the students; however, at the cost of having this information readily available for parents to check. This year, our focus is on parent communication. At the Freshman level we have been using a blogpost blog: bhsfreshmanexperience.blogspot.com to share weekly events and questions for discussion with their children. Because we grade using not meeting, meeting, and exceeding expectations in participation, progress, and performance and use regular Self-Assessment and Reflection to give students a say in their grading and because we do not use points to track grades, the District grading/sharing system is not utilized in our school. We are working with parents to determine the best way to communicate student learning regularly.
How are you currently utilizing technology for learning? We are a 1:1 laptop school, so technology is literally at every student’s fingertips. Edmodo is the most common use of technology across the four years. From posting assignments and announcements to engaging students in peer to peer discussion, this is our version of Blackboard in the classroom. We rarely use textbooks in our school, so websites, blogs, primary text, websites, etc have to be available for students.
Our strongest use of technology is integrated summative assessments at each grade level. For example, Freshman students must identify a passion then write a magazine with articles about connections between this topic and science, math, health, art, ethics, technology, and other cultures. They must also identify a local/global issue related to their passion and use the Sustainable Transformation Framework to develop and implement an intervention that takes into account the wants, needs, and values of all stakeholders. This process becomes the feature story of their magazine. Sophomores write and produce documentaries around a problem they identify and Juniors and Seniors have choice in how they present their research.
Examples of technology-based activities throughout the year include:
Article or Infographic of the Week: for students to critically analyze the source, data, claims, etc. Responses are done in Google Docs and then shared on Edmodo. All of our students have Gmail accounts, so we regularly communicate in Google Docs, forms, and email.
Collaborative assignments: Freshman students work collaboratively to write a survey to conduct at Food Truck Friday in Downtown Phoenix. All students conduct research in the online library http://www.ebscohost.com and use multi-media to present their findings.
Personal portfolios: Sophomores keep a website to document individual evidence of meeting all standards and of examples of their best and most creative work. Ideally, this will be carried to Junior and Senior year and used to measure growth of individuals and the overall program over time.
Flipped classroom: This model for learning has been experimented with in a variety of ways across campus. Currently, students are using aleks.com for differentiated math skill development and all students use the skills in a variety of in class math modeling activities. I have found that this model requires the most tech support of all technology integration we have used.
Epals: Freshman Spanish students are starting pen pal exchanges with students in Spanish speaking countries around the world.
Computer programming: The Math department has short and long term goals for embedding computer programming and computer modeling into the four year program. Currently, we are focused on building Excel skills into all units. At the Freshman level, we use Bootstrap http://www.bootstrapworld.org/ a math curriculum that integrates Algebra and video game animation. We use Logger Pro, Desmos.com and CASIO calculators for modeling real data, students use SCRATCH and ALICE for telling stories or making games, and students create concept maps and problem constellations in Inspiration. This year, we have a former student who will work with Junior Engineers to teach computer programming. The year long projects our students work on lend themselves to app making, 3D printing, website design, database creation, and more as well as collaboration with students across the world.
Our students regularly use Google Hangout to study, collaborate, communicate with each other; however, we have not expanded this to regular communication with students in other schools and countries. We are working on ways to collaborate with teachers around the world, including Moroccan, Ghanaian, Indonesian, and Indian ILEP fellows. Also, Arizona State University hosts Hubert Humphrey fellows from around the globe and we are bringing these professionals into our school to help develop connections and increased global competency.
Is there a system for evaluating student technology literacy in your school? If so, how effective or helpful have you found the assessment? No, but WE NEED ONE!!! I plan on researching available assessment tools and rubrics and proposing this as a part of assessing each student in our school. As we develop our program and “new form” of education, it is important to find ways to quantify our impacts. Many teachers believe that state assessments limit our ability to globalize our classrooms. I’m a firm believer that we can’t change what we can’t measure. So, if we want all students to be technologically literate and globally competent, we need efficient, systematic tools for assessing technological literacy and global competency.
Suggestions from students on their ideas for integrating technology into their learning:
Most of the students feel that they are being taught technology because they have the laptops, I think there is more to learning than access, but it is definitely the first step! Here are some excerpts from student responses below.
"The form of technology I see the greatest need for is programming and the Arduino boards. We have a huge robotics and engineering focus and interest on our campus, and bringing this technology to the classroom would challenge our students greatly." The biggest barrier is time for our staff to learn the capabilities so that we can challenge our students in meaningful ways and support them when they are stuck.
"I recently found a game called "Democracy 3"...about a game that is really good for demonstrating how Government, Economy, and Society work and interact in a very simplistic way. It's kinda neat, though I have yet to play it for I'm unsure if I truly want to drop 24 dollars on it. Here's the video review about it and it say what works about it that I like. This is just an example about a way that you can incorporate technology into classwork.
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRS5p60yX_E "
Following is the opinion I’ve received from students about the Flipped model of math instruction, I’m still trying to figure out the right balance. Is it the change of format that students struggle with, or the mode of instruction? The final comment speaks to this as well, seems like teachers at our school have tried independent video format and class video format, none with the right success yet! In a school focused on application of skills and thinking, we lose time for direct skill instruction. Where and how should students best access these skills at their own pace and for mastery?
"One of my main problems in math currently is the dependence on Khan Academy and the assumption by an un-named teacher that Khan Academy will teach us flawlessly and we only need to ask additional questions to understand concepts. However, at the same time, I think Khan Academy is an excellent out-of-class resource for EXTRA understandings and practice. The same goes for things like Coursera, Crash Course, SciShow, et cetera. "
"I also really love the Edmodo format and think more school should have this setup. But, as before, the Senior side seems to be too dependant on it and believes a single post is enough clarification for a whole assignment or day's setup; balance is key. "
"My favorite technological advantage at Bioscience is the open teacher-to-student contact through email, Edmodo, et cetera. This allows a more resources outside of school when you need help or have a question."
"If teachers would email or have a database of smartboard files that students could access or had pdfs of them updated daily for all their classes, I think that would be really helpful. I wouldnt have to worry about taking the wrong notes and I would be more engaged in class because I wouldnt have to worry about note taking and all of the necessary information would be available to me in an instant regardless of where I am or if I have my notebooks etc."
"Edmodo has been a great resource because I dont have to track down weird links and I can see perspectives from others in my class. I think that edmodo has deffinitely benefitted me because of the ease of use and the reminders about late and current assignments etc"
"In all seriousness, google has been a great resource as well. I dont have to have a huge pile of books in my backpack, its available everywhere and has a ridiculous amount of information regarding pretty much everything that I have done at bioscience thus far. Although some teachers think that a blind search on google is stupid and not beneficial at all, it really is. I can find out basic information about pretty much anything that we are working on or that I need to know about, and it provides a jumping off point for all further research. "
"Teach them how to program and use Arduino Microcontrollers. They're really cool, and useful for lots of projects (I'm considering using them in my project this year)"
"Teach them how to use CAD, program, use excel, etc. earlier on so they can be familiar with those things before they need them."
"Khan Academy (I know you use Sophia--not sure how that works, but if you do use Khan Academy, use it the way that works. In my experience having an independent study for math doesn't work), Coursera (and other MOOCs--if they're optional try to give them extra time in class at least once a week or they'll never finish a course), Educational YouTube Channels as supplements (But don't show these on a smartboard if they're more than 5 minutes--it won't be as helpful because people will start to drift--also, don't show Khan Academy vids on the board and expect everyone to understand. They can be posted, and everyone can watch them at a designated time, or on their own time), TED talks, too."
What tools that are not presently available, would help to achieve district objectives?
Arduino boards, computer programming and computer science curriculum, Skype access, and ability to use Dropbox to make file sharing easier! As I’ve said a few times already, access to tools is not the problem at our school or across our district, training in how to best use them and support from IT in troubleshooting is our biggest need. Long term, we need a system for funding maintenance and replacement of a high volume of hardware.
School Summary: We are a 1:1 laptop school, where students and teachers have access to Dell PCs with Windows 7 operating systems. They have access to a TON of software on these machines, including but not limited to Internet (network filter limits some use), Microsoft package, Logger Pro, Inspiration, Google Earth, Audacity, Movie Maker, ITUNES, Solidworks, and Photoshop. Students who prefer to make videos, podcasts on a Mac can check them out from the tech department with teacher permission. Additionally, all students have Rosetta Stone accounts for learning Spanish and/or a language of their choice and parents can get accounts to build their English skills. Every teacher has a laptop, and every room a SMARTBOARD and Document Camera. Our school has newly acquired clicker systems and has ordered mini Ipods for filming in class to make lessons available in flipped format. We are spoiled in the field of technology; however, we don’t use it as efficiently as possible. One thing that missing is training on the potential uses of the software and hardware and time to figure out how to implement it meaningfully. In the past, our IT department was more of a hindrance than a help, as they took weeks/months to fix student computers and were unavailable to help staff with figuring out technology. Now communication and technical support systems have improved. Ideally, we would have PD available once per month to teach staff, students, and parents how to use the various programs. The best part of our technology is that students are self-guided and teach each other and us how to use it!! We should rely on them even more so that we can all become more technologically literate. Also, as computers get older, we need the support of District to implement a system for funding and replacing all school computers. If this is not possible, we need to begin making connections and raising money in order to do it ourselves. Approximately 65% of our curriculum utilizes individual computers, so not having them would completely alter our program.
How does your school make use of school and/or teacher websites? Our district and school website have a teacher website page available; however, very few of us have even updated our individual pages. The reason being that we use Edmodo for our regular communication with students. The strength of this is that students and teachers can post comments, track assignments, and engage in meaningful discussion. The weakness is that parents don’t have a specific place to check grades, progress, etc. Ultimately, we are putting the responsibility for learning and management on the students; however, at the cost of having this information readily available for parents to check. This year, our focus is on parent communication. At the Freshman level we have been using a blogpost blog: bhsfreshmanexperience.blogspot.com to share weekly events and questions for discussion with their children. Because we grade using not meeting, meeting, and exceeding expectations in participation, progress, and performance and use regular Self-Assessment and Reflection to give students a say in their grading and because we do not use points to track grades, the District grading/sharing system is not utilized in our school. We are working with parents to determine the best way to communicate student learning regularly.
How are you currently utilizing technology for learning? We are a 1:1 laptop school, so technology is literally at every student’s fingertips. Edmodo is the most common use of technology across the four years. From posting assignments and announcements to engaging students in peer to peer discussion, this is our version of Blackboard in the classroom. We rarely use textbooks in our school, so websites, blogs, primary text, websites, etc have to be available for students.
Our strongest use of technology is integrated summative assessments at each grade level. For example, Freshman students must identify a passion then write a magazine with articles about connections between this topic and science, math, health, art, ethics, technology, and other cultures. They must also identify a local/global issue related to their passion and use the Sustainable Transformation Framework to develop and implement an intervention that takes into account the wants, needs, and values of all stakeholders. This process becomes the feature story of their magazine. Sophomores write and produce documentaries around a problem they identify and Juniors and Seniors have choice in how they present their research.
Examples of technology-based activities throughout the year include:
Article or Infographic of the Week: for students to critically analyze the source, data, claims, etc. Responses are done in Google Docs and then shared on Edmodo. All of our students have Gmail accounts, so we regularly communicate in Google Docs, forms, and email.
Collaborative assignments: Freshman students work collaboratively to write a survey to conduct at Food Truck Friday in Downtown Phoenix. All students conduct research in the online library http://www.ebscohost.com and use multi-media to present their findings.
Personal portfolios: Sophomores keep a website to document individual evidence of meeting all standards and of examples of their best and most creative work. Ideally, this will be carried to Junior and Senior year and used to measure growth of individuals and the overall program over time.
Flipped classroom: This model for learning has been experimented with in a variety of ways across campus. Currently, students are using aleks.com for differentiated math skill development and all students use the skills in a variety of in class math modeling activities. I have found that this model requires the most tech support of all technology integration we have used.
Epals: Freshman Spanish students are starting pen pal exchanges with students in Spanish speaking countries around the world.
Computer programming: The Math department has short and long term goals for embedding computer programming and computer modeling into the four year program. Currently, we are focused on building Excel skills into all units. At the Freshman level, we use Bootstrap http://www.bootstrapworld.org/ a math curriculum that integrates Algebra and video game animation. We use Logger Pro, Desmos.com and CASIO calculators for modeling real data, students use SCRATCH and ALICE for telling stories or making games, and students create concept maps and problem constellations in Inspiration. This year, we have a former student who will work with Junior Engineers to teach computer programming. The year long projects our students work on lend themselves to app making, 3D printing, website design, database creation, and more as well as collaboration with students across the world.
Our students regularly use Google Hangout to study, collaborate, communicate with each other; however, we have not expanded this to regular communication with students in other schools and countries. We are working on ways to collaborate with teachers around the world, including Moroccan, Ghanaian, Indonesian, and Indian ILEP fellows. Also, Arizona State University hosts Hubert Humphrey fellows from around the globe and we are bringing these professionals into our school to help develop connections and increased global competency.
Is there a system for evaluating student technology literacy in your school? If so, how effective or helpful have you found the assessment? No, but WE NEED ONE!!! I plan on researching available assessment tools and rubrics and proposing this as a part of assessing each student in our school. As we develop our program and “new form” of education, it is important to find ways to quantify our impacts. Many teachers believe that state assessments limit our ability to globalize our classrooms. I’m a firm believer that we can’t change what we can’t measure. So, if we want all students to be technologically literate and globally competent, we need efficient, systematic tools for assessing technological literacy and global competency.
Suggestions from students on their ideas for integrating technology into their learning:
Most of the students feel that they are being taught technology because they have the laptops, I think there is more to learning than access, but it is definitely the first step! Here are some excerpts from student responses below.
"The form of technology I see the greatest need for is programming and the Arduino boards. We have a huge robotics and engineering focus and interest on our campus, and bringing this technology to the classroom would challenge our students greatly." The biggest barrier is time for our staff to learn the capabilities so that we can challenge our students in meaningful ways and support them when they are stuck.
"I recently found a game called "Democracy 3"...about a game that is really good for demonstrating how Government, Economy, and Society work and interact in a very simplistic way. It's kinda neat, though I have yet to play it for I'm unsure if I truly want to drop 24 dollars on it. Here's the video review about it and it say what works about it that I like. This is just an example about a way that you can incorporate technology into classwork.
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRS5p60yX_E "
Following is the opinion I’ve received from students about the Flipped model of math instruction, I’m still trying to figure out the right balance. Is it the change of format that students struggle with, or the mode of instruction? The final comment speaks to this as well, seems like teachers at our school have tried independent video format and class video format, none with the right success yet! In a school focused on application of skills and thinking, we lose time for direct skill instruction. Where and how should students best access these skills at their own pace and for mastery?
"One of my main problems in math currently is the dependence on Khan Academy and the assumption by an un-named teacher that Khan Academy will teach us flawlessly and we only need to ask additional questions to understand concepts. However, at the same time, I think Khan Academy is an excellent out-of-class resource for EXTRA understandings and practice. The same goes for things like Coursera, Crash Course, SciShow, et cetera. "
"I also really love the Edmodo format and think more school should have this setup. But, as before, the Senior side seems to be too dependant on it and believes a single post is enough clarification for a whole assignment or day's setup; balance is key. "
"My favorite technological advantage at Bioscience is the open teacher-to-student contact through email, Edmodo, et cetera. This allows a more resources outside of school when you need help or have a question."
"If teachers would email or have a database of smartboard files that students could access or had pdfs of them updated daily for all their classes, I think that would be really helpful. I wouldnt have to worry about taking the wrong notes and I would be more engaged in class because I wouldnt have to worry about note taking and all of the necessary information would be available to me in an instant regardless of where I am or if I have my notebooks etc."
"Edmodo has been a great resource because I dont have to track down weird links and I can see perspectives from others in my class. I think that edmodo has deffinitely benefitted me because of the ease of use and the reminders about late and current assignments etc"
"In all seriousness, google has been a great resource as well. I dont have to have a huge pile of books in my backpack, its available everywhere and has a ridiculous amount of information regarding pretty much everything that I have done at bioscience thus far. Although some teachers think that a blind search on google is stupid and not beneficial at all, it really is. I can find out basic information about pretty much anything that we are working on or that I need to know about, and it provides a jumping off point for all further research. "
"Teach them how to program and use Arduino Microcontrollers. They're really cool, and useful for lots of projects (I'm considering using them in my project this year)"
"Teach them how to use CAD, program, use excel, etc. earlier on so they can be familiar with those things before they need them."
"Khan Academy (I know you use Sophia--not sure how that works, but if you do use Khan Academy, use it the way that works. In my experience having an independent study for math doesn't work), Coursera (and other MOOCs--if they're optional try to give them extra time in class at least once a week or they'll never finish a course), Educational YouTube Channels as supplements (But don't show these on a smartboard if they're more than 5 minutes--it won't be as helpful because people will start to drift--also, don't show Khan Academy vids on the board and expect everyone to understand. They can be posted, and everyone can watch them at a designated time, or on their own time), TED talks, too."
What tools that are not presently available, would help to achieve district objectives?
Arduino boards, computer programming and computer science curriculum, Skype access, and ability to use Dropbox to make file sharing easier! As I’ve said a few times already, access to tools is not the problem at our school or across our district, training in how to best use them and support from IT in troubleshooting is our biggest need. Long term, we need a system for funding maintenance and replacement of a high volume of hardware.