Tension+of+Cutting-Edge+Tech+-+Mission

The following document is a very rough draft and in the works. Please feel free to edit the this page with any changes you deem necessary and or we can discuss changes through this wiki page discussion area. - Charmaine //Evaluate the tension between the pressure to utilize cutting-edge technology and the actual needs of students and classroom teachers. // Sidwell Friends School operates in times of a paradigm shift in education due to technology. Innovative technologies have found their way in the traditional classroom from Web 2.0 technologies such as the read-write web, to mere access to immediate technologies such as a one-to-one laptop program where each student has access to their own personal internet ready laptop. The traditional instructional classroom at Sidwell Friends is showing gradual movement towards hybrid learning communities. Students now have immediate access to a wealth of information at their fingertips – the Internet. They are engaging new methods of learning such as instructional podcasts, creating and accessing wikis and collaborative learning environments, creating and sharing with the world their own multimedia rich projects, and writing and reading online blogs. This school year the 6th grade was chosen to pilot a one-to-one laptop program in which each 6th grade student and teacher was given a Tablet PC. The pressure to utilize this cutting-edge technology and the actual needs of classroom teachers and students has become prevalent through this laptop pilot program. // (Derived from Preliminary Evaluation, Patricia Moser) //The laptop pilot has changed learning in some important ways which are at the forefront of what are considered best practices today:  New technologies have impacted our society, specifically our educational system. The teaching and learning process has had no other choice but to adapt to these new innovative technologies. But the mere availability of computers and the Internet does not mean that teachers are making use of what the new technology has to offer. Studies indicate that it is not simply access to technology that is important for students, but rather how teachers use technology as a tool to enhance learning (Thompson, Simonson, and Hargrave 1996). As Becker (2000) notes, //“…under the right conditions—where teachers are personally comfortable and at least moderately skilled in using computers themselves, where the school’s daily class schedule permits allocating time for students to use computers as part of class assignments, where enough equipment is available and convenient to permit computer activities to flow seamlessly alongside other learning tasks, and where teachers’ personal philosophies support student-centered, constructivist pedagogy that incorporates collaborative projects defined partly by student interests – computers are clearly becoming a valuable and well-functioning instructional tool.” //
 *  **Increased student collaboration** to create projects together, facilitated by the tablet PC in ways never before possible (wikis, Skype, email, audio recordings, etc. plus the ubiquitous nature of the tablet always being there ready for the student to use)
 *  **Project based learning**, i.e. the constructivist approach to learning. The research phase of the project is facilitated by the laptop’s ability to provide ubiquitous access to information on any topic at any time. The presentations of information to others (the projects) use a myriad of creative formats facilitated by the tablet PC (PowerPoint, audio files, digital movies, written papers, wikis, etc.)
 *  **Student as independent learner**. When students are given the responsibility to seek information on their own or with classmates, evaluate that information, and then put it together in a cohesive presentation for the purpose of enlightening others, then they have become independent learners, a lifelong and very necessary life-skill.
 *  Other essentials skills that were improved included quality of student work, equity, and student organizational skills.

An article in the Independent School magazine (Winter, 2009, page 50): “The Future of Computers and 1:1 Laptop Initiatives: Which Side Are You On?” by Alan Bain and Mark E. Weston has one of the best explanations for why 1:1 laptop programs succeed or fail in schools. The authors point out that success has nothing to do with the technology and everything to do with how well teachers collaborate and collectively view the school’s mission. // (Derived from Preliminary Evaluation, Patricia Moser). //  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Current technologies utilized at Sidwell Friends and possible concerns: ·  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Sidwell’s email, word processing, spreadsheet application and desktop publishing application software, Sidwell purchases site licenses for Microsoft Office applicatons (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook). ·  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">SMART Boards installed in every academic classroom provides endless opportunities for innovative teaching and engaged learning ·  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">All faculty and staff members are given a Tablet PC as their main computer workstation. Ongoing training is provided to aid faculty and staff in innovative ways to teach utilizing a TabletPC. ·  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Enhanced wireless access points throughout the campus.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The concern is whether need to invest in this expensive application software when there is comparatively a free version available, Open Office, an open-source application program making its way into many educational institutions and is compatible with many operating systems.
 * Concerns include whether the interactive whiteboard feature is necessary given that Tablet PCs are ubiquitous among faculty and can serve a similar purpose when projected.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The concern was raised whether we should allow for a network that welcomes various laptops such as Macs and Linux-based operating systems.


 * Recommendations**:
 * In continued consultation with the 1:1 Laptop Exploratory Committee, we recommend that we continue the laptop pilot in the middle school for another year.
 * Set aside time for an annual professional development session during the school year that is mandatory for all teachers.
 * Continue funding the Sidwell Friends Summer Technology Institute.
 * An IS Department member should serve on the Venture Grant subcommittee to make recommendations about the connections between technology and library research and the proposals.
 * A basic "getting started" technology training should be a part of the orientation for newly hired teachers
 * Establish a procedure for determining which SFS students do not have a home computer and/or internet access at home and find solutions for solving these inequities.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Thompson, A. D., M. R. Simonson, and C. P. Hargrave. 1996. //Educational Technology: A// //<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Review of the Research, //<span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">2d ed. Washington, D.C.: Association for Educational <span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Communications and Technology. <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Becker, H. J. 2000. “Findings from the Teaching, Learning, and Computing Survey: Is Larry <span style="font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Cuban Right?” Paper prepared for the Technology Leadership Conference, Council of <span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Garamond','serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Garamond;">Chief State School Officers, Washington, D.C., January. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">