I must admit that this is a difficult task for me to imagine. I am on a campus where I have only one computer in my classroom and a projector that was assigned to after attending a professional development. (I must use my personal laptop to show presentations on it) There is one Smart board on campus that is used by the math department. With that being stated, the classroom that I envision has all the bells and whistles.
Laptops will be made available to all students in every classroom. Their textbooks will be online and when they do homework they will be able to log into them from home. For students who suffer from ailments that keep them out of school, video conferencing will be made available to them through webcams. No longer will they have to miss instruction directly from their teacher. Also, due to distance education students who choose to study foreign languages will have them made available to do so.
As for the educator delivery of lessons will be changed immensely. I see video conferencing capabilities available for every classroom. Video creation and editing will be a staple for every classroom as well. Educators are always looking for ways to expand upon lessons/projects; video will be a key component to doing so especially with the usage of ‘flip’ styled camcorders. A classroom of the future will need to have this equipment available. Educators will need to be able to podcast as a means of make-up work among other things. Websites are a must for every teacher; they are an open line of communication with parents, students, and administrators. The capability of what a website can provide for students outside of the classroom is endless.
Parents would also have to become a part of this classroom as well. Going online to view progress reports at their leisure is only scratching the surface of the possibilities. By having access to their student’s classroom website parents can view graded work, announcements, and upcoming assignments/projects. Many working parents would appreciate having teacher or POD conferences with via webcam instead of coming up to the school to find out how their child is doing. (so would the teachers) By implementing these tools for the classroom of the future I am sure it would be quite costly initially. But with the need for students to be college/world ready these changes are a prerequisite to arming them for their future.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Audio & Animation
The school in which I teach has VERY limited resources and I am constantly looking for ways to pull in technology in a variety of ways. (As least expensive as possible) So when I was introduced to audacity I was in hog heaven!!!!!! I normally take a mike and sit at a tape recorder to record portions of books, short stories, and other literature for my students who need the additional modification. With audacity I am able to record and save tons of stuff without having to reuse cassette tapes. (I know, who uses those anymore?) I can burn my recordings to CD and save them for the next year and build a listening library for my students.
Now that I have experienced using the animation portion of Powerpoint a bit more I am excited to combine the two for those students who are below grade level. With the combination of the two the visual learners can make the connection with the reading selections. For example, one idea that I put to practice was to use pictures of characters that resemble those in the stories that I select for the class in a Powerpoint. As they are listening the characters change expressions, posture and so on to flow with the reading. At the end of a section or chapter I would take that time to introduce the new words and reread the portion of the story that it was in by showing the slide that it is connected to. Naturally this took a lot of time to prepare, but the excitement of those students who were able to join in the discussion with the rest of the class made it worthwhile.
Now that I have experienced using the animation portion of Powerpoint a bit more I am excited to combine the two for those students who are below grade level. With the combination of the two the visual learners can make the connection with the reading selections. For example, one idea that I put to practice was to use pictures of characters that resemble those in the stories that I select for the class in a Powerpoint. As they are listening the characters change expressions, posture and so on to flow with the reading. At the end of a section or chapter I would take that time to introduce the new words and reread the portion of the story that it was in by showing the slide that it is connected to. Naturally this took a lot of time to prepare, but the excitement of those students who were able to join in the discussion with the rest of the class made it worthwhile.
Friday, April 9, 2010
District Data Management
Our campus MTT unfortunately didn’t have a lot of knowledge about the questions that I had pertaining to how the district maintains it data. So I called the records management officer for the district, Chris Stone. Mr. Stone was quite nice about answering my questions he keeps a busy schedule not only in his position but, he volunteers quite a bit around the district in after school programs to help students become technologically savvy.
Q: What do we use for file sharing?
A: Each school has a server for file sharing. For middle school it is separated by department and grade level. Your MTT should have trained each department how to utilize this feature on the server. At the end of each school year the data management holds a training to show teachers how to save the files for the following year so that they are not deleted. Please be advised that all records that contain personal identifiable information are destroyed and recycled. By doing so we are guaranteeing compliance with state code.
Q: What does the district use for records management?
A: DallasISD has implemented two programs for records management district wide this school year. Chancery for attendance and registration and Gradespeed for student grades; although there were a few bugs in the inseption of both programs they have proven to be most beneficial to a district our size. For example instead of keeping up with paper files both programs have allowed us to back this information up digitally on our servers. Data management has also begun the process of taken the paper files and inputing the information into each respective program so that we can become completely paperless. It will take some time to complete the process. Due to budgeting issues IT has not been able to upgrade the data space on the district server, therefore everything will be a year or two behind until we can do so. The other management program we use for student data is MyDataPortal which holds all test scores from TAKS to ITBS. This record follows the student throughout the district. If they were ever to transfer outside of the district upon parent or campus request we can send this information electronically, instead of by paper as we have had to do in the past.
Q: How do you feel about the Project Share, www.epsilen.com , program that TEA is implementing statewide beginning this summer?
A: To be honest I am not that familiar with how this is suppose to work. The concept is one that I am sure students will benefit from as well as teachers. But the amount of work that it will place on the IT department of this district will be huge. Again back to budget cuts, as a district we have had to reduce positions in every department. For DallasISD to take on this project we are going to need more bodies and more internet speed since every campus, administrator, teacher, staff, and student will be expected to have a space. (if you didn’t know we had to downgrade our internet speed due to help the budget) The other issue I don’t think the state has considered is the vast difference we have in our schools when it comes to technology. Some schools are equipped others are not. I think that there are some campuses who will be missing out for the next year or two on this program. I do look forward to attending the training at Region X this summer to learn more about it.
As far as my recommendations go, the only one that I have for my district is to budget appropriately. I work in one of the schools that Mr. Stone talked about not being able to fully participate in the ProjectShare program that is suppose to launch this summer. We lack equipment and not to put down my campus MTT, but district knowledge on my campus. If I end up staying with my district next year I am interested in seeing how all of this will gel together.
Q: What do we use for file sharing?
A: Each school has a server for file sharing. For middle school it is separated by department and grade level. Your MTT should have trained each department how to utilize this feature on the server. At the end of each school year the data management holds a training to show teachers how to save the files for the following year so that they are not deleted. Please be advised that all records that contain personal identifiable information are destroyed and recycled. By doing so we are guaranteeing compliance with state code.
Q: What does the district use for records management?
A: DallasISD has implemented two programs for records management district wide this school year. Chancery for attendance and registration and Gradespeed for student grades; although there were a few bugs in the inseption of both programs they have proven to be most beneficial to a district our size. For example instead of keeping up with paper files both programs have allowed us to back this information up digitally on our servers. Data management has also begun the process of taken the paper files and inputing the information into each respective program so that we can become completely paperless. It will take some time to complete the process. Due to budgeting issues IT has not been able to upgrade the data space on the district server, therefore everything will be a year or two behind until we can do so. The other management program we use for student data is MyDataPortal which holds all test scores from TAKS to ITBS. This record follows the student throughout the district. If they were ever to transfer outside of the district upon parent or campus request we can send this information electronically, instead of by paper as we have had to do in the past.
Q: How do you feel about the Project Share, www.epsilen.com , program that TEA is implementing statewide beginning this summer?
A: To be honest I am not that familiar with how this is suppose to work. The concept is one that I am sure students will benefit from as well as teachers. But the amount of work that it will place on the IT department of this district will be huge. Again back to budget cuts, as a district we have had to reduce positions in every department. For DallasISD to take on this project we are going to need more bodies and more internet speed since every campus, administrator, teacher, staff, and student will be expected to have a space. (if you didn’t know we had to downgrade our internet speed due to help the budget) The other issue I don’t think the state has considered is the vast difference we have in our schools when it comes to technology. Some schools are equipped others are not. I think that there are some campuses who will be missing out for the next year or two on this program. I do look forward to attending the training at Region X this summer to learn more about it.
As far as my recommendations go, the only one that I have for my district is to budget appropriately. I work in one of the schools that Mr. Stone talked about not being able to fully participate in the ProjectShare program that is suppose to launch this summer. We lack equipment and not to put down my campus MTT, but district knowledge on my campus. If I end up staying with my district next year I am interested in seeing how all of this will gel together.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Website Design
Reading one of my textbooks, “Multimedia for the web revealed” got me to thinking just how much of an advertising whiz you need to be. No matter the type of website you are creating it is a must to know your audience. As an educator, my audience is diverse to say the least therefore I realize that I need to keep it as generic as possible. (With plenty of classroom information) The struggle I have to overcome with web design is one that I struggle with quite a few of my technology issues; it’s not in the home, therefore the parents don’t see a need to have it in the classroom.
As I have stated before my classroom houses one computer for me to take attendance and that is about it. Any additional projects that I would like for my students to be exposed to have to either come out of my pocket or usage of the library eight computers. (which I can only have 3 to 4 days out of the month) Nevertheless, I do what I can with what I have; so designing a website for my classroom looks as generic as my classroom in my opinion due to the fact that too much sophistication would exclude the parents. Being that the majority of them don’t even have an e-mail address or computers at home. Therefore my classroom website is an online newsletters that I expose my students and parents to when they come for open house. The reaction to the site has been met with quite a few oooh’s and aaah’s and a shameless plug from me to ‘suggest’ to the parents to start following it so that they can keep up with classroom expectations. Although the response is not as overwhelming as I would have liked for it to be, at least the seed has been planted. I just keep hoping that eventually the technology fairy godmother is going to come and bless my classroom with awesome gifts.
As I have stated before my classroom houses one computer for me to take attendance and that is about it. Any additional projects that I would like for my students to be exposed to have to either come out of my pocket or usage of the library eight computers. (which I can only have 3 to 4 days out of the month) Nevertheless, I do what I can with what I have; so designing a website for my classroom looks as generic as my classroom in my opinion due to the fact that too much sophistication would exclude the parents. Being that the majority of them don’t even have an e-mail address or computers at home. Therefore my classroom website is an online newsletters that I expose my students and parents to when they come for open house. The reaction to the site has been met with quite a few oooh’s and aaah’s and a shameless plug from me to ‘suggest’ to the parents to start following it so that they can keep up with classroom expectations. Although the response is not as overwhelming as I would have liked for it to be, at least the seed has been planted. I just keep hoping that eventually the technology fairy godmother is going to come and bless my classroom with awesome gifts.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Region X out of class excursion
I was a bit bummed out about not being able to go to GeoTech with the class last Saturday; but the oddest thing happened, I got married that day. So that I would not be the only one who didn't have an field trip excursion I signed up for two professional developments with Region X. The first one I went to was a Technology Roundtable. This takes place once a month and lunch is provided!!!!! But the provision of information on upcoming changes in education through TEA was pretty cool in itself. The first training I attended was a Technology Roundtable and the purpose for this session is to discuss upcoming events in technology that districts should expect to take place on their campuses. Project Share through www.epsilen.com as explained in the roundtable is closer to social networking than education management, but TEA is adopting this to manage student profiles throughout the state for K-12. This program was developed for higher education, but is being implemented for K-12. Students will be able to utilize this site throughout the educational, as well as, professional careers.
All Region X summer programs, for example TALA, will have this included as an online component which will require those teachers participating to have a project share account. Each District has a 'corner' on project share, mainly for student portfolio use, based on what the presenter said epsilen.com will become a permanent thing throughout the state of Texas. There are a lot of ideals thrown out during this process. One of the ideas that I thought was quite intriguing is the whole use of desktop videoconferencing throughout districts. Giving principals more time on campus and attend their meetings through this media. There were a couple of web-based programs such as www.ivisit.com and www.elluminate.com that are available free of charge on a trial basis.
LOTE & Technology is the second training that I attended. In this training it gave an actual example of how videoconferencing works for the district of Ector. The former Spanish teacher of Ector High School retired and the students were going to have to change their graduation plans because the district could not find a teacher to teach Spanish II & III. With the help of PlanoISD they were able to hire a teacher who works from her home in Flower Mound and teaches through videoconferencing. It is really an awesome setup. There is a facilitator in the room while students are receiving their lesson from the instructor. The instructor as well as the facilitator put in grades and there are some assignments that are submitted online via email. The students actually enjoyed the class and felt as though they were learning Spanish at a faster rate due to the fact that they had to speak aloud more frequently due to the fact that the teacher wasn’t physically present.
The other tidbit of information that I took away from this particular training was www.dfwworld.org which is the website to the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft. Worth. This organization is doing a lot of awesome things with education and technology. I actually signed up to become a member because of the cultural opportunities they make available through technology for teacher and students alike. The idea of virtual fieldtrips and exposing my students to the world has me all giddy. Out of the two trainings I attended this one has to be my favorite.
All Region X summer programs, for example TALA, will have this included as an online component which will require those teachers participating to have a project share account. Each District has a 'corner' on project share, mainly for student portfolio use, based on what the presenter said epsilen.com will become a permanent thing throughout the state of Texas. There are a lot of ideals thrown out during this process. One of the ideas that I thought was quite intriguing is the whole use of desktop videoconferencing throughout districts. Giving principals more time on campus and attend their meetings through this media. There were a couple of web-based programs such as www.ivisit.com and www.elluminate.com that are available free of charge on a trial basis.
LOTE & Technology is the second training that I attended. In this training it gave an actual example of how videoconferencing works for the district of Ector. The former Spanish teacher of Ector High School retired and the students were going to have to change their graduation plans because the district could not find a teacher to teach Spanish II & III. With the help of PlanoISD they were able to hire a teacher who works from her home in Flower Mound and teaches through videoconferencing. It is really an awesome setup. There is a facilitator in the room while students are receiving their lesson from the instructor. The instructor as well as the facilitator put in grades and there are some assignments that are submitted online via email. The students actually enjoyed the class and felt as though they were learning Spanish at a faster rate due to the fact that they had to speak aloud more frequently due to the fact that the teacher wasn’t physically present.
The other tidbit of information that I took away from this particular training was www.dfwworld.org which is the website to the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Ft. Worth. This organization is doing a lot of awesome things with education and technology. I actually signed up to become a member because of the cultural opportunities they make available through technology for teacher and students alike. The idea of virtual fieldtrips and exposing my students to the world has me all giddy. Out of the two trainings I attended this one has to be my favorite.
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