Get Connected - April 2008 - (Page 11)

However, since the new connectivity, I’ve seen a marked difference. It doesn’t matter who’s online on campus—and we have two other computer labs with thirty computers online all day long in the school—when we come in at seventh period, all of us on the Internet constantly, doing streaming video even, we haven’t experienced any delays since that time.” More student engagement It’s rather a self-evident principle, but it’s worth emphasizing: you can’t teach 21st century skills with slow, unreliable technology. In fact, you’re well advised to keep slow and plodding out of school altogether, no matter what you’re teaching. “If you’ve ever taught school,” offers Perreault, “you know that if you have too much down time, that’s when you have problems in the classroom. There’s a definite engagement factor that’s happened here as a result of the kind of network speed that makes learning fun for these kids.” Gesturing to the classroom of students scrutinizing their laptop screens, he continues: “They’re reading here, and they’re much more engaged than they would be if we threw a textbook in front of them. They’re actually finding their own information, going out to the Internet, and from here they’re going to build presentations using their computers rather than doing a traditional report-type activity. And best yet, there’s no more wasted downtime.” Cruz points out that the single greatest factor in the success of any technology program is the skillful integration by the instructor. But without the right technology, even the most skillful instructor simply doesn’t have the tools he or she needs. The Westridge students certainly appear to be engaged, and they certainly appear to have the right technology and teacher (Cruz teaches this class herself), but are they really learning? Westridge Middle School Principal Nelson Pinder says the progress of the BLASTT class is unmistakable. Documentable progress and students taking ownership of their education “We keep stringent data on each kid’s growth throughout the year,” Pinder says. “And without a doubt, this class has shown the most growth throughout the year of any students on our campus. The growth is outstanding.” “It’s not just a growth in reading skills,” adds Cruz. “Yes, that’s happening, but the overall growth that I’ve found most exciting with the BLASTT program is students’ ability to collaborate with each other and use technology in order to solve problems.” Before, the students did not like working in groups; in fact, they would not work in groups she says. Now they have no problem for their learning. They now evaluate themselves harder, I think, than even I do.” FCAT test results confirm it. The first-year BLASTT students improved their scores by 86 percent. The second-year students posted outstanding increases in the 70-percent range. Cruz attributes the slightly lower progress to the fact that, with the confidence won from the first year’s successes, OCPS has introduced increasingly lower-level readers each successive year to the BLASTT program. She adds that she continues to track the BLASTT students’ test results and all of the inaugural year students “continue to sustain and maintain their gains, and are even part of our advanced honors science and algebra classes today—taking high school classes in the eighth grade, basically a year ahead of their peers in those areas.” A new type of student “Today’s student is a new type of student,” points out Pinder, the Westridge Middle School principal. “You have to try to different strategies to gain the interest of easily bored, poorly performing students. It’s an outstanding opportunity for me to offer something like BLASTT and this wirelessly connected classroom to my students. Especially to a school of this nature, a Title 1 school, where kids don’t often get the opportunity to be exposed to these kinds of technologies.” “There’s a definite engagement factor that’s happened here as a result of the kind of network speed that makes learning fun for these kids.” —George Perreault, Director of Instructional Technology & Library Media Services for OCPS seeking out other students for help, especially if those students have a certain skill. More importantly, she also sees students taking greater responsibility for their work. Before, they would turn in work that that was mediocre at best or, worse, work that they had put extremely little effort into. Now they want their peers’ opinion, asking, “Do you think this is good work?” Or they’ll even poise the question to themselves, deciding, “No, I don’t think I’ll turn this in yet. I’m going to work on it a little more.” Even their work on the Internet, which they always enjoyed, has matured. They have learned that not all sites are created equal and now approach the Web with more strategy, evaluating the credibility of each site. “They’re thinking it through,” explains Cruz, asking, “Where do I need to go? Is this good information?’ They’re checking Internet sites for validity, things like that that tell me they’re taking a true responsibility 11

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Get Connected - April 2008

The End of a Bottleneck: OCPS’ New Network Contents A Letter From the President Not Your Average Library: New Carlisle, IN New Consortium Program Launches May 1 Hands-on Education Education Leaders Decry EETT Cuts Much More Than E-mail: Gaggle’s Other Apps Notes From the CTO

Get Connected - April 2008

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