District Administration - September 2012 - (Page 24)

DistrictProfile Loudoun County (Va.) PubLiC SChooLS By Ericka Mellon Video game technology is in motion in Loudoun County schools. Students at Steuart W. Weller Elementary School in Ashburn, Va., toss darts, play guitar, dance like rock stars, raft down rapids, and talk to youngsters in Romania. Yet there are no darts, no instruments, no DJs, no white water and no expensive international plane tickets involved. Instead, the students use their arms, legs and body movements to do the activities through a video game system, which also allows for live video chats around the world. The students are learning through a small but growing phenomenon called gesture-based technology. The concept involves devices such as game consoles with natural user interfaces. Loudoun County Public Schools is at the forefront of employing this technology, making students active participants in their assignments so they are immersed in their own instruction. The 2002 movie Minority Report introduced a general audience to the possibilities of this technology, with actor Tom Cruise operating a computer using his own arm movements—without a keyboard or a mouse. “We are living in a sci-fi scenario,” says Adina Popa, a technology resource teacher in Loudoun County. “The future is here.” Horizon Report Prediction The influential New Media Consortium predicts in its 2012 “Horizon Report” that devices with natural user interfaces—such as Microsoft’s Kinect, Nintendo’s Wii, smartphones and tablets—will be common in K12 classrooms worldwide within the next four to five years. “The various technologies that enable natural user interfaces are making interactions with computational devices far more intuitive, and often so simple that no instructions are even needed to use them,” the report says. “The device 24 September 2012 Gesturing to Learn A fifth grade student at Weller Elementary uses Avatar Kinect, which mimics facial expressions and gestures, to record a speech he wrote. teaches you as you interact with it.” The Loudoun County school system, an affluent district less than an hour west of Washington, D.C., has been experimenting with the Kinect since last year. Students essentially act as their own remote controls to power the device, which has powerful sensors that capture the user’s movements. The games display on a TV or projector screen. Loudoun County (Va.) PubLiC SCHooLS Superintendent: Edgar B. Hatrick Students: 65,653 Schools: 80 Staff: 9,120 (includes 5,049 teachers) Students receiving free or reduced-price lunches: tk Per-pupil expenditure: $11,014 Web site: www.loudoun.k12.va.us At Weller Elementary, where Popa works, teachers incorporate the technology into lessons in math, reading, social studies, science, music and physical education. For example, as students simulate playing darts, they count their tosses and hits, then calculate fractions, percentages and decimals. In physical education, students barely realize they’re exercising as they mimic digital dancers. For special education students, playing virtual guitars helps with fine-motor skills. Autistic students, tasked with navigating a virtual raft down a virtual river with their classmates, practice cooperation, social skills and overcoming obstacles. Students also take virtual tours of zoos around the country, get science assignments from NASA, and expand their cultural awareness by chatting with students around the world. Pat Spaulding, a fifth-grade teacher District Administration http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2012

District Administration - September/October 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Curriculum Update
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Product Focus
Resistance to High-Stakes Testing Spreads
Postgraduation for Special Needs Students
Rick & Becky DuFour
CIo News
Getting the Best ROI in Technology
Shaping a Digital Decade
Professional Opinion
Professional Opinion
Online Edge
Going Mobile
New Products
New Directions

District Administration - September 2012