Technical learning

Technology is advancing as quickly as ever.
Phones now have more computing power than a desktop computer even dreamed of having 25 years ago.
Wireless Internet access is becoming more readily available at faster speeds.
So as technology is changing daily life, it makes sense that it is also changing learning.
“Things have evolved at a much faster pace than traditionally education does,” said first-year Fort Recovery Schools superintendent Shelly Vaughn, a Jay County High School graduate. “I think education tends to sit back and watch things happen a little bit, and then it slowly starts to take hold. But technology, especially mobile technology, is so accessible … to so many kids and so many people in general that it’s impossible to think it’s not going to become more and more a part of what we do.”
One of the ways technology is being used in area schools is to give students opportunities they may not have had before.
Jay Schools superintendent Tim Long said about 80 Jay County High School seniors are in the process of taking courses for college credit this year. And those courses, which also earn high school credit, are not limited to just schools nearby.
Long noted that as long as a student has been accepted to a college, he or she can take online courses from that college, wherever it may be.
In addition to allowing students to take classes to help them get a jump on college, computer courses are also helping students get through high school. Both Long and South Adams Schools superintendent Scott Litwiller praised their use in the area of remediation and credit recovery.
“We’ve probably got 70 students the last two years who would have … never graduated (before),” said Long.
Technology has also allowed South Adams to expand its summer school offerings, credit recovery and otherwise, without having to add more staff. Litwiller said the classes SAHS was able to offer with just two teachers during the summer was “almost limitless.”
South Adams is also making use of Rosetta Stone software in its foreign language department.
It still offers the standard Spanish class, but also gives students the opportunity to take World Languages. In that class, through the use of Rosetta Stone, they are able to study any of 23 different languages.
“Kids are able to earn more credits and get a wider variety of experiences,” said Litwiller, noting that students interested in the military have been studying Arabic while those interested in international commerce have focused on Mandarin (Chinese). “I think it really has opened up opportunities, opened up the world.”
Litwiller said, if financially possible, he’d like to see South Adams Schools progress to a one-to-one — one laptop computer per student — model throughout the school system.
Fort Recovery is on that path as well.
At Fort Recovery Middle School every student has a laptop computer for use during the school day. And this year the school implemented a one-to-one program with the freshman class, allowing those students use of their laptops as well.
Vaughn said the goal is for that process to continue until every high school student has a laptop full time.
Jay County is still mostly using desktop computers, but has begun to add interactive iPad labs at the high school level. Long said he believes that is the path technology will continue to follow, but he wants to make sure to take a cautious approach.
“I think with technology we don’t want to be at the forefront,” he said. “We don’t want to be at the back. But we want to be a healthy middle.
“For me, I think the slow, steady, methodical approach is the best.”
In addition to its hardware, Fort Recovery this year implemented Google Apps for Education — a free service to educators that includes word processing, document sharing and email addresses for every student, teacher and administrator. It also allows students to collaborate on projects online, and gives teachers the ability to see exactly how much each student contributed to a given project.
Fort Recovery will be adding interactive white boards, something already in use in the elementary/middle school, to its high school facility as part of a renovation project approved by voters earlier this month. The school also makes use of iPads in its kindergarten classes and audience response systems at all grade levels.
“One of the advantages of that is higher levels of engagement,” said Vaughn. “It’s about hooking kids and keeping them focused. … Technology and engagement go hand in hand. That’s the biggest reason for not only incorporating, but infusing, technology in what we do.”
Vaughn and Litwiller both said they are beginning to see the implementation of a new concept in learning that was pioneered by Salman Khan.
The former financial analyst began making simple YouTube videos, which he posted from Boston, to help tutor his cousins in New Orleans. The popularity of the videos soared, and he has since created the Khan Academy (http://www.khanacademy.org) and has 2,700 instructional videos in a variety of subjects.
The basic premise, one hit upon by those who commented on YouTube, was that the videos allowed students to learn at their own pace, re-watch parts of the “lecture” they didn’t understand and do so as many times as they wanted. The theory behind the method is that the lecture becomes the homework and what was formerly homework would instead take place in the classroom setting, allowing teachers to offer more one-on-one assistance where needed.
“It’s a little bit reversed, because usually you go to school, you hear the lecture and you go home and you do your homework,” said Litwiller. “Here, your homework is to listen to the podcast [or watch a video] … and then you come back and practice what you heard and get that reinforced. We’re seeing more and more of that kind of concept.
“I think that’s a positive way to really enhance the learning.”
Vaughn said with so much information available on the Internet, through the Khan Academy and an almost infinite number of other sources, it simply doesn’t make sense not to use it.
“As an adult if you want to know something, you go online and you surf around and you … delve as deeply in it as you want to,” she said. “So why wouldn’t we afford kids the same opportunity? The teacher is no longer that keeper of knowledge.”
Vaughn also discussed the Ohio Department of Education’s implementation of E-Days for the 2011-12 school year.
In Ohio, schools are allowed five “wavier” days for cancellation of school for reasons such as snow and fog. Previously once those days were used a school system would have to make up any remaining days at the end of the year.
This year the state has offered its schools the opportunity to use three E-Days, which would involve online lessons at most grade levels.
While the three area schools systems are taking different approaches to implementing technology and moving at varying rates, all three superintendents said one of the keys to making it successful is professional development. They all said their teachers have been mostly open to trying and learning new methods of teaching.
“It’s like people going to a swimming pool,” said Litwiller. “Some people have to dip their toe in, some people jump in, some people go off the diving board. I think it’s the same thing with teachers, and people in general. Some will try it out little by little, some will just dive in.”
It’s also a collaborative approach among educators that help push the process along.
“I think we have a good mix of teachers,” said SAHS technology director Myra Moore. “Those that dive in do a good job of being accessible and helping other teachers.”
While communication between teachers, administrators and other school employees is key — at Jay County administrators, maintenance staff and some teachers are working with iPads — technology has also opened things up for parents.
Schedules, grades and even lunch budgets are posted online. Parents can keep track not only of their child’s overall grade, but how he or she has performed on each assignment. Or whether that assignment has been turned in at all.
And if there are questions, it is easier than ever to communicate with teachers well before parent-teacher conferences or the distribution of report cards.
“Today communication is almost instantaneous,” said Long. “So as a parent, when you email someone, it’s usually right at their fingertips. It has greatly increased communication and response time.”
While technology continues to push forward, all three superintendents said its key that they are using the new resources to best help their students.
Quantifying just how effective such new approaches are is not always easy.
“The thing that’s difficult that I always go back to is, how do we know it’s really helping?” said Litwiller. “And that’s hard to measure. But if you just observe and you see what kids are doing and what they can do, you might not be able to put that on paper, but you can see that it’s making a difference.”[[In-content Ad]]