GIS Newsletter - Glenwood Intermediate School

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Teaching and Learning with Chromebooks Glenwood Intermediate School’s new tool to facilitate learning This spring, 10 classrooms are piloting the use of Chromebooks, which are powered by the Google Chrome web browser and come preloaded from the Internet cloud with Google applications. “The school originally piloted, but on a much smaller scale, the ‘Bring Your Own Device’ program last year in two of our classrooms, using whatever devices students brought in,” says GIS Principal, Dan Lund. “The problem with that, we discovered, was that learning actually slowed due to the inequity in devices.” At the end of 2012, the price of Chromebooks dropped nearly in half. “It was at that point we researched more closely all that Chromebooks could offer instructionally, and any limitations as well. We talked with neighboring school district teachers and their students for their feedback, and felt that this was the direction we should be heading.” Grant money, and a little luck The Ball-Chatham Educational Foundation awarded $21,000 to GIS for the purchase of Chromebooks last November. (Chromebooks cost $249 each.) The district’s IT staff proceeded to place the order in December, but was informed by the provider that the Chromebooks were on backorder until February 2013. So, to make things right, they shipped an equal number of new Chromebooks (with slightly different features, but the same ones GIS Teacher, Tim Niemeyer, explains his lesson using Chromebooks our teachers use) and told our district that they are ours to keep, even when our first order arrives in February. Two for the price of one! That meant that 10 classrooms could be using them instead of just five. The plan is to outfit the final three classrooms next school year with Chromebooks, and also move 120 Chromebooks up to the sixth grade to be used in science and social studies classes. How using Chromebooks enhances learning Teachers can create templates using apps so they can share documents with students and the students can then manipulate those documents. They can log into their computers and provide real time feedback on students’ papers as they write them. Teachers can also provide virtual comments within Google Documents and Google Drive. That cloud technology has an added advantage — accessibility. Students simply log onto their Google Drive account from any computer with an Internet connection. School programming is mindful of the disparity between children who have and those who do not have a computer in the home. All Internetbased activities are done in school so that no student is at a disadvantage. Chad Kent, Ball-Chatham’s Director of Technology notes that Chromebooks are durable and can be used again next year or can be shared from class to class as students log in via the cloud. The plan is for the Chromebooks to be used for several years to come. “This technology will help with online testing in 2014-15 with common core standards,” Kent said. “For example, fifth-graders will have to compose writing in one sitting at a computer for that writing standard, so the students need to be familiar with not only grammar, spelling and sentence structure but also with keyboarding. They’ll be testing online at desks instead of labs.” Unlike traditional personcontinued, next page
Teaching and Learning with Chromebooks Continued al computers, the Chromebooks boot up in just eight seconds and have a six-hour battery life off one charge. Students must have a WiFi connection to use them but there are applications that allow students to do word processing off line, for instance. Kent said that the apps are supplied by Google and third party vendors. They’re constantly updated so that students have more up-todate technological tools, and, though students cannot take the Chromebooks home, they can access their accounts at any time through the Google cloud. “Since Google owns YouTube,” says Kent, “students can easily insert a video into a presentation directly from YouTube and the cloud, or create their own off their webcam, with teacher approval.” Google apps and Google access are free. Updates to apps occur in the background and there is no need for the expense of antivirus protection because the apps are hosted off Google’s servers, not Ball-Chatham’s, and Google has protection in place on their end. Prior to rolling out the pilot program this semester at GIS, each fifth grade teacher was issued a Chromebook so he or she could learn to use it before teaching students with it. Teachers and administrators started as learners and then transition into facilitators that support students’ producing and creating. Teachers are more facilitators providing immediate feedback. The goal is students being able to access technology in such as way that they can become independent learners. Since students in the 10 classrooms are having to share, and two classrooms are still not outfitted with Chromebooks, donations are very welcome to help fund this initiative. If you would like to contribute, contact principal Daniel Lund at dlund@chathamschools.org; or the Ball-Chatham Educational Foundation’s treasurer, Patrick Murphy, at pmurphy@ chathamschools.org.
Page 1 and 2: Intermediate School Glenwood A publ
Page 3: GIS/GMS PTO News Officer Nomination

GIS Newsletter - Glenwood Intermediate School

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?