Educational Technology Exploration Continues!

This week we are completing our policy creation for the distribution of Kindles.

We have spent a good deal of time researching the pros and cons of Kindles. In particular, blogs have been very helpful to reveal the perspectives of current Kindle users so that we know what to expect and are better prepared as we begin using this new tool with our students.

We also have explored free resources offered by Amazon that could enable schools to maximize the economic advantage of using Kindles rather than traditional texts. We also figured that a system can buy 30 Kindle titles for $45 as opposed to 30 paper copies for $270.

We also have begun brainstorming lesson ideas that take advantage of the capabilities of the Kindle. (For example, the Kindle lends itself well to vocabulary development; teachers can broadcast information to their students through the Notes App .) We have decided that since classic titles are already abundant in our existing collections, we would select a Young Adult Literature title to design our initial lesson.

Recently, we met with Smart Technologies trainers. They provided a demonstration of new Smart Response Clickers that are capable of free response with math editing. This really excites our Math Department at DHS! Smart Response Clickers offer us, as teachers, quick assessment, but more importantly, students receive immediate feedback and can self-assess themselves, giving students more control of their own learning. The Representative also mentioned getting a set of the Smart Response Clickers to us to explore in our classrooms.

Our students will soon be designing digital lessons to be viewed by their peers to teach certain objectives. Students will design their own assessments for their peers. Students will use cameras, Flip cameras, airliners and Smart Notebook to create, design and deliver their products.

We have decided, too, that we would really like for our students to have experience with on-line assessments. We discussed with our Tech Facilitator reserving labs for sessions each Friday. We plan to use ClassScape, an on-line assessment tool developed and supported by NC State. This will give students on-line testing experience and will help in preparing them for on-line EOC assessments at the end of the semester. In addition, we are reviewing other open source assessment options.