Page 2 July 31, 2014 Dana Tech Pilot Earns High Grades By Dylan Little The Wiseburn Unified School Board saw a presentation from technology director Chris Jones and four teachers involved in Dana Middle School's one-to-one device pilot program. These teachers took advantage of the July 17 meeting to share their success with the trial program and advocate for expanding it. This past year, teachers Barry Williams, Lisa Wilberg and Maria Garcia have been incorporating a set of Chromebooks into their lessons as an experiment into one student to one device teaching strategies. The pilot was spearheaded by Mary Nies, who has incorporated a class set of iPads into her lessons. Jones heralded these teachers as a guide for the rest of the district on technology adoption. “They've been an absolute beacon for our district in terms of moving us forward,” said Jones. According to Williams, the magic in each student having access to a Chromebook, or any device that can connect with Google Apps for Education, is how it changes research and reading from something teachers give to students into something students themselves can interact with. Because students are finding their own educationally rigorous sources, they are creating personalized assignments and taking ownership of their own education, two of the signature goals of Wiseburn Unified. “The sources are what they're choosing. Because they're choosing their classroom materials, the buy-in is incredible,” said Williams. In addition to expected features, like being able to take notes while reading or collaborate with fellow students anywhere, each student having their own device has opened up some new ways to make material interesting and accessible to students. One such opportunity made available through technology is a website that automatically adapts news articles into different reading levels, so students can judge for themselves how advanced of an article they can handle. Williams said having tools like this has increased student engagement. “We are going to take tech and make it do things we couldn't do before,” said Williams. “It's a tool that's taking them to the next level. They are really enjoying it. When they left [at the end of the school year] they had tears in their eyes because they weren't sure they would have them next year.” With new technology entering schools, teachers and students have to have the skill necessary to interact with Chromebooks and iPads. These teachers said that students learned how to use these devices quickly. “The speed in which they learn computer skills is astounding,” said Wilberg. Williams agreed: he said that students picked up computer skills fast enough to occasionally help him through technology issues. “It was a game changer,” said Williams. “The students were my right hand. They were able to pick up the technology as quick as I could – if not quicker. Their learning curve was just as steep as mine and they made it up.” In a survey Dana's staff conducted on the students, most of the students said they were very comfortable using the new Google Apps for Education. “It's very simple,” said the quoted student. “You can access your documents at the click of a button, submit your work, and collaborate on Google Docs with others.” Just like with the students at Dana, the teachers there have described the things at one-to-one ratio of students to devices has enabled as, in Wilberg's words, “amazing.” While a survey on teacher comfort level with the new devices didn't show the extremely high confidence the student survey showed, it did reveal most teachers had a firm grasp on how to use technology in the classroom. One teacher responded praising the ability to view student work as they are creating it as an advantage over traditional homework. “They've been a terrific resource for our students this year,” said the teacher. “Creating collaborative projects that can be worked on in class and at home has been a terrific way to assist them in their writing, working and presentation skills. I liked having access to their on-going work and being able to help them be more tech savvy while learn through content.” The one-to-one pilot program showed positive results in Nies's opinion. However, she believes that the program would be improved if students could use their devices at home. “Ultimately, we want them going home [with students], but the classrooms sets are working for now,” said Nies. Jones said he has already created a plan for a larger roll-out of student devices. The only thing keeping it from being implemented is funding. “We have the teachers where we want them, we have the kids where we want them,” said Jones. “We're just waiting on money. We're ready to roll out. We could do this entire thing in a year if we had the money, Dana could be ready in a month.” • C e r t i f i e d a n d L i c e n s e d P r o f e s s i o n a l s painting PAINTERS PLUS INTERIOR • EXTERIOR PLUS IMPROVEMENTS • REPAIRS FREE ESTIMATES LOWEST PRICES • GUARANTEED QUALITY 5 YEAR FREE MAINTENANCE SERVING THE BEACH CITIES FOR OVER 20 YEARS CALL DON 310-798-0450 LIC # 726089 handyman BILL’S HOME & APARTMENT MAINTENANCE CONTRACTOR QUALITY at Handyman Prices. We cover everything from A-Z. 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