A seminar that is set in a high school where every student has a laptop computer 24/7 may be the last place teachers would expect to hear good teaching and learning emphasized most during the conference. Teachers may even be surprised about how to use the 1 to 1 environment to make the relationships between students and teachers more collaborative. However, that was the case when four teachers from Spirit Lake High School explored the 1 to 1 learning environment while visiting Westside High School during two schools days last week. Kathy Kleen, science; Cathy Kuker, social studies; Kathy Owens, mathematics; and Tina Sherrill, teacher librarian and English, took part in the 21st Century Learning Leadership Institute in Omaha on Feb. 8-9.
“Using technology can help kids become better self-directed learners and help to create a culture of no-excuse, problem solving students who can move more easily to higher order thinking in the classroom,” said Kuker.
While at the institute, the teachers explored the key success factors in 1 to 1 environments utilizing Westside High School’s experiences as examples. Westside HS is in its sixth year of a laptop initiative. “Key success factors” discussed at one of the sessions included leadership, assessment, curriculum, professional development, community involvement, technical infrastructure, and financial planning. During one session, a panel of Westside administrators, teachers, students, and a parent answered specific questions about laptop learning. The group of SLHS teachers formulated ideas about such things as parent education for families who have students receiving a laptop from the school. For example, the group heard that one element of the family education is helping parents to understand that they control the student computer at home and can create restrictions for its use when the student brings it home.
Westside teachers, who presented content-specific curriculum and demonstrated how the 1 to 1 technology changed learning in their classrooms, also revisited each of the key success factors during presentations. Kuker said that she now knows that blogs, podcasts, and wikis are some of the ways a teacher can communicate with students about course content. The teachers returned from the leadership institute with an understanding of how these tools and other technology-based solutions for digital learning provide all students with the opportunity to access, create, and distribute information in collaborative environments.
