The High Technology Classroom

I am often asked by teachers and administrators what kinds of items they might purchase for their classrooms and schools to increase the level of technology available and enhance learning. Teachers are willing to expend their funds from the legislature, and administrators are making investments with their trust land monies. Parents and community councils value these types of investments and commitment. It's clear that they want these kinds of experiences for their children. Obviously, it's important to these stakeholders that we provide their students with the best in technology and learning. This is exciting. I applaud these efforts. Weber District should be leader in instructional technology. We have made a tremendous investment in the infrastructure to facillitate increase technology in the classroom. The district must do everything possible to provide leadership and support to these efforts.

I would like to take the space in this blog to talk about the "high technology" classroom. That is, the equipment and tools that might be reasonably available for teachers and administrators to acquire. I would like to frame the discussion with couple of key caveats and observations:

• Technology is no substitute for a prepared, engaged, and motivated teacher. Often the temptation is to rely on technology to do the instruction. Technology is a tool. It is not a panacea. It will not make a poor teacher an excellent teacher. Quality instruction and learning is most effective delivered by caring and motivated teacher.
  
• The nature of instructional technology purchases is that they are expensive. It's also true that changes in technology are constant and rapid. It's not feasible to go out and buy the "latest and greatest" every year or so. It's simply too expensive to be a chronic early adopter. Purchases based on research and best practices will get us the best bang for the buck.
  

• A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences (www.nationalacademies.org) shows that teenagers in the US spend between one and two hours online per day. The American Academy of Pediatrics (www.aap.org) reports that children in the United States watch an average of 4 hours of television a day.* A conclusion that one might surmise from this data is that today's students prefer to learn visually. Another conclusion might be that students are accustomed to having information close at hand and readily available. Whether or not these trends are positive or negative is clearly debatable. However, as educators it is important to realize that this is the reality of the current landscape, and that our purchases and instructional methods must take this reality into account.
  
• There are plenty of possibilities when it comes to purchasing instructional technology. However, the purchase and adoption of any technology is only feasible if the district can support it and maintain it. It is vital that the district adopt and purchase equipment based on a standard. Individuality (as it relates to Technology is no substitute for a prepared, engaged, and motivated teacher. Often the temptation is to rely on technology to do the instruction. Technology is a tool. It is not a panacea. It will not make a poor teacher an excellent teacher. Quality instruction and learning is most effective delivered by caring and motivated teacher.technology) is something we can not afford. Site Based Management of technology purchases is more accurately described as Site Based Moneypit! While the standard may not be what a particular teacher would like, it is most cost effective to go with the same technology across the board. It is simply too expensive to have multiple competing vendors and technologies out there to be supported.
  
• Simplicity is the key to keeping costs down and TRAINING IS ABSOLUTLY CRITICAL! It’s frustrating to see equipment (and money) sitting on a shelf because the teacher or administrator made the initial purchase but will not invest the time and resources to train on equipment they have purchased. Technical instruction is a skill anyone can learn, but one has to be willing to invest some time and effort to get up to speed.

So, what kinds of items might be incorporated into the high technology classroom? I will list what I think are the most valuable and versatile equipment. Remember, some of these items are suggestions only. Also, a number of these might be considered base line minimum technology. This is not intended to have teachers request (demand) that their administrators purchase this for each classroom. It is intended to act as a guide in making purchases and focusing training. Some of these items are already in place.

1. White boards in every classroom.
   
2. An active, high speed, broadband internet connection in every classroom and instructional area. This may seem self evident, but it is an absolute requirement. E-mail, grading, discipline tracking, assessment, communication, and information gathering are very difficult and expensive with out this technology. Ideally this connection should be BOTH wired and wireless.
   
3. A current, reliable, and supported computer in every classroom. Computers in Weber District are replaced every 4 years. Every teacher should have one available for instruction and management of their classroom. Every computer should ideally be connected to the internet.
   
4. An LCD projector. This is where you start. If you don’t have one, start making a plan to get one. This is an invaluable addition to the classroom. It provides a quality interface for information to students. Projectors should be permanently mounted and connected to the teacher computer. More and more applications and instructional strategies will rely on this as a minimum. The projectors need to be XGA with a minimum resolution of 1024*768. The projector should have sufficient brightness that projected images can be clearly viewed while room lights are on (2000 ANSI lumens, minimally); (cost including wiring and mounting is about $2000, projector alone is about 800)
   
5. Appropriate peripherals for instructional input: some kind of video player, DVD player, connection for the computer; flash drives, DVR, etc;
   
6. Telephone access to a Help Desk to answer staff questions. Technicians can be dispatched to resolve operational problems. Parents can be contacted immediately. This should leverage the district IP network and not require additional wiring. Do NOT request an additional analog phone connection. That is wasting money. Any phone purchases and connections should use VOIP technology.
   
7. Wireless access for students as well as increased power requirements to support additional technology.
   
8. A distributed sound system (microphones and speakers for amplifying instructors, panels or guest speakers) . Ideally this should be integrated with sound from installed peripherals (VCRs DVD players, etc., as needed)
   
9. Classroom performance system. The district calls these classroom ‘clickers’. These are a tremendous asset in gathering immediate feedback from students and adjusting instruction based on data. The district has settled on the system by Turning Technologies. It is simple and powerful. The cost of this item is about 2500 for a classroom set of 35.
   
10. Annotation devices, such as ‘Smart Boards’ Mimeo and similar devices, which allow faculty to visually mark projected instructional materials. You can see these demonstrated at the tech lab and in selected schools in the district. (Roosevelt, THBell). These run about 1200 dollars installed.
    
11. Document camera which can be used to project both two and three dimensional materials electronically.
    
12. Electronic tablet or writing slate for the teacher to move around the classroom and communicate with the projector and their desk computer. You can see some of these demonstrated at THBell.
    
13. Streaming technology to the classroom. This is often a software subscription for content delivered right to teacher’s computer.
    
14. A video conferencing setup to provide collaboration among schools, students, and teachers. This is a valuable tool when used creatively and constructively.

This blog is running too long, so I will cut it off. However, there are plenty of other equipment and options you might consider:

• Digital camera,
  
• Digital video recorder,
  
• Ipod (podcasting........ video and sound),
  
• Instructional use of your teacher website, becoming expert in Powerpoint
  
• Blogs and blogging tools
  
• Wireless microphone and sound

If you have questions about where to purchase, vendors, particular brands, and district standards, please feel free to email Dbrooks@district.weber.k12.ut.us (subject is blog question) or post a comment here. Lynn Raymond is also available to assist in some system wide application training.

*The Journal, Page 17 November 2006 issue

Why Lease?

At the risk of boring you to tears, I would like to explain the district leasing program. To understand the rationale behind the Weber District computer leasing program, it’s helpful to have some historical context of the way it ‘used to be’. It’s also important to understand the difference in purchasing teacher computers as opposed to lab or instructional computers. So here goes with a little history.

P urchasing teacher computers was done through categorical funds. That is, CTE purchased for their teachers and Special Ed. purchased for their teachers. There was no systematic method or means to purchase for other staff. Fine Arts, Math, Science, Elementary teachers, Foreign Language, and building administrators had to beg borrow and steal in order to get desktop computers for these teachers. Typically, the CTE and Special Ed computers were replaced about every two years and their ‘hand me downs’ were then passed on to other teachers. While this generosity was appreciated, it really led to a system of the ‘haves and the have-nots’. There was no systematic method or means to purchase for other staff. Fine Arts, Math, Science, Elementary teachers, Foreign Language, and building administrators had to beg borrow and steal in order to get desktop computers for these teachers. Typically, the CTE and Special Ed computers were replaced about every two years and their ‘hand me downs’ were then passed on to other teachers. While this generosity was appreciated, it really led to a system of the ‘haves and the have-nots’. The district practice for these have-not teachers was to take ETI funds and allocate a set number of computers to each building. The building administrators then decided who got the new ones. Often, the computers went to the most tech savvy teachers and their computers were then handed down again. Some teacher NEVER got a new computer, and some teachers got them every other year or so. This was simply not equitable and ultimately more expensive.

In the past, the Utah legislature appropriated funds under the budget line ‘ETI - Educational Technology Initiative’. This budget line actually had two appropriations; one time funds and ongoing funds. This funding was sporadic and very hit and miss. Some years it was significant, and other years not so much. Moreover, it was eliminated altogether a couple of years ago.. Any remaining dollars was rolled into funds for curriculum and not accessible for technology purchases. School districts that relied on this source of funds for computers were left high and dry scrambling for a funds to replace technology.

The Weber Board of Education made a very astute and long ranging plan to fund the media center and curriculum computer labs. The board set aside a lump sum amount every year to purchase these computers. This was money was set aside and allowed to build up so that every 5 years these labs could be replace. This type of planning is rare, but it has positioned the district to make significant strides in technology. These funds are referred to as the ‘escrow’ account.

When I was hired as technology director, there were a number of goals I wanted to accomplish. I have listed some of the primary goals below:

• I wanted to provide students and parents in the district with the best technology experience that Weber District could afford.
  
• I wanted to get to a point where there was no computer older than 4 years in the district.
  
• I wanted to develop and implement a systematic plan to replace all teacher computers......... not just the CTE and Special Ed. Completely eliminate the ‘hand me down’ philosophy for teacher computers.
  
• I wanted to lower the total cost to acquire and maintain the computer equipment.
  
• I wanted to provide a computer to every person in the district who needed one.
  
• I wanted Weber District to be a leader in the state for technology implementation.

After doing research on best practices and getting educated on the options, it appeared that a leasing model would provide a method to reach the some of the goals outlined. Leasing addresses a number of issues and provided a means to move Weber District forward in technology implementation. I believe I can make a case that the district is well on the way to achieving the goals listed above. In addition:

• Leasing reduces cost of ownership in that every computer is under warranty for 75 percent of its life cycle.
  
• Disposal of computers is very problematic. Leasing completely solves that issue for the district.
  
• Actual procurement costs are 4% less for desktop computers. Maintenance and support costs are significantly lower.
  
• Everyone is scheduled for a new computer every 4 years.
  
• All teachers are treated equally now in terms of replacement.

The leasing program is not perfect. It limits us is some ways, but it offers many more advantages than disadvantages. The leasing program is labor intensive to implement. Brenda does a tremendous work in making the process smooth and error free. The district has learned a lot about it. All in all, it has been a positive for the students and staff of Weber District.

Teachers and staff can now feel confident that the computer that is so necessary will be replaced in a consistent and systematic manner. Ultimately this program benefits everyone as it lowers costs and provides all staff in the district with current technology.

AUP vs. SOB

During the upcoming November 2006 school board meeting, the Weber School District board of education will consider a second reading of the draft for the district Appropriate Use Policy. There is an assumption that the revised policy is being addressed to increase the presence of "Big Brother" or that the "district is watching everything I do" Hence the title of this blog "Appropriate Use Policy vs. Stay Out of my Business"

There has been some confusion among district employees about what the new policy means to them and how it will impact their day to day use of the computer network. The short answer is "it should not have an impact". You can find the proposed draft of the policy at:

Http://www.weber.k12.ut.us/modules/Sections/includes/AUP_2006_draft.pdf

Let me explain the rationale for the changes in the policy. It’s important that our policy and plans keep up with the challenges and changes that new technology brings to the classroom. The current policy has been in place for 5 years. The prior policy was very general in nature. This is a good thing. However, it does not address some very real changes in the technology landscape. At the time (6 years ago) the district adopted the current policy:

• there was no such thing as blogging


• pocket video did not exist


• Text messaging was a "new" technology and not generally prevalent


• Camera phones did not exist


• Ipods did not exist , video Ipod was not even on the horizon


• Cellphones were not generally available to students and children


• Cyber-bullying was not a recognizable term


• Broadband internet connections and streaming applications were very high end apps and not readlily available


• Social Networking sites did not exist


• "Technology cheating" did not exist

There are many others that could be listed. Hopefully, you can see that the landscape has changed and there are new and different challenges now. These challenges are the reason behind updating the computer and network usage policies. A major symantic difference in the policy is in the title:

Old policy title = "Acceptable Use Policy"

New policy title = "APPROPRIATE Use Policy "

The concept is that there may some examples of activity that is acceptable in one context, but is not appropriate to the context of schooling and the educational environment. For the adults in the district, this has to be somewhat subjective. Obviously, activities (pornography, cheating, plagarism, intellectual property and copyright issues) are illegal or and puts children at risk. These types of activities are clearly unacceptable and inappropriate. However, other areas are less clear. I can tell you from a philosophical standpoint what it the policy is not meant to be:

• It is NOT an attempt to watch teachers online activity.


• It is NOT an effort to spy on teachers.


• It is NOT a meant to target reasonable and appropriate activities of teachers on their prep time or before and after school.

With apologies to any that might be offended, I would like to paraphrase a famous 18th century American who stated a leadership dictum about managing behavior "I do not govern the people. I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves." ** Governing one’s self is really the standard for deciding what is acceptable as opposed to what is appropriate. As the director of technology, I do not want to attempt to try to and define what is appropriate for a particular teacher in a particular situation. That was not the intent of the new policy at all. I personally believe as teachers we should model the behavior that is expected of students.

I have heard some discussion that online shopping is being targeted. This is not the case. I will leave it to the individual to determine if their online activity is appropriate. Some activities are clearly not. Personally, I don’t belive shopping online falls into the inappropriate category. Nowhere in the policy does it mention shopping specifically.

May I also address some other misconceptions that are being circulated:

1. Fallacy --The district is watching everything I do online. This is NOT the case. While all online activity is logged, there is upwards of TEN THOUSAND PAGES of logs generated every day!!! In an attempt to better protect children, a computer scans those logs for offensive words and pornographic images. No person is looking at those logs regularly. When suspect activity is discovered by the computer, then those specific logs may be looked at more closely to determine if children are at risk. 10,000 pages is simply impossible to review.


2. Fallacy -- The district is reading my email. This is NOT the case. While email is not private, that does not mean it is read by somebody either. Weber district mail servers handle over 300,000 email messages everyday !! The volume is enormous. The subject and body text of the email is scanned against a “dictionary” of offensive words or text. Problem email is flagged. Hopefully, spam is discarded, and flagged emails may be reviewed further.


3. Fallacy --Teachers can’t do "legitimate research" because the web filters block sites that are necessary. The fact is that sites will be unblocked on request of a teacher for use in their classes. Tech services just needs to know about them.

The policy being proposed actually is 5 documents, you can read them on the website.

1. Childhood Internet Protection Act (CIPA) statement required by federal programs.


2. General network and internet use policy


3. AUP for staff


4. AUP for students


5. Web posting guidelines

I hope this clears up some of the misconceptions and lays out the rationale for adjusting the policy. I invite you to go to the link listed above and review the policy and provide your feedback. You may also post a comment here on the blog. I would also invite you to go back and read the blog on "Adults in the District"

Thanks.

** (Erastus Snow, June 24, 1883 discourse delivered in Parowan)

What the heck is a “blog”

Blog. You have all heard the word. If you are like me you, are also not that clear on what it is and what function it serves. This edition of the Weber Technology blog is to explain blogs and “blogging” and answer fundamental questions about their use in an educational setting. This entry is kind of a recursive blog — using a blog to define a blog (my head hurts)

The word BLOG is actually a combination two words : WEB and LOG - together they make WEBLOG which was shortened to BLOG. Basically, it a journal, log, or web page focused around a particular topic. Using Wikipedia to look up the formal definitaion of the term reveals the following:

“A weblog (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log or weblog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles......... ...Like other media, blogs often focus on a particular subject, such as food, education, technology, politics, or local news. Some blogs function as online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic”

There are a huge number of blogs out there on the internet. Far too many to count. They are written by budding authors, angry editorialists, conspiracy theorists, philosophers, muckrakers, aspiring politicos, and just regular people wanting to get their thoughts on “paper”. Some say it’s the poor person’s method to publish, but more importantly, to be read.

Blogs are a great way to get information, philosophies, and viewpoints to a large audience of people at a very low cost. Of course, the size of the audience is a function of how well written and how valuable the content of the blog proves to be. There are blogs about every topic imaginable. What about the use of blogs in the education setting of Weber District? Let’s consider a couple of ways they might be helpful.

In the simplest sense a blog is just a a specialized web page. A blog is web page designed to provide information. Blogs (like web pages) can hold images, links, and other web content. For example, the web pages that secondary teachers have been “posting” on EdLine could be thought of as blogs about courses they teach. These teacher blogs provide information on disclosure statements, class information, assignments, and resource materials. Weber Distict contracts with EdLine at a significant cost to provide this space and functionality to our secondary teachers.

In the fall (August 06), Weber District Technical Services will provide teachers, administrators, and (possibly students) with space and utilities to easily publish web pages for parents and students to access information about their classes. These will be referred to as teacher blogs. Collectively, all these Weber District blogs will be referred to as the Weber Blogosphere. This blogosphere will provide a forum and opportunity for teachers to explain, provide information, and communicate with parents and students.

Another valuable use of blogs is student journals. This learning activity for students provides the opportunity for students to express themselves in writing in a non threatening and safe environment. Blogs can be private or public depending on how they are set up. The Weber District blogosphere will be private, that is it will only be available through a login and only to parents, students and employees of the district. Parents and students can review the information published only after authenticating to our portal . The uses and application of blogs in educational space is only limited by the imagination and creativity of Weber District teachers and administrators. Because the district blogoshpere is private and hosted on district resources, the district would have some controls on the content that students and teachers publish. Students would not be allowed to publish objectionable content or blogs that “slam” teachers or other students. Because of the educational context there are limits to the “free speech” provided students and teachers.

How can you get started blogging? There are a number of free and public blog spaces available if you choose. Google, Yahoo and others provide free utilities and space for those of you that want to give it a try. They make it very easy and simple to get started. The district will provide you a space and utility to publish information about your courses. In some cases, administrators may expect that teachers publish course disclosure statements via the district blogosphere. We will provide you with more information and utilties for publishing your teacher blog as we get closer to school starting in the fall.

I would encourage you to look for a blog that you find interesting and valuable. Begin reading it regularly, and start to identify and formulate ideas for a blog of your own. Specifically, think about the content of a blog as is relates to your class and role as a teacher.

Terms:

• Blog : a web page, web journal, or web log about a specific topic.
  
• Blogosphere - a broad collection of blogs. The internet could be considered the largest blogoshpere possible. Organization, companies, (school districts) could each have their “ own” blogosphere.
  
• Blogger - the author and/or reader of a blog

Here are some links you might find useful:

Http://www.blogspot.com

www.globeofblogs.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weblog

www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/blog