17 creative ways to enhance computer use in your district.Last month I shared my frank assessment on the health of school technology use. The following are some novel suggestions for getting more bang for your buck and enhancing the education of today's students. Go laptop Even if you cannot afford to provide a laptop for every student (clearly desirable), you should never buy another desktop computer. The educational advantages granted by portability far outweigh any benefits of chaining computers to furniture. Companies like eKat (www.ekat.com) can help you organize financing, insurance and implementation. Buy extended warranties The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. Schools should buy hardware like savvy consumers. When a computer breaks, a professional should repair and return it to service ASAP (chat) asap - As soon as possible. . Expect less from computer companies Hardware companies should deliver high-quality products at reasonable prices and then go away. Educators should lead professional development and curriculum redesign. Stop planning The same tech committee that has failed to get teachers to use computers for 25 years is now capable of predicting the future? Why not look at what children can do and plan for what you would like them to be able to do next? Use tech standards to prop up the short leg on your data projector A device that projects computer output onto a white or silver fabric screen that is wall, ceiling or tripod mounted. Data projectors typically accept resolutions of 800x600, 1024x768 or 1280x1024 and may also support standard video from a VCR, DVD or cable box. The legacy of ISTE's NETs is likely to be an escalating standards-based arms race in every state. I'll see your tech standards and raise you 300 pages! Save your pennies for full-featured computers There is a psychological factor involved in asking any funding agency to buy one of something for everyone. If you guess wrong, it is very hard to go back to the well. Kids need and deserve multimedia computers capable of realizing their goals. Focus on overlooked curriculum areas Shift your emphasis temporarily to the use of computers in the arts, music, science or P.E. Who knows what sort of innovation will inspire the rest of your staff? Free the computer lab! If you must maintain a computer lab, the least you can do is to eliminate the questionable "lab" curriculum. Make the computer lab an open resource any kid can use whenever they need to use a computer in school. Use what you've got already Rather than hunting for new software to buy and learn to use, why not invest effort in finding creative ways to use the software that came with your computer? Less is more Constructive software like MicroWorlds EX Robotics (www.microworlds.com) can be used across the curriculum to create simulations, draw, animate, control robots, make presentations, explore powerful ideas and publish interactive Web sites. Best of all this kind of software grows with students and allows them to create more sophisticated projects as they gain fluency. Build upon fluency If students do indeed possess tech fluency, it is incumbent for you to build upon it. Teaching keyboarding to students with servers in their bedrooms is an insult to their intelligence and a waste of potential. Catch a wave! The Internet is a dynamic living organism. All sorts of cool new functionality is invented on a regular basis. A few months ago, Podcasting didn't even exist. Check out www.stager.org/podcasting. Mr. Superintendent, tear down that wall! The bad news is your teachers are terrorized by irrational policies made unilaterally by megalomaniacal meg·a·lo·ma·ni·a n. 1. A psychopathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of wealth, power, or omnipotence. 2. An obsession with grandiose or extravagant things or actions. network administrators. The good news is that tenure rules rarely apply. Buy more computers Do I have to say more? Trust kids Trusting students will reduce problems and keep more computers functional more often. Programs like Gen Tech (www.genyes.org) teaches students to provide high-quality tech support in an educational context. Consider free software There are all sorts of free, open-source and shareware Software on the "honor system." The concept is that users try a product, and if they like it, they voluntarily pay a set registration fee or make a donation to the program's creator. There are tens of thousands of shareware programs; some fantastic, some awful. software available across platforms. Bulletin board software, SWIKIs (minnow minnow, common name for the Cyprinidae, a large family of freshwater fish which includes the carp (Cyprinus carpio), and of which there are some 300 American species. The European minnow is Phoxinus phoxinus. .cc.gatech.edu/swiki), instant messaging Exchanging text messages in real time between two or more people logged into a particular instant messaging (IM) service. Instant messaging is more interactive than e-mail because messages are sent immediately, whereas e-mail messages can be queued up in a mail server for seconds or software and calendar software are all available for free and moderate lees lees pl.n. Sediment settling during fermentation, especially in wine; dregs. [Middle English lies, pl. and can meet many, if not all, of your need to collaborate and communicate. Google Gimp, OpenOffice, Inkscape, Squeak (language) Squeak - 1. ["Squeak: A Language for Communicating with Mice", L. Cardelli et al, Comp Graphics 19(3):199-204, July 1985]. See Newsqueak. 2. (text, tool) Notepad - The very basic text editor supplied with Microsoft Windows. to see the possibilities. Embrace the spin zone Shameless shame·less adj. 1. Feeling no shame; impervious to disgrace. 2. Marked by a lack of shame: a shameless lie. self-promotion is the sincerest form of school reform. Use your digital video camera, computer and editing software to create DVDs sharing the wonderful work of your students and teachers. Leave these in local video shops and libraries for the information of the community. Gary Stager, gary@stager.org, is editor-at-large and an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University Pepperdine University is a private institution of higher learning affiliated with the Church of Christ in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States. The university's location overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is adjacent to the city limits of Malibu. . |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion