1. June 2010 by MrBall.

The 1:1 netbook intro has been a rollercoaster ride. Staff and students understand the engaging power of all things on the internet that is 2.0. I have shown them ietherpad and Edmodo that can be used as collaboration tools. We have created things using Notebook Recorder and Audacity on the laptops, much to the delight of students. I did a demo with grade 1 students yesterday. It was so exciting to see how quickly and easily they logged in. One little girl was rubbing the side of her netbook saying “Come on little bud.” in an effort to get it going faster.  All are genuinely excited to have new outlets of expression.

There is a ‘but’, things aren’t as smooth as they should be. The seemless learning environment has not yet been achieved. The wireless connection is flakey. In a class of 25 students I can get 18 online right away. When I get five more another five students lose their connections. Student accounts aren’t syncing up so the things they create are often not saved.

On the bright side the admin and teaching team are on top of the whole thing. Students here are super patient and very polite when things aren’t working. They try to do their own trouble shooting and only call for help when they have exhausted all their options. The administrators are working with tech support constantly to fix things up.

Next year they are pairing with 2Learn.ca on a digital leadership program. This is a new wireless network/1:1 laptop school and they are quickly getting the barriers out of the way.  I am very excited about the future of this school and all the possibilities for the staff and students.

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31. May 2010 by MrBall.

Working on 1:1 Laptops with a K-6 school. I want to give the teachers and students sites they can use to collaborate with on projects. I also want to show them the full use of their laptops. Some of the reasources we will be using are…

 MathTask.notebook These are taken from the Puddle Math Tasks book. I merged the tasks I could remember with websites to make them laptop/internet friendly.

ietherpad.com Group sharing

Edmodo.com Secure site for titter like sharing (with extra tools).

grabbabeast.com Fun monster building site.

and SpellingCity.com if we have extra time.

Posted in 2.0, 1:1 Laptops | 1 Comment »

26. February 2010 by admin.

1to1alberta.ca

Ralph Luedtke introduced the 1:1 laptop initiative from emerge. Proposals went out in 2006, 20 school jurisdictions were awarded 300,000 dollars to fund projects. The province also gained access for the participating schools to have electronic books through the Teacher Book Depository. Teachers were also given a chance to participate in an online community to help support their growth.

Objectives:

Enhancing teaching and learning for specific populations

Or

Improving students learning in targeted areas.

All had to address 21^st Cent. Skills

1^st year obstacle – Established a community of Practice, Focus on Technology (battery)

2^nd year- Expand the community, focus on transforming teaching and learning.

3^rd year- Share the journey.

Research Questions (Metiri group) Cheryl Lemke- enGauge 21^st Century Skills

1.       What are the potential ed. Benefits of 1:1 laptop learning?

2.       What are the technical merits and innovative practices in 1:1 wireless learning?

3.       What expertise, experience and lessons learned have come from the Emerge 1:1 Laptop Learning Project in Alberta?

4.       What is the lvl of jurisdictional and prov. readiness systemically advancing 21^st cent, learning and effective uses of technology in Learning?

5.       What are the trends and/or variances across indicators over time?

Wordle of EPSB journal entries show students as the most entered word, laptops and projects come in second and third together.

The 1:1 Laptop initiative is shifting the teaching model away from the sage on the stage towards learning facilitators. 1:1 is freeing up students so that they can learn and demonstrate at their own level or pace. Laptops are motivating because they provide students with the means to search out their own learning and understanding. They also allow students to express themselves creatively and more easily with fellow students.

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