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Welcome to the eighth issue of the SAU 16 TechLetter. This newsletter's goals are to keep you abreast of the latest technology news, highlight interesting technology stories, and to inform you of professional development opportunities.
The
Seacoast Professional Development Center held its first training for teachers
this past summer. Forty-three teachers participated in three separate two week
sessions which focused primarily on the integration of technology into daily
lessons. One of those summer institutes involved training provided by Intel
called “Teach to the Future”. Twenty-three teachers will use their Intel
training to each train ten other educators in technology integration. Currently
two of those master trainers are conducting their after school instruction at
the SPDC.
Since
September, training on Palm handheld devices and tablet PC computers has been
provided for local administrators. Teachers from Exeter as well as other
neighboring districts attended a session in October presented by the State of
New Hampshire DOE regarding the use of i-Analize, a web-based tool for analyzing
student data. The Epping school district also used the center for a day long
session on curriculum mapping.
The center will continue to present workshops throughout the school year, some being day-long offerings while others may be half day or less in length.
One of the areas of focus for training sponsored by the SPDC will be a series of sessions based on data-driven decision-making. The first presentation in that series was “Using Data / Getting Results” on November 7th. Workshops are planned for February, March and April to complete this facet of the center’s mission. February’s offering will be “Quality School Portfolio”, followed by “The School Portfolio Toolkit” on March 26th and finally “School IQ” in April.
To
continue supporting the theme of technology integration, workshops are planned
for January and March in the use of MarcoPolo, standards-based K-12 internet
content for the classroom. It includes original content, links to top web sites,
a search engine, and supplemental resources in multiple disciplines.
The third area of focus within the SPDC mission will be distance learning. We will be video conference ready by the New Year. There are also online classes available through WebCT which were developed by the teachers who participated in the summer institutes.
Another
opportunity available to educators for distance learning is Classroom Connect
which is a feature of Connected University. Classes can be taken through any
computer at any location with internet access. For a small subscription fee
learners have access to hundreds of online courses, some of which can be taken
for graduate credit. The graduate level offerings do require additional fees to
be paid to the participating universities. Still the net result is still quite a
bargain.
For more information regarding any of the above mentioned items you can visit the website at www.spdc.org, call Bob Haurand at 603.775.8693, or contact him by e-mail at bhaurand@sau16.org.
PE at East Kingston Elementary – Using Palm handhelds for student skill
assessment Chris Benson has developed a project where he can download a skill assessment form to his palm and then go to the gym floor with his class and as each student attempts several trials of a designated skill, he records their scores on the palm. His ultimate goal is to have the students using the handhelds to assess each other. Once the assessments are done, he uploads the data to his computer and imports it into a database program that he designed in MSAccess. This program tracks assessments for all 42 skills in 12 categories. At the end of each quarter, Chris is able to enter additional information about student performance and produce a "report card" for each of his students. Following are several questions and responses posed to Chris about this project.
Where did you get the idea to use handhelds for assessments?
About 10 years ago when handhelds first came out I saw their use at a conference and I thought wow what a great way to eliminate the repetitiveness of paper and pencil assessment. From that day I wanted to create this project and see it get up and running.
Can you briefly describe the process?
The first thing that had to be created was a database. In that database needed to be student information as well as skill information. From that database I pull out the skill that I would like to assess. The skill information is exported from the database to a smaller database program that enables me to create forms that fit on the Palm Pilots. These forms are simple checklists, with the skill cues listed with a yes or no check off spot. These forms also contain up to three trials for the skill. Once the skill has been assessed the information is synched back to the computer from the Palm and I import the information from the small database program back into the major database. Once in the database the yes/no information is calculated and a skill level is produced and matched within a rubric that can be reported on.
How do the kids respond to this?
The kids are very eager to learn the handheld's many uses. At the present time I have not introduced them directly with the students. I am still working out the logistics on how to teach the use with the students. As far as them seeing me use the Palm to assess them they think it is “Way Cool!”.
What kind of difficulties have you had with this project?
Not having the knowledge base for the database software program MSAccess. It was very difficult to create the database to do what I needed it to do. Thank goodness for other SAU 16 resources. Without all of their hard work and knowledge this project would still be just a sticky pad idea in my mind.
Do you have any tips to share with other teachers who are thinking about doing a similar project?
Yes, take my course. Also, taking a course offered by the SPDC would help anyone. Finally, if there is a teacher out there with an idea for using technology, you will be greatly supported by the SAU staff. Just go for it and ask for assistance when you need it..
Who do you plan to share this project with?
The first major step is to share it with the other Elementary physical educators in the SAU. Then to anyone out there who would be interested in modifying the database to suit their needs.
Do you have any recommendations on resources that helped you out with getting this to work? (websites, books, articles, etc.)
Steve Kossakoski, Kathy Weise, the SPDC, Peter Fennell, “Using Microsoft Access 2000” by Roger Jennings, HanDBase (database software used to create forms and collect data on palms) website.
For anyone wanting to pursue using handhelds, the SAU 16 website has a Palm/Handhelds page under Teacher Resources.
Thanks
to Janet Boggess, a Main Street School kindergarten teacher, EveryDay Math
homework for primary children just got more interesting! Janet is in the process
of putting together short videos that guide children (and families) through some
“homework” that they can do to fulfill the EveryDay Math goals. Each episode is
a “homework link” which EDM children should become familiar with. Janet has
designed each link so that it can be done by kindergarten children as well as
adding some special challenges for older children.
The best part is that all the episodes can be used by families and can serve as a model to parents of the types of activities they can do at home and the vocabulary that is used in EDM. Check it out at Janet's Math Homework section of her website.
We are also in the process of putting together a WebCT EDM course. Go to the SAU WebCT site and the login is edmguest and the password is guest. If you have some good EDM sites or activities, you can email them to Dianne Thompson.
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