Hi There!
My name is John Wilkinson and this is my blog for Cardinal Stritch's Masters in Education - Instructional Technology. Through this blog you can view my thoughts and progress through the program. Feel free to leave any questions or comments you might have.
I am starting the program with a couple of great opportunities waiting in the coming years. My school is possibly going to a 1 laptop per student ready access model within 3 years. By going through this program I am hoping to gain some skills with how to implement the unprecedented access my students will have to technology. I am also hoping to get a good handle on distance learning as I'd love to get my AP Physics students continuing their physics education the summer before they take AP.
Needless to say I have high hopes for this program and am very excited to start.
You are off to a good start - do you use Vernier in your physics and if so, how does that technology change class?
ReplyDeleteJohn, I am jealous of the fact that your school is becoming a one laptop per student school. It sounds like you have a pretty cool opportunity for both you and your students. You made a smart choice joining the program here and I am positive that you will find things that will help you utilize those computers to their full potential.
ReplyDeleteThe high school that my middle school shares the same building with has the policy of issuing laptops to each student. They have all of their textbooks loaded on the laptops. The main issue is what happens when laptops either go missing or malfunction. Who is responsible for replacing or repairing them? Is it the student? In my school many of the students are eligible for title 1. So if a laptop is either stolen or malfunctioning the families of the students would not able to pay to either replace or repair the laptops. Any ideas how this issue could be addressed?
ReplyDeleteOne laptop per student is a given in my virtual school setting (obviously). The unprecedented access to technology you mention has tremendous potential, but also comes with some risks and limitations. My AP Physics teacher has been teaching the class entirely online for the past 6 years. I would be happy to put you in touch with him if you like.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI think I will need to get in touch with him as well as pick your brain for what works in your virtual school situation. Now the problem I have is to be able to narrow the # of questions I have down to a manageable amount.
Hey guys. Thanks for taking the time to check out the website. It is awesome how much you guys use technology in the classroom. I look froward to trying to navigate the world of online learning with all of you. As for a couple of your comments:
ReplyDeleteI use vernier probeware in my classroom extensively. I subscribe to ASU's modeling method when it comes to physics and my students get the best lab experience when they can see the data getting logged in real time. It is awesome stuff.
I'd love to see how to move more of AP's curriculum over into an online format. Being able to spread out the curriculum over into the summer would be awesome! Chris I'll get in tough with you about your fellow teacher, thanks for the offer.
The school I teach in has many laptops floating around it at the moment. As part of our leasing agreement with apple we have a certain amount of replacement laptops to swap out for those that break. We'll have to keep working at infrastructure and such, but the general framework that we have makes replacing a broken laptop easy.