Digital Learning Inventory – This inventory was created during an eight week long course for Teachers for Global Classrooms. Mrs. Hart’s digital inventory reflects her personal observations at Carver Middle School.
1. What tools, software, operating systems, and equipment are available in your school and classroom? (including but not limited to: videoconferencing, streaming, photos sharing sites, video sharing sites, document sharing sites, podcasts, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, etc.) ?
• Each teacher at Carver has a teacher computer loaded with Microsoft Windows XP operating system, Outlook email and Scheduling and Microsoft Office Suite. Other software may vary based on textbook software provided by the publisher of the given subject area text book. Each teacher may also have a laptop computer for classroom and home use for school business. It is loaded with similar software, and uses the same operating system. Teachers use these computers based on district use policies. All computers have access to the internet via the school network and the district server. Laptop computers are Wi-Fi enabled.
• All district teachers use the web-based grade book and attendance software through a contract agreement with PowerSchool.
PowerSchool also provides the district with a web-based student information system.
• Smart board is a predominant tool for lesson presentations. Although each mathematics and language arts teacher at Carver has a Smart board, we are engaged in a continuous effort to provide Smart boards for all teachers. Smartboard Smart response system is used by some teachers for entry and exit questions and quizzes.
• Microsoft Word is used for word processing in writing tests and assignments.
• Videoconferencing is not done in-house. We travel to the Oklahoma University Schusterman Campus for videoconferencing.
• YouTube and Teacher tube are used for video sharing.
• E-text books. Students have secure log-on information to access their textbooks online.
• All teachers have access to Safari Montage, which provides for digital media distribution and visual instruction. It is preloaded with educational video titles tied to the curriculum including Schlessinger Media, PBS, The History Channel, National Geographic, Scholastic, Disney Education, BBC, and more.”
• ABC Books Students can write ABC books about a research subject. This can be done in groups or individually.
• Acronym Pages Students can write Acronym pages individually or with a group if there isn't enough time to write an ABC book.
• Animoto - Ms Zaheer's 6th grade students explore intercultural icons and landmarks and then create models of them. Mrs. Edwards took pictures of many of these projects and created the Animoto. Students and teachers can create Animotos.
• Blabberize - You need a picture and a podcast. Animate a figure with your voice.
• Comic Books - Create a comic book using slides from PowerPoint and put it into a wiki page.
• Super Hero Squad Show; Marvel Comics; Hero Machine Classic. Choose a male and a female Superhero and identify their physical traits. Then students predict what traits a child of these two Superheroes would have and create a picture of that Superhero child. Mr. Grimes uses this in his genetics unit
• Comic Book Periodic Table Click on a chemical. Comics with characters relevant to that element will come up. Click on the pictures to read the comic. (Not all elements have comics yet.)
• Crazy Talk - It begins with a podcast. Use the podcast to animate an animal.
• Cubing Cubing - a method for discovering ideas about a topic by using six strategies (in any order) to investigate it: describe it, compare it, associate it, analyze it, apply it, and argue for or against it. (Language Arts PASS 6th-8th grades Glossary). A strategy that can be used in all content areas, that requires students to look at information in different ways, and that requires thinking!
• Glogster - An application to create online posters.
• In Plain English Students can use the In Plain English format as a pattern to write their own tutorials or explanations of research. They can use the Flip video cameras.
• Inspire with Inspiration Software to create graphic organizers
• Movie Maker - All the school computers have Windows Movie Maker on them.
• Movies - See Animoto, Photo Story 3, Movie Maker, and Videos. See also: Videos.
• Newspapers - Create these using Microsoft Publisher
• Pattern Books - Use the patterns in books like these to create your own non-fiction books: Fortunately by Remy Charlip and Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ronald Koertge
• Peercasting - Students who grasp a concept well create video or audio cast tutorials (peercasts). Teacher chooses peercasts that would be of benefit to other students in need of additional help in tha concept and provides access to those students.
• PicLits - Use to practice writing figures of speech, types of sentences or poetry. Review parts of speech. Have students tie their sentences, figures of speech, poetry with the picture and with the research topic. Thinking will be required.
• Rap - "This Week in Rap is an excellent model of what students could do with their research information. Creating a rap would require students to think about the information they read and ""paraphrase"" it into another format.
• Scratch - Use scratch to create movies and video games. It's an "easy" programming program. Go here to get some video tutorials and examples of Scratch projects:
• Read Tables - The World Health Organization (WHO) has customizable tables to create. Click on indicators for all countries or click to select from a list of regions/countries, indicators and time periods. Teachers or students can create the table. Groups of students write deduction sentences based upon the table. They try to write everyone possible. Trade with other students. Challenge other students to find any new sentences and to search for any sentences that are not correct.
• Thinkquest Projects - Create a project. Projects provide a flexible framework for engaging students in exploring curricular topics and developing important 21st century skills, such as communication, teamwork, and technology skills. In addition, students are motivated by the fun and creative format and the opportunity to make new friends around the world. For teachers, a school portal enables quick and easy management of student accounts and review of project work.
• Timelines - There are many ways to use timelines. One idea is to combine two timelines and then have students study the combined timelines and write fact statements. Example: A timeline that includes inventions and important events in Lincoln's life. Fact statement could be, "Lincoln never drank a coke."
• Webcasts - Students can videotape scripts they have written.
• Webquests - "Inquiry-based activity that involves students in using web-based resources and tools to transform their learning into meaningful understandings and real-world projects. Rather than spending substantial time using search tools, most or all of the information used by learners is found on pre-selected websites. Students can then focus on using web-based information to analyze, synthesis, and evaluate information to address high-level questions." --http://www.eduscapes.com/sessions/travel/define.htm
• Wordia - Wordia is a web page of videos about word meanings. Our students could create these. Teachers might want to preview and select some of these to show students. The library also has a video from “What's the Word,” which is a commercial program with vocabulary videos. In those videos characters act out a script that explains a word. Use Flip Video cameras to create these.
2. How does your school make use of school and/or teacher websites?
The district website has links for parents, students, and employees, district calendars for traditional schools and continuous learning buildings, news, careers, administration, parent portals for online grade books, etc. The district has contracted with the Sharpschool company, which hosts our district, individual schools, and teacher pages. Each teacher has a homepage, hosted on the school pages and may create varied “child pages.” The school site is used to keep stakeholders informed of ongoing and upcoming events at Carver, provides immediate access for students, parents, and the community to contact faculty and staff via email, and access for teachers and students to any information the library media specialist thinks might be pertinent to learning. The website includes a calendar, and extensive resources from the library media center. Updates from Sharpschool periodically disrupt the format and delivery of the website. The library media specialist troubleshoots and revamps the pages accordingly.
3. How are you currently utilizing technology for learning?
I use graphing calculators in my classroom, show clips from YouTube to relate to various mathematics concepts
and their applications, and use my web pages to provide sources for projects and helpful links. I also use a Smartboard with mathematics tools every day. I prebuild lessons for students with animations to not only to keep their interest, but also to provide visual displays and animations that help develop their visual spatial relations in mathematics.
4. From the list of global e-learning sites, which are available and which sites are blocked by your firewall?
YouTube and Teacher tube are available for teacher use, but are blocked for
student use.
5. What sites and tools are colleagues in your building using?
Several teachers are using Edmodo, blogs, Blabberize, Animoto, In Plain English, and Super Hero Squad Show; Marvel Comics; Hero
Machine Classic.
6. Is there a system for evaluating student technology literacy in your school?
There is no system for evaluating student technology literacy on our school, except in technology classes.
If so, how effective or helpful have you found the assessment?
There is no assessment.
Gather suggestions from students on their ideas for integrating technology into their learning. What tools that are not presently available, would help to achieve district objectives?
The following comments were made by students in discussions of technology in the classroom. Many teachers don’t use web tools in the classroom. IPADS would be a useful tool to use in the classroom – it would be efficient if the teacher could just send material to student IPADS. Zoom! - You would have all the notes and could concentrate on the lesson. If you could submit your work on the IPAD, that would be helpful too. It would be awesome if you could use the “Bump It” application to share notes and other instructional material, or some students could share notes with each other. Some students that don’t have computers or internet at home, do have smart phones and mentioned that they wish they could review the lesson on their phones.
Using your Digital Learning Environment Inventory:
a) Suggest an improvement or solution to technology/technology use in your school or district.
The district would have to develop a digital integrity policy to support any new technology in the classroom. It would be great if our students had laptops or IPADs to use in the classroom. We actually applied for a grant to become a laptop school, but did not win the grant. Although our district requires each teacher to have a homepage, they do not provide adequate attention to ongoing training to help teachers improve their use of propagating subpages and making them user friendly for students and/or parents. In fact, they laid off the woman who was in charge of providing professional development for web page development. She was an important asset for technology development within our district. I believe they need to provide more professional development opportunities for teachers in technology. In general, Smartboards are under-utilized in our building. It would be helpful if the district offered ongoing professional development for teachers. Some teachers are very self-conscious and prefer more training. A neighboring district requires all teachers to pass a technology proficiency test each year, which includes any new technology that they are implementing. I think that would be a great thing for our district.
b) Submit a paragraph describing a potential use of technology in your unit plan.
Potentially, students will use Google Earth to examine the geography and topology of the areas where diamonds are mined. They will use spreadsheet software to create a value added chart for a diamond for each step of the process from mining to retail. Students can use collaborative presentation software to do presentations on the affects of diamond mining on the environment, the lives of native peoples, and the economic impact of conflict stones on financing war, etc. Students could also use Mind42 software to create mind map graphic organizers to help them organize information related to conflict stones.
1. What tools, software, operating systems, and equipment are available in your school and classroom? (including but not limited to: videoconferencing, streaming, photos sharing sites, video sharing sites, document sharing sites, podcasts, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, etc.) ?
• Each teacher at Carver has a teacher computer loaded with Microsoft Windows XP operating system, Outlook email and Scheduling and Microsoft Office Suite. Other software may vary based on textbook software provided by the publisher of the given subject area text book. Each teacher may also have a laptop computer for classroom and home use for school business. It is loaded with similar software, and uses the same operating system. Teachers use these computers based on district use policies. All computers have access to the internet via the school network and the district server. Laptop computers are Wi-Fi enabled.
• All district teachers use the web-based grade book and attendance software through a contract agreement with PowerSchool.
PowerSchool also provides the district with a web-based student information system.
• Smart board is a predominant tool for lesson presentations. Although each mathematics and language arts teacher at Carver has a Smart board, we are engaged in a continuous effort to provide Smart boards for all teachers. Smartboard Smart response system is used by some teachers for entry and exit questions and quizzes.
• Microsoft Word is used for word processing in writing tests and assignments.
• Videoconferencing is not done in-house. We travel to the Oklahoma University Schusterman Campus for videoconferencing.
• YouTube and Teacher tube are used for video sharing.
• E-text books. Students have secure log-on information to access their textbooks online.
• All teachers have access to Safari Montage, which provides for digital media distribution and visual instruction. It is preloaded with educational video titles tied to the curriculum including Schlessinger Media, PBS, The History Channel, National Geographic, Scholastic, Disney Education, BBC, and more.”
• ABC Books Students can write ABC books about a research subject. This can be done in groups or individually.
• Acronym Pages Students can write Acronym pages individually or with a group if there isn't enough time to write an ABC book.
• Animoto - Ms Zaheer's 6th grade students explore intercultural icons and landmarks and then create models of them. Mrs. Edwards took pictures of many of these projects and created the Animoto. Students and teachers can create Animotos.
• Blabberize - You need a picture and a podcast. Animate a figure with your voice.
• Comic Books - Create a comic book using slides from PowerPoint and put it into a wiki page.
• Super Hero Squad Show; Marvel Comics; Hero Machine Classic. Choose a male and a female Superhero and identify their physical traits. Then students predict what traits a child of these two Superheroes would have and create a picture of that Superhero child. Mr. Grimes uses this in his genetics unit
• Comic Book Periodic Table Click on a chemical. Comics with characters relevant to that element will come up. Click on the pictures to read the comic. (Not all elements have comics yet.)
• Crazy Talk - It begins with a podcast. Use the podcast to animate an animal.
• Cubing Cubing - a method for discovering ideas about a topic by using six strategies (in any order) to investigate it: describe it, compare it, associate it, analyze it, apply it, and argue for or against it. (Language Arts PASS 6th-8th grades Glossary). A strategy that can be used in all content areas, that requires students to look at information in different ways, and that requires thinking!
• Glogster - An application to create online posters.
• In Plain English Students can use the In Plain English format as a pattern to write their own tutorials or explanations of research. They can use the Flip video cameras.
• Inspire with Inspiration Software to create graphic organizers
• Movie Maker - All the school computers have Windows Movie Maker on them.
• Movies - See Animoto, Photo Story 3, Movie Maker, and Videos. See also: Videos.
• Newspapers - Create these using Microsoft Publisher
• Pattern Books - Use the patterns in books like these to create your own non-fiction books: Fortunately by Remy Charlip and Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ronald Koertge
• Peercasting - Students who grasp a concept well create video or audio cast tutorials (peercasts). Teacher chooses peercasts that would be of benefit to other students in need of additional help in tha concept and provides access to those students.
• PicLits - Use to practice writing figures of speech, types of sentences or poetry. Review parts of speech. Have students tie their sentences, figures of speech, poetry with the picture and with the research topic. Thinking will be required.
• Rap - "This Week in Rap is an excellent model of what students could do with their research information. Creating a rap would require students to think about the information they read and ""paraphrase"" it into another format.
• Scratch - Use scratch to create movies and video games. It's an "easy" programming program. Go here to get some video tutorials and examples of Scratch projects:
• Read Tables - The World Health Organization (WHO) has customizable tables to create. Click on indicators for all countries or click to select from a list of regions/countries, indicators and time periods. Teachers or students can create the table. Groups of students write deduction sentences based upon the table. They try to write everyone possible. Trade with other students. Challenge other students to find any new sentences and to search for any sentences that are not correct.
• Thinkquest Projects - Create a project. Projects provide a flexible framework for engaging students in exploring curricular topics and developing important 21st century skills, such as communication, teamwork, and technology skills. In addition, students are motivated by the fun and creative format and the opportunity to make new friends around the world. For teachers, a school portal enables quick and easy management of student accounts and review of project work.
• Timelines - There are many ways to use timelines. One idea is to combine two timelines and then have students study the combined timelines and write fact statements. Example: A timeline that includes inventions and important events in Lincoln's life. Fact statement could be, "Lincoln never drank a coke."
• Webcasts - Students can videotape scripts they have written.
• Webquests - "Inquiry-based activity that involves students in using web-based resources and tools to transform their learning into meaningful understandings and real-world projects. Rather than spending substantial time using search tools, most or all of the information used by learners is found on pre-selected websites. Students can then focus on using web-based information to analyze, synthesis, and evaluate information to address high-level questions." --http://www.eduscapes.com/sessions/travel/define.htm
• Wordia - Wordia is a web page of videos about word meanings. Our students could create these. Teachers might want to preview and select some of these to show students. The library also has a video from “What's the Word,” which is a commercial program with vocabulary videos. In those videos characters act out a script that explains a word. Use Flip Video cameras to create these.
2. How does your school make use of school and/or teacher websites?
The district website has links for parents, students, and employees, district calendars for traditional schools and continuous learning buildings, news, careers, administration, parent portals for online grade books, etc. The district has contracted with the Sharpschool company, which hosts our district, individual schools, and teacher pages. Each teacher has a homepage, hosted on the school pages and may create varied “child pages.” The school site is used to keep stakeholders informed of ongoing and upcoming events at Carver, provides immediate access for students, parents, and the community to contact faculty and staff via email, and access for teachers and students to any information the library media specialist thinks might be pertinent to learning. The website includes a calendar, and extensive resources from the library media center. Updates from Sharpschool periodically disrupt the format and delivery of the website. The library media specialist troubleshoots and revamps the pages accordingly.
3. How are you currently utilizing technology for learning?
I use graphing calculators in my classroom, show clips from YouTube to relate to various mathematics concepts
and their applications, and use my web pages to provide sources for projects and helpful links. I also use a Smartboard with mathematics tools every day. I prebuild lessons for students with animations to not only to keep their interest, but also to provide visual displays and animations that help develop their visual spatial relations in mathematics.
4. From the list of global e-learning sites, which are available and which sites are blocked by your firewall?
YouTube and Teacher tube are available for teacher use, but are blocked for
student use.
5. What sites and tools are colleagues in your building using?
Several teachers are using Edmodo, blogs, Blabberize, Animoto, In Plain English, and Super Hero Squad Show; Marvel Comics; Hero
Machine Classic.
6. Is there a system for evaluating student technology literacy in your school?
There is no system for evaluating student technology literacy on our school, except in technology classes.
If so, how effective or helpful have you found the assessment?
There is no assessment.
Gather suggestions from students on their ideas for integrating technology into their learning. What tools that are not presently available, would help to achieve district objectives?
The following comments were made by students in discussions of technology in the classroom. Many teachers don’t use web tools in the classroom. IPADS would be a useful tool to use in the classroom – it would be efficient if the teacher could just send material to student IPADS. Zoom! - You would have all the notes and could concentrate on the lesson. If you could submit your work on the IPAD, that would be helpful too. It would be awesome if you could use the “Bump It” application to share notes and other instructional material, or some students could share notes with each other. Some students that don’t have computers or internet at home, do have smart phones and mentioned that they wish they could review the lesson on their phones.
Using your Digital Learning Environment Inventory:
a) Suggest an improvement or solution to technology/technology use in your school or district.
The district would have to develop a digital integrity policy to support any new technology in the classroom. It would be great if our students had laptops or IPADs to use in the classroom. We actually applied for a grant to become a laptop school, but did not win the grant. Although our district requires each teacher to have a homepage, they do not provide adequate attention to ongoing training to help teachers improve their use of propagating subpages and making them user friendly for students and/or parents. In fact, they laid off the woman who was in charge of providing professional development for web page development. She was an important asset for technology development within our district. I believe they need to provide more professional development opportunities for teachers in technology. In general, Smartboards are under-utilized in our building. It would be helpful if the district offered ongoing professional development for teachers. Some teachers are very self-conscious and prefer more training. A neighboring district requires all teachers to pass a technology proficiency test each year, which includes any new technology that they are implementing. I think that would be a great thing for our district.
b) Submit a paragraph describing a potential use of technology in your unit plan.
Potentially, students will use Google Earth to examine the geography and topology of the areas where diamonds are mined. They will use spreadsheet software to create a value added chart for a diamond for each step of the process from mining to retail. Students can use collaborative presentation software to do presentations on the affects of diamond mining on the environment, the lives of native peoples, and the economic impact of conflict stones on financing war, etc. Students could also use Mind42 software to create mind map graphic organizers to help them organize information related to conflict stones.