Technology

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Facilitator: Richard Abbondanzio, The Hockaday School

=Summary (Key Points from last session)= = = = = =Notes from January 31:= >
 * Obstacles to Tech component of STEM
 * Lack of continuity
 * Staffing
 * Curriculum
 * Inherent nature of electives
 * Faculty
 * STEM coordinator might help
 * "Turf fights"
 * Budget
 * Time
 * Within schedule
 * After school
 * Unclear definition of what is *T* in STEM
 * Essential to expose girls to Computer Science at early age
 * Currently CS is hard to connect to
 * Too late by High School - diminished enrollment in CS electives
 * Tech/CS Faculty is key to getting girls engaged (girls are relational!)
 * Continuity is key to making a successful program
 * Need to broaden Faculty and Student view of Technology definition
 * Develop creative ways to attract girls to Tech in their world
 * hands-on, get "hands dirty"
 * Social networking not solely a tech issue
 * Yet Tech departments seen as experts - police - censors (keepers of servers)
 * Really social & parenting issue
 * Frontline special resource
 * Resources**
 * MIT Media Lab: http://www.media.mit.edu/
 * NAIS Classroom of the Future: http://schoolcomputing.wikia.com/wiki/NAIS_Classroom_of_the_Future
 * Edutopia, “Programming: The New Literacy: [|http://www.edutopia.org/literacy-computer-programming]>
 * EDUCAUSE, "7 Things You Should Know About: [|http://www.educause.edu/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutSeries/7495]>
 * Join Independent School Educators Network on ning.com ([|click here] ). Join STEM group that was created.
 * NING: [|http://www.ning.com/]>
 * CPS:[| http://www.engaging-technologies.com/CPS-activities.html]
 * eBeam: http://www.luidia.com/
 * Being Fluent with Information Technology: http://books.nap.edu/books/030906399X/html/index.html

If you could build a perfect classroom for your department, what would it look like? Why would it look that way? Money and equipment aren’t an issue = = = = How do we define what the “T” in STEM means? =Notes from February 1:= Scratch programming: [|http://scratch.mit.edu/] Learn Scratch: [|http://www.learnscratch.org/](a great place to learn Scratch and to find great teaching ideas) Caitlin Kelleher (Carnegie Mellon, PhD dissertation about motivating Middle School girls to take programming / "Storytelling Alice") [|http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~ckelleher/] Alice Programming: http://www.alice.org/ TechBridge http://www.techbridge.org/
 * Ice Breaker Question**
 * Not teacher centered, power unobtrusive, cameras on the laptops, projectors
 * OneNote, SmartBoard, Tablets
 * Wireless projectors, projection software, girls bump one another off, show, edit their work as they go, wireless and tablets go along with one another; its very collaborative
 * OneNote: setup a virtual binder---as kids write, it appears on everyone else’s laptops---shared session
 * Combination of Macs and PCs. Girls can use one or the other---learn both platforms
 * Classroom would teach the girls—show the girls how the technology is set up. Sustainable space; room would be smart—it communicates with the students—what’s the AC system doing? Sustainable
 * Multi-Media: more access to video recording equipment; more availability
 * Flip; Video Ultra—about $125/camera---right into laptop—records up to 60 minutes—also works with Macs—can moves from one machine to the next.
 * Video and podcasting of individual classes
 * MIT has built classrooms of the future; the entire classroom is multimedia ---more about what the Internet is going to bring. Virtual classrooms in second life; it wasn’t about physical spaces but virtual spaces
 * Agenda**
 * **Robotics Team**: software, bridging gap between middle school and high school
 * **One to One Programs**—challenges, etiquette--how do you get the faculty to use the laptops?
 * **Computer Science Classes**—how do we get girls into these programs? Especially AP Computer Science A and AB—always elective; competition with Fine Arts classes
 * **FrontLine: Growing Up Online:** http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/kidsonline/
 * **Social Networking in the Classroom**
 * **Industrial Arts**---a class to teach the girls life skills
 * **Faculty Professional Development**
 * Social Networking **
 * Significance of social networking---eating disorder issues and online bullying; competition for friends, glorification of suicide
 * Time is passing me by. What’s in the realm of cheating now?
 * Therapist---unit of instruction on social networking. Discussion with the students ; also talking with the parents—school counselor is your best friend in dealing with this.
 * Second Life---also used by ISTE—librarian set up a section in Teen Life—they are working with students out of the country. You build a world. Great discussions
 * Line between reality and virtual world is getting blurred
 * Challenge for teachers---catch up with the kids
 * NING—set up one of these with the kids in India
 * What are the different sides of these issues?
 * Parent Education: Learn, Limit, Love à set consequences and then get over it.
 * Savvy Searching: students, parents, faculty---speakers
 * Joint program with kids and parents---kids present case to parents; follow up with newsletters
 * About much more than just technology: its about making choices and honor issues---acceptable use policy---it’s a violation to misrepresent your age to gain access to different sites.
 * Some Good Examples of Collaborative Projects **
 * 6th Grade: Assessment—come up with a game; wikispace share their games; the game would be developed and created on wikispaces.
 * Podcasting of book reviews; reader of the month; podcasts and blogs---report on what they are doing---blogged their experiences.
 * Podcasting with local museum---successful---increase digital content. Partnered with museum—context for
 * New Orleans—blogging of the trip.
 * Teaching Tools and Collaborative Projects **
 * Interactive Board à teachers don’t investigate the software programs on Macs. Teachers need to show how they are using the features.
 * Pros and Cons—tablets can do a lot of the same things; technology is not on their computer; they can’t drive it from their spot. Wireless means that you can share it.
 * CPS Chalkboard
 * [|eBeam]
 * First Class vs. Web 2.0 à Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets; advantages that Google and del.icio.us are free; First Class is not. First Class has some great features like Drop Boxes---submitting of electronic files is great. Web publishing works great for podcasting.
 * [|Destination Imagination]
 * Professional Development **
 * Tech Fair/Tech Fest: send out a survey monkey and figure out who’s doing something cool that they would like to share. 1 hour session. Make them fun. Give out prizes etc. Quick and Dirty come and learn; Quick and Dirty come and see
 * Having one person whose only job it is to work one on one with the teachers—someone they trust and not ask silly questions
 * Appeal to real interests of teachers—something they can do for themselves—then figure out how they use it in their classrooms.
 * Boot camp helps to give teachers a solid foundation of tech. skills
 * Expand technology to include information literacy---librarians work with departments on resources that are available.
 * How do you keep up with all the new things that are out there.
 * 2 ½ day sessions---Choice is key: three different choices of workshops; physical network tour, library things, NOODLE tools
 * Scope and Sequence for skills; entry point classes
 * What will kids really need to be successful at the next stage? Mentoring---real word experiences with tech companies, how are you connecting your girls with women and STEM?
 * Who’s looking at the big pictures in the schools?
 * Robotics **
 * · Movin’ It: kinetic sculptures out of legos
 * · How do you add it in at the lower levels?
 * · 3rd Grade: Lego Numatics
 * · 4th Grade: e-lab kits build a city and then have a blackout
 * · 5th Grade: earth science and volcanic panic—previous lego problem.
 * · Elective vs. Required?
 * QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION**
 * QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION**
 * Supporting the other disciplines---integrate the technology into different areas of the curriculum
 * Should technology be a separate entity or does it fit into the other disciplines?
 * Robotics—science, math, technology
 * There’s knowledge to be gained as a separate subject matter.
 * Digital Story Telling---Cindy csalkeld@gps.edu
 * One model from Girl’s Prep. School: Intro to tech in 6th and 7th Electives in 7th and 8th : Digital Story Telling and Robotics; High School Electives: web design, animation, and robotics; Beginning in 10th grade—intro to programming and then AP Computer Science A and the AB.
 * Digital Story Telling---use PhotoStory and Movie Maker
 * Computer Science classes in the high school are still important.
 * Technology controllers---this is a powerful idea.
 * Let the girls help with technology: reimaging, attendance. Let the girls help to do the trouble shooting.
 * TechKNOWlogy Rules: troubleshooting list---this is where you can ask for help. Every classroom has that. Applies to teachers too; Ask Three.
 * Other disciplines---don’t want to give time to technology.
 * Evaluate projects in different ways---tech assessment in addition to the discipline assessment
 * Technology Skills---do we have an assessment test? How do you use it as an assessment tool, how do you work the skills into projects
 * Models for training, introducing kids to laptops: boot camps, open box nights, half day training in the summer with specific exercises---tech is first. Email and Blackboard
 * WRAP UP THOUGHTS**
 * Exposing the girls to computer science skills as early as possible; there needs to be a separate computer science curriculum—needs to updated on a yearly basis. Dynamic teachers are really important—make it real to the girls
 * Creating connections is important---expose them to women in the field, mentors, partnerships
 * Obstacles to STEM—competition within the curriculum, finding the right faculty, gathering support from administrators who are not involved in STEM; it needs to have a big commitment from the school to make the vision
 * What does it mean to educate a girl to a 21st century? It can’t be additive. Something will have to come off the plate.
 * We need to find creative ways to get them interested. We need to expose them to ways to get their hands on some of these materials. There are great ways to do that. Metal shop, industrial arts, design
 * Growing up Online---how does that fit into the STEM? It goes beyond technology. It involves all aspects of the school. But we need to deal with it because its holding us back from being able to do the things with web 2.0 that we would like to be able to do. It involves school counselors, administrators, honor council and honor codes, teachers, parents, etc.

from Steve Taffee - Castilleja School

Possible topics for the technology thread of the STEM Conference:

Is anyone teaching programming - specifically to grades 4 - 8? (Renee Hawkins -GFS)
 * best practices for supporting end users: faculty, staff, students
 * proprietary versus open standards applications
 * 1-1 laptop programs: creating, maintaining, and most of all using effectively in the classroom
 * Greenwich Academy Laptop Program Summary
 * faculty and staff inservice programs
 * security practices and security audits
 * infrastructure: hosting, outsourcing, automating server maintenance, controlling costs
 * staffing models
 * keeping AUPs current in a web 2.0 world