More on 1:1 Computing

On Friday, May 8th I attended the TechEd Conference in Long Beach, CA and learned some more about 1:1 Computing.

The Fullerton School District, in Fullerton CA has implemented many innovative ideas in their 1:1 initiative, which has been in place for three years now.

In order to keep access to the internet running smoothly they deployed a caching server. Every time a new web site is visited it is cached for the future. This takes an enormous load off the network. The district also uses free open source software called Squid, which provides a log of student web activity. Each night a report is sent to building principals so that they can head off problems. They also use another open source application called Squid Guard for filtering internet content. It allows content to be blocked at the school level. They also use Dan Guardian a filtering software on the computers going home, which is also free.

Another consideration when planning a 1:1 initiative that often gets over looked is the increase in workload for the district business department.

In Fullerton, principals raises are dependant on demonstrating competency in technology.

Gigi Kelly, a fifth grade teacher at Fischer Elementary in Fullerton, shared some of her classroom management strategies for teaching and learning in a 1:1 classroom. She enlists students in helping her by having “computer checkers” who monitor the charge levels of the laptops. Other students who are experts on different applications wear “ask me” buttons and assist other students. Students bring their laptops when they meet with their Kindergarten buddies and do projects together. She also has students record themselves reading as a way to monitor their fluency. Students use a rubric to self-assess their reading. Then they put the file in their teacher’s drop box. These files can be shared at parent teacher conferences. Laptops are also used to differentiate instruction. Students have different activities that they can choose to do on the computers when they complete work, almost like centers.

Some of the software applications that have been popular in the 1:1 initiative at Fullerton has been Comic Life and Notetaker (both programs only work on a Mac).

Eva La Mar also shared some of her innovative strategies for managing a 1:1 laptop program. If a student damages a computer they have to make a public service announcement to share about the care of the laptops. Students are also graded three times a year on the condition of their laptops. An “A” means that their computer is in pristine condition, “B” means it is pretty good etc. Initially students were popping off keys from the keyboards to see what is underneath them. The school now fines students $25.00 for popping off keys from the keyboard and this has no longer been a problem. La Mar also says that schools with new 1:1 laptop programs will need to redo their Acceptable Use Policy so that it is in kid friendly language. La Mar also does short screencasts and uploads them to a web site show staff how to do different things on the laptops.

La Mar also talked about the importance of providing rubrics and expectations for students and using tools such as iCal to post homework assignments.

More strategies She has matched up Marzano’s strategies in a matrix http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/events/techforum06/EvaLaMar_Handout.pdf . She also has a lot of useful resources on her web site on Literacy and Vocabulary Tools at http://web.mac.com/lamarsd/iWeb/SD/Main.html . She also uses the Intel Seeing Reason online tools at http://www.intel.com/education/seeingreason/index.htm to promote higher-order thinking in her classroom.