Judd Pittman, the special consultant to the state Secretary of Education on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics), said education is multi-faceted and using smart technology should not be the ultimate end goal for school districts.
“They’re like pencil and paper: they’re a means to get to an end,” Pittman said. “We often get caught up, and then technology becomes the barrier. Just because you don’t have that, doesn’t mean you can’t engage in this particular experience. That’s not the case. There are so many opportunities beyond an iPad, computer or robotics. Don’t let that be the reason you aren’t engaging in it.”
If a district cannot engage in 1:1 technology to enhance STEM learning, Pittman said there are other pathways educators can use. Those resources through PDE partner, the Pennsylvania STEM Coalition, are available for districts looking for innovative ideas and ways to bridge gaps.
For example, he said, districts can purchase cheap water quality kits to test the local streams or rivers, to look at the data and analyze that over time and learn about water conservation and pollution. A district could also start a community garden to learn about plants and the sun.
Pittman called Danville Area School District a “high flyer” with technology and STEM learning because the district personalizes the pathway and experience in the classroom.
Dawn Brookhart, the Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology at Danville Area, said the district is continuing the “Chrome to Home” initiative in the new school year. The rollout of Chromebooks started three years ago with students in grades eight and nine. For the 2017-2018 school year, students in grades six to 12 will have their own Chromebook. Students in Danville elementary school have access to technology through classroom carts and computers, she said.
“Technology has become an integral tool for instruction and assessment,” Brookhart said. “We pilot any initiative on a small scale prior to implementing it district-wide. This approach allows us to assess its effectiveness and make the necessary changes. The greatest challenge is the ability to ensure ongoing professional development.”
The $517,975 technology budget enables the district to purchase equipment on a cycle. The approach ensures that the equipment is sustained rather than a one-time purchase with equipment becoming outdated and never replaced, she said.
The district is also launching their own online learning platform where they will have the ability to build courses and align them with the district curriculum, Brookhart said.
“We recognize that the majority of our students will be taking online courses at the university level,” she said. “We want to prepare our students for this type of environment. We also want to be able to provide students with the option of taking online courses when they cannot fit a course into a traditional schedule.”
Technology fads
Other school districts are tackling the challenges of technology as well.One challenge is not jumping on the latest “technology fad,” Selinsgrove Superintendent Chad Cohrs said, “but making sure there is educational value in a product. Technology is an instructional tool and can be used both appropriately and inappropriately. Training and monitoring proper use is an ongoing process.”
Every classroom in Selinsgrove Area has a teacher laptop and whiteboard with smart technology. At the K-2 level, every classroom has a bank of four to six computers and a set of approximately eight to 10 Kindle or Nabi devices. In grades three through six, each classroom has a set of Surfaces and laptops. In grade six, each student has a Microsoft Surface and in grades seven through 12 each student is provided with a laptop.
“Some of the challenges are keeping up with the level of access that some students have at home and keeping staff current with utilizing the technology,” Cohrs said. “We want technology to be an effective instructional tool.”
The district budgets approximately $270,000 annually for technology. This amount includes software, licenses and devices. A consistent budget amount allows the district to implement a technology plan effectively. A replacement cycle allows them to keep their technology current and operable, Cohrs said.
“We are continuing to implement a rotational model of hybrid learning in the district,” he said. “This is a mix of face to face instruction, collaborative work, and independent work. Technology is a key component of the independent work allowing instructional support at the level the student needs.”
Bring your own device
At Mount Carmel Area, the students can now bring their own technology in the junior/senior high school. Students can register one device for use on the school’s network using their school email. Device use is at the discretion of the classroom teacher, according to the policy.“The biggest challenge is trying to get every classroom equipped with laptops, and to be sure to replace our now aging electronic whiteboards,” Mount Carmel Area Superintendent Bernie Stellar said. “As far as technology goes, we teach responsible digital citizenship to our students, but it’s an ever-challenging issue.”
Stellar said there are two computer labs in each building. Grades three through six have laptops in their “Hybrid Learning Initiative” and the junior/senior high school has laptop carts that use Chromebooks, due to cost effectiveness and the ease of deployment and maintenance. Additionally, nearly every classroom is equipped with an electronic whiteboard.
“Nothing is being phased out, and we are continuing to add more Chromebooks in both buildings,” Stellar said. “Additionally, many elementary school teachers have raised enough money through Donors Choose to purchase additional Chromebooks for their classrooms.”
The $77,000 technology budget for equipment, supplies, maintenance and repairs allows the district to replace at least one lab or at least one laptop cart annually, he said.
©2017 The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pa.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
