Approaches to Technology in the Classroom (2)

14th January, 2016

Will looks at a welcoming approach to technology and draws on recent first-hand experiences.

To continue from my previous post, today I will be exploring a welcoming technology teacher and what it looks like in a classroom. I have been lucky enough to have experienced this first hand in my recent placement so I will discuss the aspects of technology which I saw and learnt about. To set the scene, the school was trialling 1:1 Chromebooks in Grade 5 and I was in one of the three classes. A Chromebook is essentially a laptop that runs on a Google Chrome Operating System and a connection to the internet is necessary for them to work properly. 

Before I delve into the incredible learning benefits which I witnessed, I do acknowledge that this type of program requires a lot of planning, research and above all, funding before a school can implement 1:1 devices for students. However, I believe that most schools are constantly working to improve student access to at least some type of ‘device’ (computer, Chromebook, iPad etc…). 

Obviously I was very excited to have been placed in such a classroom. However, I was intrigued to see my first 1:1 classroom and questioned if too much access is ever a distraction for the students. My teacher ensured me that they use the Chromebooks appropriately and in my 4 weeks in the classroom the students proved themselves to me. The first benefit I noticed was the amount of time we were saving each lesson. No longer is there a 5 minute scramble at tubs to get a workbook or a student standing at the bin sharpening their pencil. In seconds students can open their Chromebook and be straight into the activity. It should be cautioned however that this can lead to an overexcited and rapid switch between lessons. I found it important to still stop and have a ‘brain break’ in between lessons and not just ‘close literacy’ and ‘open religion’.

The super-fast access was due to students having all their work stored on the cloud in Google Drive. Students had been taught to organise this into subjects and terms but work could easily be located using the search bar. Working on the cloud meant work was automatically saved so it was hard to ‘lose’ and nigh impossible to blame the hungry dog. Students completed most tasks using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides or Forms. Documents can be shared between teacher-student and student-student for group work tasks. The collaboration of learning spread across all three Grade 5 classes and students were definitely learning more from interacting with each other. Moreover, they were experiencing a flipped classroom where they took control and responsibility of their own learning.

I felt like a true 21st century teacher when it came to assessment and feedback to students. As mentioned, work can be shared with each other with set privileges of ‘can edit’, ‘can view’ or ‘can comment’. The comment feature was wonderful in allowing the teacher to comment on student work, providing instantaneous feedback and clear indications of areas of improvement. For new units a Google Form was created and used for a pre/post assessment. This saved time in marking and generated data that was be analysed to help guide small group foci, whole class tasks and spot individual students who need extra support. I may do a future ‘how-to’ post for these online pre/post assessments.
 

I could go on about what I saw for many posts but I simply want to highlight this perfect example of a 21st century classroom. I saw students using skills that they will ultimately use in the workplace and performing tasks that many people in today’s workforce would be amazed by. Yes, this school were fortunate to have this 1:1 access but they did not take it lightly. They are continuing to push the boundaries, try new approaches and set challenges for staff and students as we move into a world loaded with technology. 

- Will