This week we are discussing wireless technology. This technology is nearly everywhere and it is convenient. The schools in my district all have wireless capabilities. All of the teachers are issued a laptop to keep up with administrative duties, to communicate with colleagues and parents/ students, and to do research. It is nice to be able to print to any approved printer within the school. The students can take advantage of our wireless environment as well. Although each classroom has one to two computers in the classroom that are connected via ethernet cables, the students are able to use laptops via the portable carts for class projects and research.
Another wireless technology that I am a huge fan of is 'clickers'. Clickers are student response systems that allow teachers to assess classes with the click of a button. Instead of printing several copies or even a classroom set of questions for quizzes and tests, teachers can post questions and students can answer them. Not all schools in my district has this technology, but I am hoping more will get it.
The clickers that my school district uses are called CPS (Classroom Performance System). They are excellent. They are easy to use and the website - www.einstruction.com - has excellent tutorials. The students love them, they can be integrated into PowerPoints, class lists can be imported into CPS so feedback and grades can be given, it can chart the answers to a question immediately afterwards to gauge a class's understanding, test questions can be imported from Examview, our test generation software, and other places, and scores even uploaded to Edusoft, our data tracking software. It really is one of the best technology tools that my district has to engage the students.
ReplyDeleteMy district has wireless networks in all the schools, too, although they are underutilized, particularly in elementary, I would venture to say. We also have student response systems. At my school, we own three that we circulate among the teachers. Presently, I have been using them a lot in the media center, and the gifted teacher uses them as well. Very few others use them because of the time it takes to set them up for use. I think they are an excellent way of collecting data, though and wish they were used more.
ReplyDeleteWe are a SMART District. Each classroom has Student Response Systems, a wireless slate which allows the teacher to walk throughout the classroom and still write on her electronic whiteboard. For the classroom that has projectors and our libraries we have wireless mouse and keyboards. These tools are great for discovering what needs to be retaught. By the time a test is given ut measures areas a students needs tutoring not what needs to be retaught.
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