2015 Educational Technology Review
Author: Rick Phelan
Published: 12.31.15
2015 has been a busy year with educational technology among the forty Sonoma County K-12 school districts. Teachers throughout the county have been integrating technology into student learning with a range of different devices including mobile phones, Chromebooks, iPads, laptops and desktop computers. State funding initiatives have spurred much of the work along with local bond initiatives. Some districts have found value in receiving surplus equipment from businesses or colleges to expand student access opportunities. Teachers have also sought ways to obtain technology through local foundation grants and crowd source funding opportunities. This blog post summarizes my perspective on the 10 most significant Sonoma County educational technology themes from 2015.
- One-to-One Access Opportunities: A number of school districts believe technology has a vital role supporting daily student learning experiences. As a result, some districts chose to foster one-to-one technology initiatives where each child in a school district was provided with a technology device. Alexander Valley Union School District and Petaluma City Schools undertook district wide efforts for all students with technology in 2015. In Petaluma, this involved the preparation and deployment of over 7,000 student devices!
- Maker Education: 2015 saw many Sonoma County schools setting up ‘Maker’ learning areas for students. These spaces could be a classroom activity area for ‘making’ or a dedicated Maker classroom at a school. The bigger idea is that these spaces are intended for propagating imagination, building and creating. Maker spaces generally have building materials and tools. Making can be done with anything from popsicle sticks and Lego parts, to 3D printers and other digital manufacturing technologies. Maker activities stimulate engagement and re-ignite a passion for learning among students. In 2015, Piner-Olivet School District has been a leader among Sonoma County schools in the Maker education movement. Read more about the Development & Growth of the Maker Movement here.
- Smarter Balanced Consortium Summative Assessments: All schools with students in grades 3-8 and 11 took the computer based Smarter Balanced Consortium (SBAC) Summative Assessments in 2015. The SBAC is California’s metric for evaluating progress with Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics. This was a major departure from the former state STAR tests where students bubbled in answer sheets with pencils. Schools administered the SBAC in the Spring and evaluated results during summer and fall. Along with traditional multiple response questions, the SBAC had other question types that challenged students to express their thinking in new ways. All educators in the county were called upon to learn new computer skills readying students for the tests, administering exams, and interpreting results.
- Large Flat Screen TVs: For the last 15 years, schools have predominantly used ‘data projectors’ to display computer screens for classroom presentations. This changed in 2015 when tech support staff started using large flat screen TVs to replace data projectors. The Old Adobe Union School District was one district that that did this for all classrooms in 2015. Education specialists reasoned that: TVs were a third of the cost compared to classroom projectors; TVs provided more HDMI ports (HDMI is the current standard for most Audio-Visual couplings);TV power consumption was less; and TVs eliminated classroom tripping hazards from projector extension cords.
- Google Classroom: Learning management systems (LMS) are used by teachers to promote electronic projects and virtual communication at school and home. They support ‘blended learning’ seven days a week, whenever students are ready to learn. LMS offerings have been used in college and universities for over 10 years with such products as WebCT, Blackboard, and Moodle. 2015 found many K-12 Sonoma County teachers utilizing Google’s free LMS called Google Classroom. Classroom is a free web-based platform that integrates Google Apps for Education accounts with all Google Apps services, including Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar. Teachers and students like Google Classroom because it streamlines work with Google application tools and classroom assignments. Schools found value in Google Classroom in Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Mark West, Sonoma Valley, Windsor, and Petaluma.
- Early Grade Learning: Significant numbers of schools in Sonoma County are employing supplemental digital learning materials to support primary reading and mathematics instruction. Lexia Reading Core5 is being used 3-4 days a week in over one third of the county’s classrooms. Lexia Reading Core5 supports foundational skills to develop automaticity and fluency, listening and reading comprehension with complex text, and academic and domain-specific vocabulary to improve comprehension. DreamBox is being used in a similar way with mathematics. It individually tailors math lessons to build conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and college and career readiness. Teachers and administrators appreciate the embedded assessments that are part of both DreamBox and Lexia Reading Core5. Early grade teachers in the Roseland School District and Sonoma Valley Unified School District used both of these digital tools in 2015.
- Green Screen Video Production: You might have seen students making videos with a green backdrop in Sonoma County schools in 2015. Green screen filming is done with inexpensive video software that allows users to change the green background into any scene they wish. The software allows the green color to be isolated and made transparent. With the background fully transparent, it can then be easily replaced with a still image or any other footage. Students used different backgrounds to support dramatic productions, public service announcements, and numerous entries in SCOE’s Five-Minute Film Festival.
- Assistive Technology: Assistive technology refers to any item, piece of equipment, or product that helps support access to information and expression of ideas. In 2015, teachers and education specialists were asked to consider embedded computer supports with Smarter Balanced assessments. Any student could have access to universal tools or designated supports with the SBAC. Educators found that many of the SBAC access options had value in day-to-day learning activities. Google extensions and add-ons were explored and integrated in Chrome web browsers. Some of the more popular assistive technology extensions were Speak It, Clearly, and Read & Write.
- Classroom Re-Design: 2015 saw some schools asking about their furniture and classroom designs. In Petaluma City Schools, teachers found aged classroom furniture that was ergonomically inappropriate and difficult to re-arrange for flexible learning activities. Teachers explored needs for classroom changes and what was required to complement new instructional strategies. One teacher summed up thinking at her site with the following comment: “We need the room to catch up with our teaching.” Based on site conversations and support from district administration, Petaluma City Schools purchased new furniture to support learning in every K-12 classroom. Adjustable height tables, wing desks, Plato stools, mobile whiteboards, cubes, noodle chairs, and other kinds of furniture are now in service. See new classroom furniture layouts through this link.
- Robots: Robots were seen as valuable interdisciplinary tools for teaching math and science. Students like robots because they can see coding ideas come to life through them. Lego Mindstorm robots allow students to setup and manage sensory inputs. Over 400 fourth through eighth grade students from 31 schools participated in the 2015 Sonoma County Robotics Challenge. Primary aged students started learning about programming with Bee-Bot robots. With these robots, students use directional keys to enter up to 40 commands which send Bee-Bot forward, back, left, and right. Bee-Bots were found to be great for teaching sequencing, estimation, problem-solving, and beginning coding skills in Santa Rosa, Sonoma, and Petaluma kindergarten and first grade classes.
Blog: Technology for Learners
