Electronic Devices in Class

Almost 5 years later and I am back to Blogging. My adventures have taken me from a 5th grade math teacher, to an 8th grade math teacher, technology teacher and now an educational technology specialist. I begin the ed tech role at Mater Dei Catholic High on June 29.

As much as I would like to catch you up on the last 5 years, I want to talk about a topic we discussed in a small group of teachers at Mater Dei regarding the one-to-one laptops roll-out.

Just to preface the story, MD is going one-to-one Lenovo laptops next year. That means each student will be issued a laptop much like checking out their text books at the beginning of the year. On top of that, students will be assigned a Microsoft 365 student account they will use to login to the computer and store their documents on the cloud. Up until now, students have been bringing in and using their personal electronic devices (smart phones, iPads, MacBooks, etc.) and using Google Docs to create and share documents with their teachers. Problems that have came up are compatibility between different platforms, not everyone having technology and using electronic devices effectively.

MD has taken a few steps to address these issues, hence the laptops and new ed tech guy (me).

Yesterday, a few teachers at MD, hand-selected by the VP, the IT guy, the VP and I met to talk about the laptop orientation for students. We talked about the day's agenda. Towards the end of the discussion, someone asked about the translation of skills learned on the school-issued laptops to their personal devices. I kept my mouth shut because it was my first time meeting many of those teachers, but what I immediately thought about was how students are using the tech, not what they are using.

Then I ran into this article on ASCD titled "Five Tips for Managing Mobile Devices" written by Catlin Tucker. These five tips, taken out of the context of technology, sound a lot like establishing norms for classroom management at the beginning of every new school year. For example, her second tip is to "Cultivate a culture of sharing". If a student doesn't bring a device, they are allowed to share. Take the technology out of it and it sounds like what teachers do on a regular basis. Teachers write lessons based on the number of protractors or rulers they have on-hand. Ms. Tucker even allows her students to use her personal devices; with guidelines of course. There is an underlying sense of trust in the class with establishes a safe learning environment for the students. This is something that every teacher, tech or no tech, strives for at the beginning of the school year.

My point is, many of the woes teachers have with skills being translated between various devices can be subsided with focusing on how students are using the tech and not what they are using. Today, they are using Lenovo laptops. They might have a MacBook at home. In college, they might be using something totally different. It shouldn't matter. Don't dwell on the negative, but focus on how these new tools with enhance teaching and learning.