I’m Still Learning
May 11, 2007 by scottshephard
First, thanks to those who took the time from their busy schedules to comment on my first post yesterday. I kept checking back during the day to see if anyone had any comments. Then, last night, I discovered 5 posts waiting in a sort of “in” box. I guess I have my preferences set to “moderate” mode, which means I have to approve the posts, which is probably OK for now, since spam can become a problem in blogs. You should know that everyone who posted has their comments available without any editing. That will continue to by my policy.
Having said that, some may think it is generous of me to provide a forum for complaint about our laptop program here at Watertown Senior High. I knew when I started this blog that not all of the comments would be positive – trying to figure out how to use computers isn’t easy.
I was hoping, however, that this blog would be about practices, successes and solutions. In the context of talking about those things, I hope people will be honest in voicing their concerns but helpful in offering possible answers to those concerns. If that’s too much to ask, that’s alright. I am happy to provide a forum for discourse and, if necessary, a place where people can vent.
David Warlick, like Will Richardson, has a blog about ed tech (among other things). The link to this is available to the right hand side of my Home Page under the “Blogroll” heading. He has written an article called “Of Course I Think It Matters.” It is a response to the NYT article I referred to in yesterday’s post.
Finally, if you’d rather not talk about computers and education, you could check out my other blog on a web site called TravBuddy.
Also, if you haven’t visited my Watertown 1 to 1 Web page, click the link in the “Pages” box along the right hand side of this page.
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Hello-
Although I question the timing of the laptop initiative, I have some empirical evidence that teaching with laptops changes the learning environment and improves student attitudes and feelings of success in my class. Many of you know that I have been working on my Master’s degree and writing my thesis paper on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Secondary Schools in SD. It is finally done and over with now, thank God-immensely! As part of my research I surveyed the students here. Teaching GIS in World Geography is not required by the state standards and requires quite a bit of training, however, the results show that using GIS in the classroom increases students feelings of success and attitude towards class. The thing that is so nice about GIS is that it is a ’subject specific’ software and integrates well with our standards. Yes we have issues with our program. Having the laptops has improved learning and student attitudes in my classroom.