Multiple platforms, multiple voices: scenes from a 1:1 rollout

Collaborative blogging puts students’ voices out front

Hazen Union School 8th grade student Elijah Lew-Smith shared the first student post of the school year on the school’s shared Middle Level Blog.

Check out his post to see this year’s new initiatives: 1:1 with iPads, a new House structure, and the focus on Project Based Learning, from a student perspective.  

But that’s not all.

Hazen Union School, in Hardwick, Vermont, are committed to a powerful, student-centered, tech-rich start to the school year. Among the tools in their arsenal are not just getting student perspective on school change and making sure that voice is center stage, but using technology to communicate with students, family and the community at large.

Educator-made video resources for a 1:1 rollout

Educators collaborated on producing this fun video about expectations for iPads as part of their communications around the 1:1 iPad rollout kicking off their year:

Blogging publicly, as a team

Here is the first welcome post where the teachers give voice to the why and what of their collaborative, public blog:

Make it easy to find resources for families and community readers

Finally, I feel compelled to draw your attention to the use of labels by these collaborators.

They are making the most of Blogger’s ability to organize and sort posts by themes.  As this resource grows, visitors to the blog interested in their progress with the 1:1 initiative or their experimentation with Project Based Learning can simply click on that specific label and view all the posts related to it.

The implications for evidence gathering and reflection in a learning community such as this one are clear.  Congrats to this group who are taking the time to make thinking and learning visible and to share that journey from the voices of students and educators with our larger Vermont community.  Go Hazen!

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