1:1

Posted on January 18, 2017 by

Digital access to library resources

A case study in a 1:1 school

Screencast-o-matic on the Macbook: a step-by-step tutorialOur small school is blessed to have an unusually large library space: nearly 3000 square feet.  Over the last eight years, there has been much refurbishment in our library, such as repainting and installing new carpet, new furnishings, ceiling, lights and window shades. Our library has become an attractive, much-used space by all ages, with an average of 600-700 materials circulating monthly.

In a perfect world, this physical library space would be in the center of our school, not on a lower level two floors away from the middle school classrooms.  But with the integration of 1:1 tablet devices for all our middle school students, the distance between the physical library and these students has shortened considerably.

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Posted on July 11, 2016 by

Teaching copyright with video mashups

In a 1:1 Android environment

digital citizenship and students onlineCopyright.

Fair Use. Public Domain.

The meaning of these concepts as applied to creative work,  has broadened dramatically in our digital world. Students are some of the biggest consumers and creators of work created on digital platforms, but they don’t often understand:

  1. what they may legitimately use
  2. how they may use it
  3. what protection exists for their own creative work.

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Posted on April 25, 2016 by

Implementing 1:1 norms and digital citizenship

How do student behaviors change?

how does professional development affect technology integration?Debi Serafino, a math teacher at Brattleboro Area Middle School, presents the results of her semester-long action research project examining the effects of implementing 1:1 norms and digital citizenship on the behavior of the incoming 7th graders, all of whom participate in a 1:1 Chromebook project.

Here’s what she and her team discovered.

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Posted on April 4, 2016 by

A community-based interdisciplinary unit

A tech-rich case study from rural Vermont

VT excellence

The team from Hazen Union Middle School, in Hardwick, Vermont, conducted an action research project over the fall semester of 2015, centered around deepening students’ connection to their community. They called the unit “I Belong”.

It provided students with tech-rich opportunities to engage with the small and rural community of their town.

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Posted on March 18, 2016 by

Leonardo da Vinci’s Smartphone

History from the Inside Out

how does professional development affect technology integration?Every two years our team does an interdisciplinary unit on the European Renaissance. I’m a big believer in learning history from the inside out, by asking students to really look at individual people. I also wanted to do something that connected things that kids were interested in to this time period. To get them to really feel as if they were some of these people, it just made sense to connect modern technology using the smartphone, since many of them are on their smartphones a lot of the time anyway.

So what would happen if you found Leonardo DaVinci’s smartphone?

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Posted on March 14, 2016 by

Using digital tools to change student goal-setting and reflection

Measuring how students approach goal-setting in the 5th and 6th grades

Google Tools for personal learning plans

 

Educators at Wallingford Elementary School and Shrewsbury Mountain School, in central Vermont, undertook an action research project measuring how their use of digital tools — specifically Google Docs, Forms and Sites — changed how middle grades students approached setting goals and reflecting on their achievements.

Both schools are 1:1 with MacBooks.

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Posted on March 7, 2016 by

Google Tools for personal learning plans (PLPs)

A teacher-authored case study

Google Tools for personal learning plansToday we hear from a grade 5-6 team venturing into the world of personal learning plans (PLPs) using Google Tools.

Jared Bailey, math teacher, and Joy Peterson, English Language Arts teacher, provide concrete details on how they rolled out PLPs this year, including links to such resources as graphic organizers that they used for goal setting and an assignment (including rubric) on identity.

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Posted on February 29, 2016 by

How does professional development affect technology integration?

The impact of PD in a 1:1 teaching environment

how does professional development affect technology integration?A trio of middle grades educators from Mill River Union High School, in Clarendon, Vermont, presented the results of their semester-long action research project, examining what role professional development plays in increasing the amount of time technology is integrated into the classroom in a 1:1 environment.

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Posted on February 10, 2016 by

Student-led conferences and engagement in PLPs

A middle school case study

student-led conferences and engagement in PLPsKatie Bryant, an English teacher at Lamoille Union Middle School, presents the results of her semester-long action research project examining the relationship between student-led conferences and engagement in PLPs, or personal learning plans.

Here’s what she and her team discovered.

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Posted on September 14, 2015 by

Establishing behavior expectations in a 1:1

Who decides the acceptable ways to use devices in your school?

establishing behavior expectations in a 1:1

photo: Wes Fryer

You’ve jumped through the hoops, filled out the paperwork, located the three missing chargers and managed to agree on a set of apps and a management system. But what will expectations around tech device usage look like? Will they stay in classrooms? Go home? Hop in a circle and do spoken-word?

Let’s tackle establishing behavior expectations in a 1:1 rollout.

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