DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
Spicewood Elementary School student Cade Knight uses an iPad with a educational application that allows him to access student-created projects, information or resources by simply ‘clicking’ on an image or word. The district is turning to more interactive software and hardware to give students a much deeper educational experience. School officials pointed out the technology doesn’t replace basic skills such as reading and math but enhances student learning. Staff photo by Daniel Clifton
SPICEWOOD — Standing in front of a poster on the wall, a student lifts an iPad up in front of a photo of a fellow student. He settles the mobile device on the photo, which now appears on the screen. A swirling icon dances on the screen, locks onto the photo, and, suddenly, the fellow student’s biography springs to life on the iPad screen with photos, video and an audio narrative.
“It’s just amazing what the kids can do with this technology,” Spicewood Elementary School principal Leslie Baty said. “And it’s not just doing something, this is truly engaging them and they’re paying attention so much better in the classroom. Yes, these are tools, but they are tools the kids use and learn with.”
Technology has been a buzz word in education for years. Sometimes, educators embrace it whole heartedly, while, other times, they approach it more reluctantly. However, today’s technological push might be out of their hands because it’s the students ushering in the transformation as teachers, schools and administrators race to keep up.
Baty laughed a bit about the changes she has witnessed this year with simple apps such as Quick Scan and Aurasma.
“We’re a rather progressive campus, I think, when it comes to using technology,” she said, “but, even here, it’s really the students who are pushing the teachers.”
She pointed out that with the inclusion of iPads, mobile devices and apps such as QR and Aurasma, a teacher might feel a little hesitant about using it or showing students how to use it in class. So Baty encourages them to send students to Melissa Fletcher’s Challenge Lab.
Fletcher gives the students interactive lessons on how to use the technology and then lets them turn on their creativity.
“So, the kids get really excited about it. They go back to class all excited, and the other kids get excited. And then the teacher gets excited about it. So, after class, the teacher’s down in Melissa’s room saying, ‘Hey, show me how to do this,’” Baty said. “It’s really snowballing.”
The advantage, Baty explained, is that everyone benefits. The students learn at a deeper level, the teachers are reaching students at that level and education becomes a transformative experience.
Some of the transformation starts with the Marble Falls Independent School District’s Instructional Technology Department with Marcy Mueller, Cari Orts and Adam Goodman. The three are continually researching and looking for technology — whether hardware or software — that enhances the classroom experience. This can be a free app or a better way to apply technology such as the iPad to lessons.
“Kids really enjoy the interactive learning,” Mueller said. “And today, (things such as iPads) are what the kids are into. It’s their world.”
The technology can be utilized with something as simple as interactive vocabulary words or as complex as working videos into the upcoming Marble Falls High School yearbook.
“One of the problems the high school yearbook staff typically struggles with is a March deadline, so several major events such as prom and graduation are left out,” Orts said. “But thanks to an application and student ingenuity, people buying yearbooks only need to download the right app and then key in on a trigger image or word (with a mobile device), and prom videos or photos or graduation comes to life.”
And it’s not limited to yearbooks. Mueller said students are using the new advances to bring dioramas to life and finding ways to invigorate their learning experiences.
While some people might criticize the reliance on technology such as this, Baty countered that those interactive tools allow students to manipulate information in such a way that they learn at a much deeper level.
Baty said a student likely retains a small percentage of what they read. Add writing about the material to the mix, and the retention and depth of knowledge increases to roughly 40-50 percent.
“But when kids manipulate that information, move it around and use it in some way, that (retention), it shoots up to almost 90 percent,” she said. “And that’s what we want, isn’t it, for our students to learn as much as possible?”
It’s not just the retention of the information, either. Students understand how to apply it, so it goes well beyond just “regurgitating” material.
In the end, though, the students are driving the need for technology in the classroom. Mobile devices and technology are ubiquitous in students’ lives. They have adapted it to just about every nook and cranny of their existence. If schools don’t develop ways to integrate technology into the learning experience, student interest will wane.
MFISD wants to become a 1-to-1 school system, with each elementary student having access to his or her own mobile device (it would remain on campus). Mueller pointed out a 1-to-1 mobile-device-to-student initiative isn’t about just putting “toys” in students’ hands. It provides each child with a key to a bigger, more creative and interactive learning experience.
It gives students a world of learning opportunities.
For Baty it’s not a matter of “if” schools should adopt these new technologies, but a necessity.
“These don’t replace reading and writing,” she said. “Kids still learn those and do them. But these (technologies), I think, make it so much more engaging. They’re paying attention in class better. And when the students are paying attention, they’re learning. We can’t just ignore new technologies. You can’t just get up in front of the class and read from a book and expect kids to learn. It just doesn’t work that way. These are tools, and they are tools the kids enjoy and respond to.”
Parents can learn more about the various applications and technologies by going to the MFISD website (mfisd.ss3.sharpschool.com) and looking under the “Departments” heading for “Instructional Technology.” The staff has links to many of the apps under “Curriculum Integration Resources.”
Or, parents can just ask their third-grader to show them.
daniel@thepicayune.com
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