Mobile Learning….A Student’s Perspective

Please see below for our McMichael High School student post about our visit to A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis, NC.  A.L. Brown students and staff  were very generous with providing us information about their Mobile Learning Initiative. We brought four students on this trip, Laura, Austin, Carrie, and Jason. Below is a reflection of their learning that day. Many thanks to our kids for writing this blog post!

On Thursday, September 16th, a group of students and I were able to go to A.L. Brown to venture through their management and use of netbooks. Right now, the Rockingham County School System is trying to open doors for new ways of teaching and finding more efficient and productive ways to learn. The 1:1 initiative is taking that step forward to creating a more productive learning environment in our schools. We were able to receive feedback from the students themselves at A.L. Brown and also from the staff who use the technology to their facilitating advantages. They have had netbooks since last year and have distributed them twice and collected the netbooks only once, but they did have very efficient methods of doing so.

The first part of the meeting gave us the basic framework of the entire process. The principal explained how they dealt with the hand out of the netbooks, the financial challenges, the reality of how netbooks or the mobile device could and would face some technical problems, however, he explained how successful the implementation of the netbooks had been to the overall student body. My favorite part was being able to meet new people during my tour and ask them questions. Student to student conversation brought us away from the general perspective teachers and administrators had of the use of the netbooks and brought us to the reality of how the netbooks are beneficial to the students. The first class I walked into was an Algebra II Honors class. I was so excited by the enthusiasm that the students had to share their opinions on the devices. I was pleasantly surprised to know that even in a math class, they used the devices effectively and created a faster-moving class. Although there were some math classes that did not use the netbooks, students still seemed to be learning just as good without them. Another class that I asked questions in was a senior English class. They explicitly told me that the device helped them with their senior project, a task that I will be looking facing next year. I can imagine the great help it provided to those who don’t have a computer and suddenly, with the device had the same opportunity to produce a good quality project.

As we started roaming the school with the JROTC guides, we visited foreign language classes, science classes, technology classes, and art classes. In some way, shape or form, the devices were used. In some classes they were used more than others. For example, we walked into a Latin class and all of the students had the netbooks out and using it as a source to find vocabulary words that they needed to complete the assignment. However, when we spoke to the art teacher, she explained to us that the only time she used the device was when she assigned a research paper to the students on a famous piece of art or when she asked them to view an art piece.

One of the benefits that we all noticed was that as they used the mobile device, the more sites they found that helped them in projects, assignments, presentations, etc. Also, for those who don’t like to just view the notes, you have the option of copying the notes by hand but the accessibility that the netbooks provided is to the advantage of every student and teacher. Many students shared that their parents were glad that they had the way to view their child’s progress and had a secure means of communication with the teacher. I also believe that this is a great thing, because parents do need to know how their child is doing in school and when a student doesn’t get a grade back then the parent isn’t happy because they don’t know what the grade for their child is. Most teachers that we saw teaching always seemed to be glad that they had this technology because they have many different tools for new and fun educational properties.

This process was not entirely a field of flowers. We just have to acknowledge the reality of the situation and find ways to restrict any cons that may come up. There have been netbooks stolen and during the first year, there were a lot of broken screens and other problems with the maintenance of the netbooks. However, the vast majority kept their device in good shape and were able to acquire some responsibility in keeping up with such a tool. However they did have a maintenance person on their campus at all times, and they have a tracking program in every netbook so that when they are stolen then they were usually found and the thief was caught.

At the end of our tour, we (the staff who accompanied us and ourselves) asked for the opinion of an English class. The opinions varied but no one had a pessimistic view on the 1:1 initiative. A lot of the use of the netbooks is personal teaching and learning style of the teacher and of the student. I know that it will help the learning of students, not only in the class they are in but they will also learn how to manipulate a computer. This will not only help them in class but also in the future. Students will be able to interact with the class and project-based learning would not be of much of a “hassle” to do. We are hoping to see the netbooks being used to their fullest potential as a tool for learning, not a distraction.

Below are some of the points that we made about our trip:

• Foreign language used it effectively to translate and find foreign literature.
• Easy to communicate with teachers and find grades.
• Used Schoology, we are going to use Canvas which provides a similar environment to Schoology. It will provide students with grades and parental access to student information.
• Parent’s having access to student grades through Schoology.
• It was used as a tool not as a distraction or complementary device.
• It has been helpful to those with senior project and English classes have used them to keep up with notes
• One thing that we want to improve: the actual use of the technology for learning purposes. We want it to provide more interaction and a learning environment.
• Social Networks WERE blocked but students found a way around it. Will ours be better protected than that?
• Positive feedback from students
• Students have the option of writing things down if they learn the material better, but they will always have the tool (netbooks) for their advantage
• Student emails I believe will be a helpful thing in the process of student learning at McMichael.
• In math, we saw how teachers could provide problems and the students would have the problems available to them on their screen while other students went to the board and solved it. This created a more unified and interactive environment.
• The students will need to put the netbooks in their own protective place such as a locker provided by the school
• The students weren’t allowed to take them to sporting events away from the school because some were stolen.
• Out of 1,000 plus netbooks A.L. Brown only lost 30 netbooks in total.
• Means of communication through other websites were blocked.
• They had a back-up plan if ever the network failed to cooperate
• Certain classes didn’t find as much use but as viewing as a tool, just like a calculator, you won’t use it in every class
• students will NOT  have access to any school programs that will affect other students
• Teachers can easily make a PowerPoint presentation with notes on them and then put them on canvas for the students
• Students will have a better ability to keep up with when assignments are due
• Emails will make communication between students and teachers increase due to the nature of their assignments.
• We have to acknowledge that some teachers will teach old-school while other teachers will jump on board and use the netbooks to its fullest ability. This, however, does not mean that the classes will be online-based.
• Some students did not use the netbooks because they had eye-sight problems, so the teachers printed out their work.
• Study habits became better and some grades increased.

What do you want to know more about?

WELCOME

Welcome Phoenix parents and community members to our 1:1 Blog. The purpose of this blog is to help our students and their parents better understand the Mobile Learning Initiative at McMichael High School and to provide our parents with many different resources about Digital Citizenship, 21st Century Teaching and Learning, and Internet Safety. We hope you will use this website as a resource as we begin our journey toward the implementation of the 1:1 initiative.