Technology in education continues to be a hot topic for teachers, students and parents alike. This is not new. I remember helping to put together a computer lab in 1994 and hearing how not everyone was in favour of the money that was being spent on technology. I also remember building a school web page in 1997 and some people thought that was a waste of time.

Technological change continues to be a challenge for schools. The change is so rapid, and people can become anxious about buying the latest and greatest tech. We should be cautious about diving in and spending money without doing some thoughtful reflection on what we are wanting to teach, and how technology can support the learning of our students.

The BC Ed Plan discusses technology in our classrooms – “BC’s Education Plan will encourage smart use of technology in schools, better preparing students to thrive in an increasingly digital world.”

They encourage technology in schools, but will they fund it? I think we will have to figure out the funding on our own, with help from our parent community.

At Cleveland, we are reviewing our technology, examining our needs, exploring some ideas, and collaborating with teachers to start building our tech plan. Once we have something more concrete than “We want more…,” we will work with PAC  and the School District to further develop on tech plan and come up with a time line for implementation. It takes time.

What we have:

• Cleveland students have access to two laptop carts. Each cart has approximately 30 mac ibooks or iMacs.
• Our computer lab contains 3 eMacs. These are old computers (I think eMacs were last made in 2006), but they can still be functional for many uses that students may need at school.
• We have a number of laptops on trolleys, hooked up to projectors and sound systems. These rolling computer stations are shared by teachers in their classrooms for lesson delivery or concept exploration, and students are able to use these trolleys to present their work.
• We also have websites (the school’s, Cleveland’s PAC, as well as a few classrooms), blogs (a students’ blog and my own blog – but you knew that if you’re are reading this), direct emails to parents from teachers and the school, and at least one of us is using  twitter (the Principal tweets).

What we don’t have:

• We have yet to develop a comprehensive technology and learning plan, but we have started working on it. We are still in the formative stages of this planning, so we ask that parents be patient as we move forward with this.

What we are doing now:

• Last year we piloted some BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) initiatives for students in some of our senior classes. We are still in the pilot stage and will work with teachers and students on developing a plan that will reflect educational needs as well as some concerns raised by parents and teachers last year. Please note: BYOD will not require students to bring their own devices to school. If you have any questions, please ask your child’s teacher.
• Recently, we have borrowed 6 iPads from the Learning Services department of the school board. These are set up with apps for French Immersion classes (grade 1), and we will be exploring them in different ways for the month that we have them. Will we like them enough to make a push for buying iPads for the school? I don’t know. The iPads just arrived Friday, so we are just starting to play with them.
• Teachers are compiling data from a teacher survey about technology and learning and, as we have a number of new staff this year, we are asking them for their thoughts before we finalize the survey results.
• We are examining our practices as teachers in the ways we monitor laptop or computer use and work with students to ensure that they follow our code of conduct when working with technology at school.
• Our communication plan for technology is also being developed. We want to educate ourselves, our students and our parents where technology fits within BC’s curriculum, and how it can support learning and engagement. This blog is part of the communication plan for parents. Please share it with other Cleveland parents. Thanks.

Some further reading:
Are you interested in reading more about technology in schools? Here are some blogs that I have found interesting on tech in schools.

• Technology Doesn’t Teach, Teachers Teach – “the motherboard and the memory chip will never replace the passion and inspiration of a real-life teacher.”
  
• How To Integrate Education Technology with Scaffolding – “What they realized was that scaffolding was so common place when teaching content, it did not occur to them to apply this strategy to introducing new technology.”
• 5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make With iPads (And How To Correct Them) – “While iPads are engaging, technology needs to be — above everything else — in the service of learning.”
• Doing More With Less (And Other Practical Educational Technology Tidbits) – “Educational technology should no longer be synonymous with large expenditures of money for software and hardware. Schools can do a great deal with very little.”

Other topics for future tech discussions include:

• Social media and children
• Digital Citizenship and Responsible Use of Technology
• Cyberbullying
• Equity and Access
• Collaboration and Creativity
• Tech Learning Tools
• Web 2.0
• Screen Time

There are many good reads out there on technology in schools. I will continue to read more on this topic and work with the Cleveland community (students, parents and staff) to develop a plan for learning and technology at our school. Thanks for your support.

Take care.