What are minimum technology requirements for classroom?

This is a question that is asked a lot especially when classroom or school budgets are being discussed. Now I have a primary classroom, for years 5 and 6, so my technology requirements will be different from not only other grade levels in my school but also from secondary classrooms across different key learning areas or subjects.

Generally I believe that classrooms should have:

• Computer or laptop connected to a projector
• Sound system connected to this laptop/computer

That is it. Everything else I believe is wonderful to have but is not a necessity. BUT WHAT?!?!? I can hear you asking. What about the 21st Century learning requirements of technology? What about students moving into new ages? What about their requirements to learn new skills? Yes yes, I hear you, I understand that technology is fantastic to learn and use, personally I embed a lot of technology that I have access to in my lessons BUT I do not believe it is a necessity for learning.

Now access to technology across the school I believe is needed if the requirement is there i.e. I understand that around the world there are different requirements of education and therefore of technology needed. Currently teaching in Australia there is a need for technology use as the majority of the students I teach will go out into the world and get a job interacting with this technology, this may not be the case with other countries and areas.

Currently I have

• 4 desktop computers (slow but useable)
• 6 iPads (great when working but I think a little overpriced)
• 7 laptops (again slow but are definitely a plus)
• IWB attached to computer (mainly used as a projector although I am getting more into the IWB uses)

All this technology is fantastic and I do love it and use all of it a lot but I do not believe it is a minimum requirement for a classroom. I would love to have one to one technology but at the moment the school system could not support it in terms of bandwith and resource allocation.

Anyone else have ideas about minimum requirements for classrooms? What do you think?

Posted with Blogsy

Random Name Selection

So hands up everyone if you have a jar or container of paddle pop sticks with student names on them (or something along those lines).

I used to have this for questioning in class (now I am trying to do student led discussioins but that is a whole other post). This stops the same students carrying the class through question time and also the same students sitting back and either being lazy or too shy to answer.

I absolutely love random name generators and the students do too. It means that they are always listening because they don't know whether they will be asked a question and it also means that they start to listen to their peers as I penalise if they say the same thing with no added information due to them not listening. It also stops the jiggling with the hand in the air which can be distracting to those people that are still trying to think.

Now to make it more interesting, I have discovered the world of technology and therefore the world of interactive student name generators. This has made it more fun for students too, as they love watching to see if their name is drawn. There are positives and negatives to this approach though.

Positives - means students believe that the process is random, rather than you selecting from a cup (seriously they never trust you); the students are engaged as it is technology and interactive and there are lots of different types so you can change it up; setting up for groups is easier as some even allow different groups which means you don't have to sort your paddle pop sticks or have different sets.

Negatives - involves technology which can have problems (I still keep my paddle pop sticks as a backup just in case something is not working on the technology front); means you can't necessarily scaffold students to certain questions as easily as you could picking out from the jar (sometimes this doesn't matter however sometimes I want certain kids to extend themselves).

MY PICK

Dart Board Selector

My students absolutely loved this. You can even have names removed as you hit them which makes it great when making sure everyone has a turn.

You do have to create an account however a free account allows you to use the different tools. This means however that you can save different lists of names or words, which makes it a quick and easy tool after setup.

OTHER OPTIONS

Random Name Selector

Allows you to randomly pick a name. Once you have entered the names, click go and the name is selected and said aloud. You are given several choices on time and whether you want the name removed from the list. 

The Hat

This is one to download. You can add your list of students and either pull one name or pair of names. It is random and it won't call the same student twice. 

Magic 8 Ball

Another download one however it has an interesting option of turning on weighting which allows you to note which students get the answers right and wrong, the students then are more likely to be drawn up if they have got an answer wrong than right. 

Fruit Machine

Not quite sold on this one due to the gambling element. Still it is another generator you can use. You can remove names as you go.

Oh and don't forget these aren't limited to your class names. You can list words, groups, numbers, activities etc.

Do you still use paddle pop sticks? Are there any other random name pickers that you have found that you would like to share?

What do you want kids to do with technology?

I came across this really thought provoking pin the other day.

I posted on Facebook about it asking what other teachers do with technology. I stated that I was lucky enough to have a bank of laptops that I embed in everyday classroom use for research, making presentations or interacting with online activities.

Now a day later I am still thinking about this post and question.

I realised that all I did was make wrong answers. Although I wouldn't necessarily call them wrong answers, I would call them surface level uses.

The "right answers" listed in the graphic above are all great ideals. It has made me think about the technology use in my classroom and am I really extending them and providing those deep level tasks using technology as a tool not as a learning outcome.

I guess it links through with that mantra of using real world exercises and examples for kids to explore, to link their knowledge that they are learning in class to the wider world and society, making it relevant.

As I am still thinking about this idea, I realise that I am uncomfortable with the fact that I often fall back on technology as something to use just because its technology. Not thinking about, well why do I want them to use that technology, what is the purpose of the task?

Yes, as a teacher my brain rarely switches off and I was lying in bed at 3:30 in the morning thinking about this because it made me uncomfortable. Making me uncomfortable is a good thing, as it makes me realise that maybe there is a better way to do things, makes me reflect on what I am doing and try to improve upon it.

As a teacher, I also do not have as much time as I would love to prepare "the best" lessons on everything. But this graphic above has put some answers forward that make me think about questions I should be asking when using technology:

• Am I using technology to interact with the wider world?
• Is technology allowing them to make a difference or a change?
• Does technology allow them to do things that they wouldn't be able to do without it (beyond the production part of it)?
• Is technology being used as a tool to reach an outcome not set up as the outcome itself?

These questions I want to be in my head when creating tasks using technology. 

How about you? How do you use technology? What do you want kids to do with technology? Do you agree with the 'right' and 'wrong' answers above?