[picture courtesy of www.wlu.edu]
Click here to watch to the vlog version of this story.
At the February 5th Rockbridge County school board meeting held at Natural Bridge Elementary, technology coordinator Paul Leonard called for an increase in the school system's computer network, asking for better hardware, upgrades in wiring, and an increase in technology staff.
Yet the eight schools within the district already own 1,600 computers, over half of which are PCs. With the capabilities to give a computer to each teacher and keep several in each elementary classroom, every school also has a 25-strong computer lab. Moreover, there are hundreds of printers, SmartBoards and overheads, not to mention web services such e-mail and database access. All of this technology makes Rockbridge County one of the more technologically advanced public school districts I've ever heard of. Coming from a public school myself, I never had the opportunity to work in "Smart Classrooms" or have the convenience of a computer in each room.
Leonard says that the main reasoning for the technology growth would be for increased use of online testing. With over 10,000 tests administered online among the past three years, Leonard believes that his proposal will benefit both the students and teachers. Between the convenience of point-and-click test taking and the readiness and ease of grading, he noted that electronic tests have replaced the standard pencil and paper testing.
And according to several major studies, online testing produces the same, if not better, test results. Multiple-choice tests given on a computer garnered the exact same scores as manual tests of the same format, and one study done by Arizona State University in 1997 found that pencil and paper writing tests had significantly worse scores than those answered online. The study showed that those students who preferred using word processing software to write were more successful in online testing than if they put pencil to paper.
Even more, technology businesses are catching on to this integration trend and creating programs to enhance student learning experiences. Microsoft made the Classroom Learning Partner, which helps teachers with large classrooms both tailor their curriculum in real time and monitor the progress of their students during class. Certain text book publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill also jumped on the bandwagon, creating more than 800 digital materials.
While I concur that technology is increasingly becoming integral to the education process and online writing tests may produce better score results, I firmly believe that the boost in computers is unnecessary. The school system already seems to have more than enough computers, as witnessed by the fact that they are too understaffed to even handle them all (there are only four technology personnel.) And call me old-fashioned, but I also believe that reading books and taking manual tests form a firmer connection with the course material than staring at a computer screen.
For more information on this story, check out these links:
The full story on technology coordinator Paul Leonard's proposal:
http://thenews-gazette.com/articles/2007/02/21/news/education/01.txt
See how businesses are jumping on technology integration in education:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/06/business.of.life.ap/index.html
http://research.microsoft.com/aboutmsr/miticampus/projects/ActiveLearningProjects/ProjectPage02.htm
View a study which shows online writing tests boost grades more than written ones:
http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v5n3/board/petrie.html
Click here to watch to the vlog version of this story.
At the February 5th Rockbridge County school board meeting held at Natural Bridge Elementary, technology coordinator Paul Leonard called for an increase in the school system's computer network, asking for better hardware, upgrades in wiring, and an increase in technology staff.
Yet the eight schools within the district already own 1,600 computers, over half of which are PCs. With the capabilities to give a computer to each teacher and keep several in each elementary classroom, every school also has a 25-strong computer lab. Moreover, there are hundreds of printers, SmartBoards and overheads, not to mention web services such e-mail and database access. All of this technology makes Rockbridge County one of the more technologically advanced public school districts I've ever heard of. Coming from a public school myself, I never had the opportunity to work in "Smart Classrooms" or have the convenience of a computer in each room.
Leonard says that the main reasoning for the technology growth would be for increased use of online testing. With over 10,000 tests administered online among the past three years, Leonard believes that his proposal will benefit both the students and teachers. Between the convenience of point-and-click test taking and the readiness and ease of grading, he noted that electronic tests have replaced the standard pencil and paper testing.
And according to several major studies, online testing produces the same, if not better, test results. Multiple-choice tests given on a computer garnered the exact same scores as manual tests of the same format, and one study done by Arizona State University in 1997 found that pencil and paper writing tests had significantly worse scores than those answered online. The study showed that those students who preferred using word processing software to write were more successful in online testing than if they put pencil to paper.
Even more, technology businesses are catching on to this integration trend and creating programs to enhance student learning experiences. Microsoft made the Classroom Learning Partner, which helps teachers with large classrooms both tailor their curriculum in real time and monitor the progress of their students during class. Certain text book publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill also jumped on the bandwagon, creating more than 800 digital materials.
While I concur that technology is increasingly becoming integral to the education process and online writing tests may produce better score results, I firmly believe that the boost in computers is unnecessary. The school system already seems to have more than enough computers, as witnessed by the fact that they are too understaffed to even handle them all (there are only four technology personnel.) And call me old-fashioned, but I also believe that reading books and taking manual tests form a firmer connection with the course material than staring at a computer screen.
For more information on this story, check out these links:
The full story on technology coordinator Paul Leonard's proposal:
http://thenews-gazette.com/articles/2007/02/21/news/education/01.txt
See how businesses are jumping on technology integration in education:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/02/06/business.of.life.ap/index.html
http://research.microsoft.com/aboutmsr/miticampus/projects/ActiveLearningProjects/ProjectPage02.htm
View a study which shows online writing tests boost grades more than written ones:
http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v5n3/board/petrie.html
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