Educational technology in and out of the classroom

I hope that everyone reading this article had a peaceful transition between the calm of summer and the mad rush that started with shopping and culminated by saying goodbye to our children at the bus stop. While most of you have spent the last two weeks outfitting your children with everything from clothing to knapsacks to protractors, there’s a group of professionals who have been hard at work to enhance the educational experience that our students will be immersed in for the coming year. Yes, the administrators have returned and the teachers have been oriented, but there’s yet another group. I’m referring to the Educational Technology Specialists.

As each school develops their vision for how to inculcate technology into the classroom, it is the educational technology specialists who are crucial to the planning and implementation of these goals and aspirations. So you may ask….”What’s different this year? The school already has interactive white boards (aka IWBs or Smartboards©) in most of the classrooms…” While IWBs abound in many classrooms, with thanks in no small part to the angels at CIJE (The Gruss Foundation’s Center for Initiatives in Jewish Education), they function as an engaging delivery mechanism for information but they are only one component in the arsenal available to educators.

In coming weeks, I intend to discuss different tools and methodologies with real-life case studies to exhibit what your children may have to look forward to. It’s important to remember that no one tool is viable in every school, in every class, in every subject, and with every teacher, rebbe, or morah. That is what makes the planning and development such a meticulous process. The tools chosen at any juncture need to complement the curriculum in any giving school, as well as the day-to-day lesson plans of each instructor. My greatest joy is seeing that all of these tools can and do transcend the borders between secular studies and Limudei Kodesh (Hebrew/Judaic Studies). It’s important to mention that in many Yeshivos and Hebrew Day Schools, the Judaic studies staff is pushing the envelope in Ed-tech usage since much of what the instructors draw on is developed by them for their own classes. This is in comparison to General Studies subjects, where content and applications are much more readily available in the marketplace.

I hope to enlighten parents in coming weeks in concepts that they may be familiar with and others that they are just being introduced to, including Blended Learning, 1:1 Instruction/Learning, Interactive Response Systems, Learning Management Systems, and Web 2.0 tools for education.

Let me tempt you with a story and then a tip you can use with your own children in any grade in your own home to keep their minds active and engaged….

With permission of all parties involved, I’d like to share the highlight of last week (at least for me).

While working to deploy a new computer lab in Shulamith School for Girls Middle Division, I bumped into an old friend who is a parent of incoming 8th grader Arielle Lieberman. It seems that, unfortunately, Arielle fell and badly fractured her ankle. When it became evident that Arielle needed to be immobilized for some time in the comfort of her home, both mother and student were devastated at the reality that the academically and socially crucial first weeks of school would pass her by. We immediately swung into action to deploy a video conferencing system (actually Skype) to enable the home-bound 8th grader to participate in each and every class as necessary. I’m happy to report that the system is performing as intended and that Arielle is now an active participant in each of her classes from day one. Arielle’s mother Carolyn told me, “When I tell people she’s Skyping her classes they’re amazed.” Now, this wasn’t rocket science, or even that complicated at all. It was merely an effective unitization of resources that most schools already possess. Aside from the human factor involving ed-tech specialists, administrators and parents, this accommodation cost the school nothing. And all of this was actually built on the idea that another concerned parent (and master educator) Elana Fertig began proposing last year when her daughter was recuperating from surgery. When I consulted Mrs. Fertig and told her that she paved the way for others in need, she said, “I’m thrilled that such good things have come out of my daughter’s recuperation. We hope it doesn’t need to be used often, but students can now be part of school even if they unfortunately can’t be there physically.” I hope you’ll all agree that the outcome continues to be priceless. I’d hope that each and every school is proactively preparing systems like this to accommodate such cases which we hope never occur. Small, but well thought out, steps can yield long-lasting results for one or many students, effectively changing their outlook on school.

As promised I’ll end with a tidbit for all of you to play with. Many of you and your children occasional utilize Dictionary.com or Thesaurus.com as a reference tool. What you never have seen is the tab on that site that reads “Word Dynamo.” It’s a word game that challenges students in all grades through college and beyond and is available to adults as well. Word Dynamo uses algorithms to quiz the player and constantly challenge their vocabulary skills. There are sections for each grade level and some for subjects like science, history, current events, etc. I guarantee you’ll all feel challenged, but will have fun learning together. ENJOY!

Stew Greenberg lives in Woodmere and is an Educational Technology Consultant. He is the founder and president of Edknowlogy Partners, a company that collaborates with private schools around the country, helping their stakeholders develop an implementable and sustainable vision for deployment of educational technology into their every-day classrooms and curriculum. He can be contacted at StewG@Edknowlogy.com