Re: Computers for Kids, slightly off topic

[Jerry Winegarden <jbw duke edu>]

On Sat, 27 Jul 2002, KnowHow Tech Support wrote:

> > Not only for kids:  http://www.cristina.org/
> > 
> > But great idea, and I think you have a complimentary service.
> > 
> 
> Thanks for the compliment. We work very hard around here to help people.  
> I was thinking about primarily focussing on children and education.  Do 
> you think I would be limiting myself by just going the route with 
> children?  
> 
> Jon

Almost all schools are desperate for equipment.  However, you will find 
that most of them are also quite clueless about how to effectively use 
computers in the every day curriculum, perhaps because they never dreamed 
that they could ever have enough machines to use them every day in every 
class.   What I've attempted to do is to work with principals to get them 
to commit to declaring the daily use of computers to be an integral part 
of every facet of the curriculum.  What I've done is to help them develop 
a technology plan that addresses the strategic deployment of machines in 
order to be able to meet this curriculum need.  Almost no schools have 
such a truly-curriculum driven mandate to obtain computers.  These 
technology plans don't just describe how many computers they need (e.g. 5 
computers per classroom in an elementary school allows them to be used in 
conjunction with "centers", which is what they were already  accustomed to 
doing with other materials), but what kinds of activities these machines 
will be used for.  One of the goals is to write 3 times as many papers as 
before in order to teach them to read.  Ah, but this creates another 
problem:  how to grade (or at least give constructive feedback on) that 
many papers?  Well, peer-review is one possibility, but so is getting 
local college or high schools students involved as "TA's".
The technology plans we've been doing have called for adding a third of 
the rooms per year to the computer-integrated-curriculum plan.  What is 
calls for is teachers developing daily lesson plans to actually use the 
machines.  If you look, there isn't all that much software out there that 
is pedagogically sound, besides office apps and web browsers.  There is 
some more software that they try to use, but of how much value?  There's 
too much "reward time" use of machines.  However, even finding software 
still requires teachers to write and use lesson plans which include 
computers.  The first group of teachers in a building are the pioneers, 
gung-ho on making it work.  They'd love to share their lessons with 
others.  However, often they can use some help in finding materials or 
programs or lessons, too, so they can adapt them for use in their classes.
Then, the 2nd group comes along, and many are very excited to be getting 
the machines because they've seen what the first group has done.  With 
good leadership from the principal, with commitment from your first group, 
and with some curriculum and manpower assistance, it has happened in some 
(not all) of the schools I've worked with.  The principals tend to be 
excited because they have seen real improvement in reading, writing, and 
math test scores of the kids lucky enough to be in the first group. 
(One of the things I working on is getting the Duke U education department 
to document these effects.)   The other thing that made this plan go was 
that we made the commitment to the school that we were committed to 
helping them achieve their 3-year plan.  Now, even Duke wasn't willing to 
commit to giving 5 machines to every room in every school in Durham in 
just one year.  However, by focusing on about half of the 7 schools that 
we are committed to, we have been able to get through the 2nd year with 
one school, and the first year with three other schools.  What is 
important to remember is that we aren't just  focusing on the equipment, 
but on the teachers and students and what they are doing with that 
equipment and what they need to optimize the use of that equipment.  The 
heroes of the whole process are the teachers!  We have found that once 
there is such a "curriculum-based" technology plan in place, it becomes a 
focal point for fund raising, giving them almost a moral imperative to do 
so.  As a result, we have been more successful in helping them to obtain  
equipment and funds and people than we were 
prepared to give ourselves, because people like yourself can see it as a 
good place to give, where it has a chance of being effective.

The other way that we have worked on behalf of children, especially in the 
poorer neighborhoods is to help community centers to establish technology 
centers and after-school "achievement" schools and tutoring programs.  The 
two that I've worked most closely with in the past couple of years are the 
West End Teen Center and the Oxford Manor Public Housing Community.  In the case 
of Oxford Manor, almost no kids were graduating from high school, but this 
past year, several kids who participated in the Achievment School 
graduated and some are even going on to college, with more to come.
It's a great model of partnership between schools and the community.  In this case, 
a generous gift from one individual and a couple of corporations, plus the commitment 
from two universities is paying off. 

So, how involved do you want to get?  :-)   The opportunities are there.
Let me know how it goes!

-- 
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  .~.   Jerry Winegarden
 / v \  OIT/Technical Support, Duke University      
/( _ )\ jbw duke edu, http://www-jerry.oit.duke.edu 
  ^ ^    			        
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