First Day in the Office & Technology Toolbox

I spent my first day in the front office yesterday!!  My principal let me handle a few discipline issues and I worked on the 7th grade field trip with the school secretary.  The school is still pretty quiet but we're expecting that to change in the next week or two! :)

Today, I took my students to the computer lab for a technology scavenger hunt about Texas and World History.  This is EXACTLY the sort of thing that would be great to do with the B.Y.O.T (Bring Your Own Technology) program that is being introduced in our district.  My action research plan will evolve around the B.Y.O.T. initiative which will allow students to have the ability of bringing technology into the classroom.  This program has the potential to help the district and state put technology in the hands of every student and the purpose of that is to keep every student engaged with skills that will apply to their every day and future lives!  I created a 10 question survey on my teacher website to assess the students' attitudes and motivation about technology, which I think is a critical factor in the action research plan.
The questions were:

• Do the students feel it's important in learning?
• Do they think it's NECESSARY to learning?
• Do they have technology and if so what kind?

• If they DON'T have technology, do they have access to it?
• How often do they spend on the internet?
•  Do they think B.Y.O.T (Bring Your Own Technology) days at school would make learning easier or harder?
• Do they think B.Y.O.T would make learning more or less enjoyable?
• Do they think they can be responsible with their technology at school?
• Do they think OTHERS can be responsible with their technology at school?

The results were expected...high interest level in B.Y.O.T. and confident attitudes regarding their ability to be responsible with the idea .  The availability of bringing technology devices to class were pleasantly surprising...

There were 148 respondents:

Cell Phones 34.45%

I Pod Touch 26.79%

I Pad 5.26%

Laptop 33.49%

Interesting Note:  There are 4 junior highs in our district.  We are a Title I school and there is one other.  There are two more affluent schools in the district.  I have coordinated results of a similar survey with one of the more affluent schools because I am curious to know how our eco-disadvantaged demographic compares to theirs.  Does the eco-disadvantaged demographic make an impact as we expect it would?  Or does the label change our perceptions of these students and allow them unwarranted opportunities to slide through the system? I think these are also interesting "sub"-questions to pose in my research plan

What do you think?

k

“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove...but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.

Forest E. Witcraft