Many New Hampshire school districts have made acquiring computers a top priority. But as this look at one district reveals, plugging computers in is just the first step. Using them well is just as important, and perhaps more difficult.
DROP BY MEGHAN HURLEY?S 8TH-GRADE AMERICAN HISTORY LESSON, AND YOU MAY BE LOOKING AT THE CLASSROOM OF THE FUTURE. COMPUTERS LINE THE WALLS. AS THE CLASS GETS UNDERWAY, EACH STUDENT PLUNKS DOWN AT A KEYBOARD AND LOGS ON TO HIS OR HER PERMANENT SPACE ON THE SCHOOL NETWORK.
51 15 you just open up your file, go to 2005 ? // that?s the year we graduate and thatll follow us all the way thru high school.
THIS STUDENT, WE?LL CALL HIM MIKE, IS FASHIONABLY DRESSED IN A SLEEVELESS TEE-SHIRT AND BAGGY PANTS. HE CLICKS HIS WAY THROUGH A FEW FOLDERS AND OPENS UP THE PROJECT HE?S WORKING ON TODAY, A SERIES OF ASSIGNMENTS THAT ASKS STUDENTS TO IMAGINE THEY?RE 19-CENTURY PIONEERS ON THE OREGON TRAIL.
52 22 right now we have to make a list of things we would bring when we were in, when they were going to oregon ? an ax a rope a doll, family bible, books, hunting knives, rifles, pistols, and some family items like bedding.
SOME STUDENTS HAVE MOVED AHEAD TO THE NEXT SECTION ? THEY?RE WRITING DIARIES OF THEIR EXPERIENCES, BASED ON BOOKS THEY?VE READ AND INFORMATION THEY GET FROM A WEBSITE CREATED BY THEIR TEACHER. AS THEY WORK, THE STUDENTS OFTEN JUMP UP FROM THEIR SEATS AND GO LOOK AT EACH OTHER?S SCREENS, AN ACTIVITY MRS. HURLEY ENCOURAGES.
39 35 people think when you put kids on computers they just isolate and work independently but its not true. When one student figures soemthing out everybody else comes over to learn it and they get excited and they teach each other. I think that?s the best part. Its cooperative learning.
HURLEY VOLUNTEERED TO BE AMONG THE FIRST TEACHERS IN HILLSBORO-DEERING WITH A FULLY DIGITAL CLASSROOM. SHE?S REDESIGNED HER CURRICULUM TO TEACH AS MANY SKILLS AS POSSIBLE.
Its helpful to know excel, to know how to create graphs and tables, or webdesign. So I try to think ahead, What do I want them to learn abt oregon trail and what do I want them to know on computer
BUT IF HURLEY?S CLASS HOLDS OUT A TANTALIZING VISION OF WHAT TECHNOLOGY CAN DO, HER CLASS IS FAR MORE THE EXCEPTION THAN THE RULE AT HILLSBORO-DEERING. THAT?S PARTLY BECAUSE THERE AREN?T ENOUGH COMPUTERS TO FILL MOST OF THE ROOMS . GLEN WOODS IS THE TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR FOR THE DISTRICT. SINCE HE CAME TO HILLSBORO-DEERING FROM WANG COMPUTERS IN 1999, HE?S BEEN IN A HEADLONG DASH TO INSTALL HARDWARE.
we?ve run abt 20k feet of wire in dist in last year and a half. Its been big effort but we?re miles ahead of where we were when I got here.
WOODS SAYS HE?S RAISED THE NUMBER OF COMPUTERS IN THE DISTRICT FROM 40 TO ABOUT 370. DESPITE THE RAPID INCREASE, MOST CLASSROOMS STILL HAVE JUST ONE COMPUTER, AND STUDENTS GENERALLY HAVE TO GO TO ONE OF THE SCHOOL?S COMPUTER LABS TO DO THEIR ONLINE WORK. WHILE HE WILL CONTINUE ADDING MACHINES, WOODS SAYS HE?S NOW TURNING HIS ATTENTION TO A SECOND, EQUALLY DIFFICULT STEP.
now the focus is on trianing and how to integrate tech into curriculum on daily basis. How to do it on daily basis I think is a large struggle.
WHILE SOME TEACHERS ARE RUNNING FULL-BLOWN COMPUTER PROJECTS , OTHERS ARE STILL EXPERIMENTING, FIGURING OUT WHAT WORKS IN THEIR SUBJECTS . AND SOME TEACHERS, WOODS SAYS, ARE STRUGGLING JUST TO LEARN THE BASICS.
They didn?t grow up with computers. They?re facing 20 stus who intimately know them. I think theres intimidation, change is always painful, I?ve been doing this for 15 yrs and now you?re asking for somtehing diff. That can be painful. It takes time
STATE OFFICIALS SAY AT THIS POINT IT?S TYPICAL FOR SCHOOLS TO OFFER UNEVEN EXPERIENCES IN COMPUTERS. STATE TECHNOLOGY CONSULTANT???? CATHY HIGGINS.
005 10 It?s just the evolution of comfort of indivs teachers, its also evolution of what funding avail and how school has needed to prioritize resources.
LIKE GLEN WOODS, HIGGINS HAS MUCH OF THE LAST FEW YEARS SIMPLY GETTING HARDWARE INTO CLASSROOMS. HER EFFORT DEPENDS ENTIRELY ON FEDERAL GRANTS, BECAUSE THE STATE SPENDS NO MONEY ON EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY. BUT IF INCORPORATING COMPUTERS INTO CLASSROOMS IS A TWO STEP PROCESS ? FIRST GETTING THE COMPUTERS, THEN FIGURING OUT HOW TO USE THEM EFFECTIVELY - A NEW STUDY FROM EDUCATION WEEK MAGAZINE SUGGESTS THE STATE IS LAGGING BEHIND IN BOTH AREAS. RESEARCH COORDINATOR LAURIE MEYER COMPILED THE DATA FOR THE ?TECHNOLOGY COUNTS? REPORT.
001 26 when you look at key indicators in access, nh tends to fall below natl avg. nh has one computer per every 6.1 students; natl avg is 4.9
THE GAP IS EVEN WIDER WHEN IT COMES TO MORE VERSATILE MULTIMEDIA COMPUTERS. THE STUDY PEGS THE NATIONAL AVERAGE AT 7.9 STUDENTS TO ONE MULTIMEDIA COMPUTER, AND NEW HAMPSHIRE?S AVERAGE AT TEN TO ONE. BUT STATE OFFICIALS DISPUTE THOSE FIGURES. CHRIS BOUVIER OF THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SAYS EDUCATION WEEK APPEARS TO HAVE ARRIVED AT ITS NUMBERS BY RESEARCHING A SAMPLE OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
007 100 we?re not sure which school dists we?re sampled and we?d like to know which ones b/c they?re very diff dist to dist
THE STUDY ALSO SUGGESTS SOME STATES ARE WORKING HARDER TO GET TEACHERS UP TO SPEED. FOR EXAMPLE, SOME STATES REQUIRE TEACHERS TO TAKE TECHNOLOGY CLASSES. STATE OFFICIALS SAY THEY HAVE TAKEN STEPS TO IMPROVE TRAINING. AS SCHOOLS ACQUIRE MORE COMPUTERS, DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS SAY THEY HOPE TO DEVOTE MORE RESOURCES TO MAKING SURE THEY?RE BEING USED WELL. FOR NHPR NEWS I?M
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