The district is looking to upgrade our technology plan. Regarding technology what do we need to consider as we move forward?
"The community of Grosse Pointe South High School is committed to ensure that all Grosse Pointe South High School graduates demonstrate the knowledge, creativity and skills necessary to establish self-worth as independent, contributing members of society, prepared for life-long learning and success in a changing world."
11 Grosse Pointe Blvd.Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236
Principal: D. Allan Diver
8 comments:
I understand the need for the firewall/ Internet Security, but the intensity and the massive extent of internet that the firewall covers makes it near impossible for students such as myself to work on projects during class period. I believe that we should have a firewall but it should at least allow us to get to google images and search for items that we require.
The only other problem that I have been having is the fact that this Barracuda security system on the school email makes it very difficult for a student to email projects and/or other works that need emailing to their house or to school. It always blocks the email from coming in and usually doesn't allow us to download the item that was sent in the first place.
Other than this there are no other items that need addressing besides maybe unlocking the wireless but again, the reasons for this are understandable
B. Lanyon
First, I need to know what your objective for the technology is. No one should purchase technology for technology's sake. Determine what you want to teach and then you can decide what technology you need. Determine where the school spends a lot of money and then you can determine where technology can save you money. There are not that many new general technologies out there right now that you should adopt like when the first internet became widespread. I'm a GPS parent and senior technology consulatant for a living and would be very willing to help. C. Harrison
It's about time! I would first like to see a concerted effort to publicize the need for a renewal of our technology bond issue of ten years ago. I understand the financial crunch that we are all under, but that ought not to be an excuse for letting the 21st century pass us by.
There are exciting new tools out there that would be beneficial to both teachers and students. Classroom 'Clickers,' SmartBoards (interactive whiteboards), and video cameras are three examples of tools that are used more and more in K-12 schools & universities of varying financial situations.
What we need along with these tools is the training to use them and use them properly. It is not enough to just give someone a hammer... you must also give them nails, wood, a blueprint as well as training & guidance to build a patio deck. The same must be applied to technology.
M. McGuire
GP resident
Parent
Physics Teacher
Our students need exposure to course management systems (Moodle and Blackboard), blogs, wikis and podcasts (see iTunes U - go to the store to access university lectures). This is paramount because their competing peers are using these tools in surrounding districts, in higher education and the workplace. In addition to having access to these tools, they need to be taught how to evaluate the ideas presented and how to professionally and effectively convey their thoughts on these alternative platforms.
Thankfully, many of these 2.0 advances are open source (free)! Yet this important implementation requires tech support and staff development which entails commitment and money.
It is not only our duty to prepare our students for what is out there but it sure would be refreshing to relate to these i-Pod wearing Tech Natives.
Courtney McGuire
-GP resident / parent / teacher
- Tech Immigrant
I agree with Mr. & Mrs. McGuire (Hello By The Way). I believe that the teachers and the students require more technologically advanced items in order to acquire a more efficient and a more suitable classroom for the children of my generation.
I also highly agree with Mr. McGuire's analogy. It isn't just enough to hand the teachers the technology, they need to be taught how to use it or it will be money wasted because they won't achieve the full functionality of the items.
Brandon Lanyon
Student/G.P Resident
"I-pod wearing Tech Native"
What a great idea to use technology to talk about technology!
If Grosse Pointe wants to keep pace with other high schools, we need to step up our technology. Many schools have been innovating with SmartBoards and clickers for several years. Another way that our district might consider improving technologically is through online learning.
Our students could enroll and earn credit taking courses online with GP curriculum and GP teachers. The state currently offers schools the opportunity to grant credit through online courses taught by other institutions. We currently allow students to earn credit from some of them but the curriculum isn’t always a match. The state will require all students to experince online learning (still working on what that means) before graduating. Why not create some GP online courses for GP students?
It’s an exciting thought but needs lots of consideration. It verges on blurring the distinction between what the state currently mandates for instructional time-our custodial function-and home schooling. There are more questions about this than answers.
How would it work? Can we continue to get state aid for students, who aren’t in the school building during at least some of the school time but are taking a course or courses online? Could we open enrollment to other students in other districts? Would we charge them a fee or be eligible to receive a portion of state aid for their enrollment?
Would students be interested in this venue? Would teachers be interested in teaching in this environment? I know I would. Would the Board, community, and parents support an alternative learning environment? Students in colleges and businesses all over the world are currently pioneering this new learning environment. I have taken two on-line courses in my doctoral program. It was an amazing experience, not like the “tutorials” I thought I would see. There were synchronous and non-synchronous components, group work, dialog, and instruction. They were both similar to and different from a regular (non-online) class and similar to and different from each other.
Could “lab” classes be taught in such a way that a portion of the course requirement occurs during specified times in the lab, but most of the rest of the instruction occurs online? Are there any high schools in the US (or other countries) of our caliber currently doing this? Knowing that students’ consciences aren’t always fully developed, how do we keep the integrity of the instruction and learning constant? Are there any institutions that do this that could help prepare our teachers to be competent in constructing classes in this way? How would teachers of these courses be compensated? How would credit and grades be awarded and earned?
In creating hope for GP students, I would love to be involved in pursuing a vision of extending the learning environment beyond our current institutional limits. It really could give meaning to the no walls, no ceilings metaphor.
Ranae Beyerlein, Ph.D.
Tech immingrant seeking naturalization...
GP Chem Teacher
GP Summer School Director
I think that moving forward in the technology sector is a very important step for Grosse Pointe South to take but that it also must be done properly.
I definitely agree with Mr. McGuire regarding the training that needs to be put in place with the introduction of new technology. In one of my college physics classes, we had the opportunity to have a SmartBoard, but unfortunately, the professor had no idea how to use it to its full capacity and ended up using it as a regular white board, if he used it at all. I could definitely see similar things happening at GPS, especially with items like SmartBoards, which require extra effort to use. Also, regarding the use of clickers, I could only see that being beneficial in a large learning environment or classroom, with over 50 students or more; simply because it doesn’t make sense to install a system that is designed to poll over 100 students for a class of 30 that can polled by a show of hands.
In possible improvements to the system at Grosse Pointe South, I strongly recommend implementing a school wide wireless network. Most major universities have such a network and it enables and encourages students to bring and use their laptops as a study and research tool for class. At the very least make the common public locations (library, cafeteria, gyms) wireless enabled to facilitate information flow.
I would also recommend the removal of the internet filtering system; in my experience with them, I have determined that they are more trouble than they are worth, (they block sites that should not be blocked etc...) and it would be easier to simply impose harsher punishments and loss of computer privileges to students who violate the network policies. I understand that this might be harder to implement than simply shutting down all the traffic but if they can access the information on a Grosse Pointe Public Library computer, they should definitely be able to access it within a learning environment like Grosse Pointe South.
I had the opportunity to bring my former school; Valley Forge Millitary College online (WiFi, student email, online grading, web filtering) and it was a fairly straightforward process, but one the required lots of interaction between the administration, faculty, students and IT staff. I hope that GPS can also collaborate and make it happen.
David Anderson
GPS Class of 2005
UCI BS Computer Science 2009
Google Project Manager of Special Initiatives
Irvine.davida@gmail.com
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