Who are the people at your school in charge of the technologies available to advance the learning of students?
The person in charge of the technologies available to advance the learning of students at St. Dominic is our technology teacher, Avril Anders. If there is any type of technology issue, she is the one to call. I haven’t seen her teach an actual technology class, but I have had to ask her some technology questions about how to work our projector or SmartBoard for some of my lessons. She has also helped both my cooperating teacher and I print off some classroom management posters so our students know what is expected of them. She is the one keeping track of upper grades Chromebooks as they are not allowed to take them home with them.
Details of what technology is available, where it’s located, quantities of technologies (i.e. is there a classroom set of iPads for the students to work with)?
In my first grade classroom, there are five iPads for the students to use during independent reading/math time. However, in the technology lab, called the STREAM Lab at St. Dominic, I believe there are about 30 Chromebooks for student use inside of the technology lab. Students have to check them out if they want to use them. I believe the grade level to check out Chromebooks is 4th or 5th grade. The Chromebooks are located in a cart in the tech lab. Our class iPads are in a bin on the floor, constantly on the charger. Students are also required to bring headphones to technology. We have a large crate in our classroom to hold everyone’s headphones (they are in bags with everyone’s names on them). When it’s time for tech, everyone has to get their headphones to take with them upstairs. We also allow students to use headphones when they are using the iPads in the classroom.
Are the technologies readily available and are they in working order? How do students and teachers gain access? Is there a means for reserving them? Are there required purchases by families?
This is something I wasn’t able to find out when I was at my PST placement. However, from what I do know, our iPads are always readily available and charged. The only problem is that we only have five in the classroom, so it’s a first come, first served kind of deal. I believe with the Chromebooks, students in the older grades are only allowed to have access to them if they sign one out during the day. Once they are finished, they have to return it back to the tech lab before Mrs. Anders leaves for the day. I will have to find out more information about this as the first graders don’t really have to worry about this problem.
ED 386 Educational Technology - Lauren's Blog 