And the results are in . . .

The tests are done, and everyone did well, so I was relieved. I was nervous that if they didn’t do well the classroom teacher might feel that the technology interfered in some way. I asked the kids to write a short, informal response to the unit activities – what they liked/didn’t like, if they think the Palm handhelds made it easier or harder to organize/learn/share the information, etc.  Almost all of their comments were positive – they loved using the Palm handhelds. There were a few “negative” comments, but mostly things like, “it was hard to learn to set up the keyboard,” etc. Skills types of things that would resolve themselves if the kids were using the Palms on a more regular basis and were more comfortable with them. I’ll be meeting with Miss L. to get her responses to the unit next week. I plan to use some of the students’ comments (and maybe Miss L.’s) in my final podcast. All in all I feel the unit was a success, although there are a few things I’d do differently.

Wrapping up the unit . . .

Not much to report on this week. We finished the unit, including the review game at the end. They’ll be taking their test on Tuesday. In the meantime, I’ll be asking the kids to write a short, informal response to the unit activities – what they liked/didn’t like, if they think the Palm handhelds made it easier or harder to organize/learn/share the information, etc. I hope to make audio recordings of some of the comments for my final podcast . . .

Field Project Continues

As we entered the second week of the field project I’ve noticed a couple of things about the integration of technology. First, the teacher needs to be really proficient with the tools. With the kids there are constantly little “problems” popping up and the teacher needs to be able to help resolve them very quickly or else he/she can lose control of the rest of the class while trying to troubleshoot one students tech issue. The better he/she knows the tools the easier it will be to quickly address any problems so that students can continue working and he/she can move on to the next problem! Secondly, there are always a few kids so enthralled by the technology that they want to “play” with the tools in their free time. Let them do it because they can then be a great resource for helping other students learn to troubleshoot their own problems! This has been really evident as the class I’ve been working with has begun using Palm handhelds in their classroom for this social studies project. Aready, several class “techies” have emerged and begun to provide support for the rest of the class. It’s exciting to watch!