Emily Stewart, a Grade 7 student at Land of Lakes Senior Public School, works on one of the computers in a lab at the school. Computer-related and assisted study is becoming a mainstay of curriculum for today’s students.
BURK’S FALLS — You may remember your schools days as centering around text books, lined paper and pencil cases.
For today’s students, education still means learning the basics about reading, writing and ‘rithmetic, but they’re doing it in a modern way.
“Computers are where the world is,” said Land of Lakes Senior Public School (LOL) principal Charlie Zavitz.
And today’s students are being prepared for that.
LOL is an example of how technology is being not only taught, but used to assist learning in the classroom.
The school not only embraces technology, but is involved in some cutting edge studies into how that technology can be used to benefit students.
“The thing that works here is the staff as a team,” said Zavitz.
From implementing new technologies, to hosting pilot projects for new gadgets to pursuing funding for studies that will look at how tech-based learning techniques can benefit students, LOL staffers are all on board with embracing new learning techniques.
“It affects the school in a very positive way,” Zavitz said, adding that the Near North District School Board (NNDSB) is quickly moving toward using technology in the classroom.
“We’ve moved a lot of these things forward in the last two and a half years,” he said.
A tour of the school shows many of the ways technology is assisting students with their learning.
LOL has a computer lab, as do almost all schools, where whole classes can work.
LOL classes visit the school’s computer lab, on average, between four and six times a week, for 50 minutes sessions.
Whatever the subject they’re working on, technologies allow teachers to guide the student’s learning and closely monitor their actions.
Teacher Anne Shillolo explained some of the lab’s features.
She can log on to a master computer, which allows her to see small screenshots of every other computer in the room. She can roll the mouse over the small image, to pull up a larger image, revealing what that user is doing at any particular moment.
Among the main features of the system is the ability to have her computer’s screen displayed on every computer in the room — very useful for instruction — or have all computers blank out when she wants to gain the class’s attention.
But students don’t always have to travel to the computer lab.
LOL is also participating in a pilot program that has seen a portable computer lab brought into the school. The lab consists of six laptop computers, which are stored in a cart, where they can be plugged in and charged. The computers can be connected to wireless Internet and a wireless printer.
Students are also able to access their personal drive, or storage space, through the laptops.
The best thing about the lab is that it can be brought to any classroom for students to use.
“We’re a pilot,” said Zavitz, “and the reason is because we’ve got a person who was a trainer with the board on staff.”
That’s teacher Lisa Paradis, who is still a computer trainer with the NNDSB.
Other teachers from the board come to LOL for training.
Paradis explains some of the software that students are learning.
Aside from common programs like word processors, movie editing suits and Power Point, students have access to programs that help shape their learning.
She shows off a program called Smart Ideas, software that helps students create essays by assisting them from the brainstorming and research stage to the final writing process.
The first step of using the program is filling in an on-screen brainstorming graph, very much like ones that have been long-taught in schools, as part of an information gathering process.
In fact, the screen shows a classic brainstorming map with the subject written in the middle, and multiple arms extending from it, each containing an off-shoot idea.
The difference with Smart Ideas, Paradis explained, is that students can click on the boxes and add pictures, videos, links or other media.
It doesn’t research for them, but helps students gather their thoughts and organize them.
A click of the mouse transforms the graph into an outline form.
Students can drag and drop the information they’ve created to organize it.
They can then click on individual parts of the outline and create sentences, eventually creating an essay.
Another helper program is Hurzwell 3000, which reads on-screen text to students who may have trouble reading text.
The program contains many of the texts they use at the school, but can also be used to administer tests, Paradis explained.
The program will read aloud the question to the student. They type the answer, and the program can read it back to them.
“It builds on their sight vocabulary and it improves the quality of their work when they’re able to hear it,” Paradis explained.
LOL is about to unveil a new technology that will further enhance the role of computers in their classroom.
Zavitz said they soon expect to install an interactive whiteboard in the school.
The whiteboard is a large, touch-controlled screen. It’s attached to a computer and a projector, which transmits the computer’s screen onto the board.
But the board acts as an extension of the computer’s screen. Teachers can use their hands like a computer mouse to input commands or data onto the screen.
LOL is also soon to unveil an exciting new program, and perhaps, some rising television broadcast stars.
The school is going to start taping and broadcasting live its morning announcements, from a green room within the school to televisions in each classroom.
The idea, said Zavitz, is to have students learn about broadcast, which will hone their writing and speech delivery skills.
It’s all part of the oral literacy strand in the curriculum, he explained.
The school will have to create a small green room for the announcements to be taped.
Zavitz said they have almost all the equipment they need, but there’s just a few wiring issues that have to be ironed out before their broadcasting debut. It’s expected to do so this school year.
Zavitz said he’s hoping that the broadcasts will lead to the school collecting CDs of newsworthy items, which they can distribute to local media, like cable television channels.
“It’s been done in another school in North Bay,” he said, “and it’s just been great….kids love it.’
Students in general, Zavitz said, are very motivated by technology.
It’s great to see students who may be shy learn about technology and share it with the class, often showing off their personalities, Paradis said.
And students often go home and share their experiences learning about these technologies with their parents, which may help eliminate the technology divide between generations, she explained.
“The biggest problem is that everyone doesn’t have a computer,” she said.
But, she adds, that problem may actually be a sign that the school’s technologies are a great success.
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