It’s been almost a year since we got our first 18 ActivBoards. In that time 50 more ActivBoards have been installed, making it one in every classroom. We’ve had the expected growing pains, but also a great leap in teacher and student interactive learning. As I wander the halls on my way to fix some technology I see every class using their ActivBoard in some way.

We are now into intermediate training on integrating other technology and lessons into the ActivClassroom. The latest ActivTechnology training class that our teachers have been working on is integrating streaming video into a flipchart lesson. I like using gadgets in lessons because I see the students as gadget lovers. The students are already using digital technology, iPods, xBox, play stations, computers and the internet so why not use what they use and like to teach them?

I see them more involved in the classroom, but we also need to watch that we don’t just use the ActivBoards as a replacement for the whiteboard. The key word here is INVOLVED. Students need to be involved in the class, interact with the ActivBoard, not just answer questions or read to ActivBoard. All the items that I mentioned above that students use like the iPod are interactive, which is why they like them. I wouldn’t want to just sit and listen to a lecture anymore than a child likes to.

• I want to interact
• I want to have fun
• I want to learn without feeling it’s a chore

Don’t you think our children are the same way?

We have received ActiVotes for the classrooms, which will increase the student interaction. I can’t wait to see the students faces when they get to use the ActiVotes, (I call them eggs because that’s what they look like).

• Congratulations to Tes Powell for passing her National Board Certification!
• Lastly, I’ve been having a ball getting 165 new HP Short Form desktops ready for deployment into our classrooms. I know the students and teachers will see the difference between these computers and the ones that I will be replacing. This is another step toward an advanced, up to date ActivClassroom.

Technorati tags: Promethean, ActivBoard, K-12 Education

I experienced some weird signal loss with a few of our ActivBoards that I could only reproduce on the teachers laptops that used those ActivBoards. I took my known good laptop with me to test the board to verify that it was the teachers laptop, not the ActivBoard. I also took the teachers laptop to another ActivBoard, which would then reproduce the error without fail. This led me to start looking at what was installed on the laptop for conflicts.

In each case, 8 total, the laptop either had the AOL client installed or a Google product that had installed the Google Updater. After removing or actually first disabling these programs, I found these laptops worked without any further trouble with any ActivBoard. I let the laptops run for a week with the updater or AOL disabled before I then re-enabled the offending software for a final proof of theory. Bingo, the systems started losing signal with the ActivBoards within an hour, sometimes within 30 seconds.

Our district does not condone the use of Google products such as Google Desktop or toolbar and does not support them, ditto for AOL. I personally consider the AOL client software a poor piece of programming that takes over your system without any regard to your wishes or what else is installed.

I’ll be warning teachers more often about Google and AOL so that I don’t have to make a service call that could have been avoided.

Technorati tags: Educational Technology, k12 Education, ActivBoard, Promethean, Google, AOL

Check out the new Free Software page above. They are a small collection of programs and web sites that I’ve found useful and have added to our teachers laptops.

This caught my eye while I was reading my RSS feeds today.

Ever noticed what a pain in the butt it is to teach teachers? They gab, chatter, giggle, and do everything for which they give students detentions. I’m sitting in training for our new SIS and, fortunately, I only have to handle the technical pieces of the training. Some poor sap from the SIS vendor has to actually teach these big kids. Of course, I’m a teacher myself, so I’m guilty, too. It’s really remarkable, though, just what awful students we are.

I think it’s especially bad trying to train teachers on technology issues since so many of them are not only clueless but disinterested in ed tech.

Source: » Why is it so hard to train teachers? | Education IT | ZDNet.com

I have to disagree with this to a point. Here’s why as I pointed out, in less detail, in my comment on the blog….

If you support a teacher, they will use the technology. We are now teaching the teachers to use ActivBoards, moving them toward a center of learning with it. Once they get over the initial shock they love it. Of course we give them a lot of support between the ITC and myself we even spend time in a class with them to help them through. When they have a problem, I’m there in minutes to help.

That’s why a teacher will learn, we’ve given them support after training. They don’t feel like a new way to teach has been thrown at them, told “here it is, here is how you use it, now go use it” and they are left to flounder with the technology.

It’s a paradox, they gab, chatter and do email the first time you train them. But then you support them and they return that support with open ears, while paying attention the next time you need to train them on something new. Of course another benefit of this approach is that when they know you will support them they will start asking more questions about other pieces of technology they already have that they haven’t been using because they know you will be there to support them and teach them.

Technorati tags: Promethean, ActivBoard, Education, Educational Technology