Thank you to the folks who commented or wrote in about ideas for technology equipment… you all have definitely added to my wish-list. And since I have meetings with development folks coming up in the coming weeks, that’s a very good thing. I don’t know how successful we can be with raising the money for the one-to-one environment — that was the one thing that I was never able to even come close to at Beacon — but I feel good that I can walk in there with a wish-list and start doing some sensible planning for raising the money.
Which, of course, brings me to the next question to start to ponder: What do you do with all the stuff? Now, much of the work of developing these programs obviously depends on having teachers who buy into and want to work with technology literacy. But hey, I like to plan… so here’s a starting list of projects / curricular ideas that I think could enhance learning at SLA.
- Cyber-Mentoring — This was something we did at Beacon in our English department for several years. We paired students up with adult mentors to work on their writing. It was an idea I stole from Ted Nellen. It is a rather labor intensive project, and I admit — I burned out on it and dropped it after I left the ninth grade. But I would like to reinvestigate it today. I think with blogs and moderated comments and such or with groupware document sharing, the technology has improved to the point where this really could be a much more managable project now. I’d also love to see us move this into different disciplines. Could we partner with a university and pair up our kids with Biology majors for their Bio class? Find a web-design firm that wanted to work with our kids on their design? On this one, the possibilities seem endless.
- Interactive science classrooms — Probes that can export data directly into spreadsheets, microscopes that project. Again — once we get started, we’re going to take off with this.
- Distance learning — With iChat (or Internet2 technology if we get that grant), let’s bring scholars and researchers to us. Let’s study in the field from our classrooms. History… science… English… how much could we do if our students could interact with authors, scholars, scientists in their labs… or with other kids. (Hey Danny… want to do cross-curricular project with Beacon and SLA?)
- Digital Films — Yep, Kate Reed and the Beacon Film Festival are the inspiration here. But to me, digital films are one of the most amazing ways to blur technological literacy with arts infusion with subject matter — especially once you get into documentary film making. I’ve had conversations with Beacon kids who have made films, and they never look at media the same way. It creates a level of media critique and media literacy that is hard to match.
- Here’s a fun idea… a school handbook created via wiki? A collaborative document that both students and teachers could take ownership of?
O.k. — those are just a few ideas… there are dozens more… Feel free to add your own.
