Tech savvy parent with a child in a low tech school
I spend my day with technology - showing teachers how to use the many and various technologies our district has. I love it. My husband is an IT professional for the government. However, our daughter (8) goes to a school that is low in technology. A few teachers have interactive whiteboards (not hers) and she does get to the computer lab once a week for a class period, but that is about it. I would love her to be tech savvy - use all those wonderful create tools both in terms of software, hardware and Web 2.0. How do I go about immersing her in technology?
Tags: technology, web 2.0
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by meL on
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More good ideas!! I don't know why I know of all these resources, but yet I don't seem to think of them in terms of my own child. penguinscience.com sounds interesting, she had a fascination with penguins for a long time and would probably still enjoy learning about them.
We bought her an inexpensive (okay, really cheap) digital camera two years ago, but it is such a pain in the neck to use that it sits unused. Perhaps it is time for a better one. I know she loves to take pictures, both with our phones and with our digital camera. With places like voicethreads, smilebox, a ning and a website of her own, she would get something more tangible out of taking the pictures.
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Permalink Reply by Lorraine on
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The students in our school use the Olympus Stylus 720SW It's shockproof and waterproof so it has been durable. Check out the posts on this link for more info about the penguinscience project.
http://icestories.exploratorium.edu/dispatches/index.php
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Permalink Reply by GeneralChaos on
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Buy her a laptop.
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She actually has a computer in her room that goes unused for the most part. She does use our desktop, and loves to use any of the three laptops we have (I have two for work). Laptop was high on her Christmas list, but with everything else, it most likely won't happen. I pondered an OLPC for Christmas last year and decided not to. Our distrcit is getting ready to sell/auction about 120 laptops that were used by our secondary teachers. They aren't new (we used them three years), but they have been reimaged and are ready to go, just waiting on the lawyers to make some final ruling on the status of those units purchased with grant monies. We do plan on buying her one of those. I think she would be more apt to use a laptop than be isolated in her room (we won't let her have Internet access in her room). I think she also wants a laptop because both mom and dad have one and she doesn't.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa Dick on
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Another thing to think about is ways to provide training and equipment. I dont know the funding (or training) situation for the school but our teachers had access to free training but not funding for equipment. We began by providing more training on incorporation technology in the one computer classroom. We tried to make sure every teacher had at least one good computer. Several teachers began purchasing averkeys for class viewing on the classroom tvs. Over the past five years we have constantly written grants. As the parish started to see what we were willing to do, the technology center joined in and even supplied all freshman classes with class sets of macbooks. We also joined CLK (computers for louisiana kids). This is a recycling program that receives equipment donationed from various businesses and schools. We take the free equipement and refurbish it. Sometimes it takes four computers to build one but it is well worth it:) You would be shocked at how far we have come within five years. Once a couple of teachers started writting small grants (under $2000) others jumped in. We also write schoolwide grants mostly limited for study tours and professional development, but the teachers joining in with the small grants (yearsly) has made all the difference (along with CLK).
Oh and another thought for your daughter is keeping a blog. They arent just for older kids:) Edublogs is great and free! She could personalize it with great horse widgets and such:)
I would love to get my hands on the three year old laptops:)
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We both have two weeks off from school over the winter break - I forsee we are going to be spending some time getting her into the technology. I have an educational Animoto account so I can set her up with her own - she'll be able to create unlimited videos of pictures (she loves the ones I have done). My blog is on edublogs, so I can also set her up with a student account there. She has been wanting a diary for some time. I gave her one last year. She quickly lost the lock and who knows where it is now. A blog would be a way for her to journal her life. She's 8 so it isn't as if she is going to have too much to hide. She can take the digital camera both to our barn and to her riding lesson barn and take pics - and she'll have places to post them.
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I have four RCA Small Wonders (similar to the Flip) at my disposal. For the most part, they go unused at my schools and I am not hesitant to take one home and use it.
It will be intersting to see where all this leads us. Her teacher has told me she will design a project in the future so my daughter can use technology - I hope she does it sooner rather than later, simply so if the project is successful there are opportunities for more (and maybe other kids will try it). Two years ago the flower she drew in Paint was the only entry in the computer-generated category in her grade division of the school art show.
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You will have to post a link to her blog so we can see it and leave her some comments.
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Permalink Reply by Vincent on
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Get her an iMac and an iPod. She'll be podcasting in no time. You can take a look at what my 5th grade students are doing here www.riosclass.com. Email me and let me know what you think.
Vincent
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Actually, she has an iPod (we all do) - and the plan is to one day replace our desktop with a MacBook. I have a MacBook for work that she sometimes uses, but more often she uses a Windows laptop/desktop since she is more familiar with the Windows environment.
Love the podcasts, I will pass the link on to my elementary counterpart for inclusion into the elementary resources.
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Thanks Mel, we are a work in progress. Let's all move to a more neutral environment-- Open office is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, I think .... photo story, though, is a great windows freebie!!!!! Get your child creating..... check out my post on constructivism..... ;)
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