EDT6020

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Comment by samuel henry duncan on February 16, 2013 at 9:25pm

I believe that a one to one initiative would be possible at my school because our district has taken a big initiative to incorporate technology into the classroom.  Over the past two years Colonial School District has spent a lot of money for computer carts, Ipad Carts, smart-boards in every classroom, and in all, updating most of the teachers technology in the classrooms.  Saying that, most teachers in my school our on board, like I would hope it is in every school in my district.  BUT, many teachers are still resistant, and do not want to take the time to accept technology into their own classrooms.  This is a big hurdle that is hard to defeat.  If a teachers does not want to start something new, they are going to fight to the end or until others give up on trying to persuade them. That is the biggest challenge we face in our school.  Which is not all the teachers are on board, and only a small percentage of us are willing to accept technology and try to learn as much as we can to help our students.  Another problem we face is we do not have enough technology to facilitate a true BYOT program.  We only have a few computer carts, that are passed around the school.  So not every classroom has a class set of computers.  And we only have a small amount of Ipad carts, 3 or 4 if I am correct.  Obviously this is a problem because not every student is going to get a computer all the time to themselves.  Saying this I have tried and hope that we can create some sort of technology schedule that would keep the computer carts and Ipad carts fluctuating throughout the school so students are getting consistent access to the technology.  This would help also, because the more the students are interacting with the devices the better that they are going to get at it.  

There are two devices that I like to use in the classroom.  Obviously I like the Ipads because of the convenience  and portability.  But they are costly and hard for students to grasp.  I would like to see everyone in my school and district to have the ability to use a smart notebook everyday.  They are small computers with a small price tag.  They are just like computers, so many of our students will be able to use them without being taught how to use them.  These small computers would be great for each student to have in the classroom.  They could have all of their textbooks downloaded on them, which would cut down on district spending.  Also, I would like them to have access to many books that they could upload and read at anytime.  I would also use google drive for every student, since every student in my district has a google account.  I can have them create assignments at school and at home and they can submit work whenever possible.