‘One to One’ computer initiative launched at GHS
Greenville High School became the first in the district to pilot the One to One program Jan. 24. While not mandatory, students and their families have the opportunity to check out laptops for home use to get them better acquainted with technology.
According to the PUSD tech coordinator, Julian Wells, the rollout went smoothly for parents and students.
“Our goals for this program are twofold: 1) increase student engagement, and 2) personalize learning. Ultimately, this will be measured by standardized test scores,” said Kristy Warren, curriculum director.
“Schools [are more] than test scores. With increased student engagement and personalized learning, we will see better attendance, better preparation for college and career, and higher graduation rates,” Warren continued.
Plumas Unified School District is in the second year of a five-year implementation cycle according to Warren. Last year, two teachers came on board with technology at each school site; this year two more at each site were added. Warren hopes by next school year that all teachers will be trained on technology integration in the classroom.
Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition
“Each time we meet, teachers share evidence of classroom activities that are at these varying levels of technology integration. It’s really quite exciting to see the progress and what teachers are doing with their students,” said Warren.
PUSD is using the “Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition” model to monitor implementation. This means that the first step is to substitute old delivery for new — such as textbooks that are usually outdated by the time of print. Textbooks are replaced by up-to-date information online — in this case through Google classroom.
Augmentation has the learning environment enhanced with technology as part of the focus — think PowerPoint or Vimeo presentations with that term paper. Modification allows for new and different types of assignments delivered through new technology — homework, for example, now being uploaded at any time on the due date from anywhere.
Redefinition could be as inventive as the imagination allows. Students could use coding to build a project that demonstrates that they understand the material or perhaps a short film.
The GHS program
The Greenville High School One to One program does not require laptops to go home at night with students. Not all students have Internet access in their homes and therefore cannot be required to turn in homework online. The laptops are available for check-out to any high school student. The district acknowledges that some families might have their own and some might not want the responsibility of an expensive item that would need to be replaced if lost or broken.
“We are very careful to not require work to be done at home that would require Internet. However, the laptops can still be used at home without Wi-Fi access. With the laptops, students can still work on typing papers with Word, creating presentations with PPT or using Excel for data,” said Warren.
Greenville will be used as a model for other schools in the district next year in year three of its program cycle. Warren plans to use lessons learned from the roll out in Greenville district wide as the program is implemented fully.
