Pandora Gilboa Local Schools
R. Todd Schmutz – Superintendent
Dr. Gene Lloyrd – Director of Technology
As part of the project the student get to keep the machine when they
graduate from school.
The netbooks weren’t powerful enough, so now they’ve moved to more
robust laptops.
How the idea was born
– Textbook costs and weight in book bags
– Utilize 21st century learning skills and tools
Need for change
– Only 28% of Ohio students (2011) who took the ACT met all four
college readiness benchmarks
– 1968 Divergent Thinking Study by George Land – Created tests to
identify geniuses.
? example question: How many uses of a a paperclip? 10 is normal, 200
is genius
?? 3-5 year olds, 98% genius
?? 8-10 year olds 30%
?? 13-15 year olds 12%
?? Adults (31 year average) 2%
?? (The same group of students)
Finite curriculum that we assess with a series of multiple choice
questions.
Need to focus on how we are teaching students, we currently focus too
much on the what.
Educators spend too much of their class time transferring knowledge.
Then assign homework to be completed when the teacher isn’t around.
If you’re using the iPad in the same way you used the textbook, you
haven’t fundamentally changed the delivery of content.
Flip the classroom
– Transfer knowledge is the homework
– Class time is spent answering/clarifying the knowledge that was
learned for homework.
Example old lesson:
Round robin reading of the material, teacher adds their commentary
through a powerpoint, then homework is assigned.
Flipping the classroom
Transfer happens on student’s time, classwork consists of working
through questions about the material.
Barriers to flipping the classroom
– Availability and reliability of technology
– Teacher resistance to change
– The learning to read, reading to learn curve. Starting in grades >4
it’s easier to work, students can read for instruction.
– Educating parents about this chift in teaching
Advantages of flipping
– More time is spent on applied learning
– 3Cs communication, collaboration, creative thinking
– Student centered classroom
If the presentation was flipped
– Participants would have been required to watch the presentation
before hand
– Broken up into groups, watch videos of teachers in the classroom,
discuss
– Present findings to the group
Implementation
– What’s the home situation like? How many siblings share a computer?
– Ownership of the laptops, students take care of the equipment.
– Started with 8th graders
–
Q: Internet access for free/reduced?
A: Not provided.
Q: Buying textbooks?
A: Up to the textbook companies. Should they even buy textbooks?
Q: How do teachers with multiple preps do it?
A: Building it out slowly. Once it’s done, it’s done.
Where do good ideas come from?
– Does chance favor the connected mind?
– Steven Johnson video
? Recurring patterns to innovations
?? Slow hunch
??? Good ideas come from the collisions of other ideas that are
stewing
??? Tim Berners-Lee, WWW. Took ten years
??? Sometimes it takes a hunch from someone else to combine with
another hunch for the eureka moment.
? Great driver in innovations is connectivity
Important to provide
– Quality tech
– Adequate bandwidth
– Adequate tech support
? 7:15am on Tuesday, 3:15pm on Thursdays
William Daggett Rigor/Relevance Framework
Filtering
– We filter, exercise in futility
– By law, not necessary at home
– Ultrasurf: Created by the government for Egyptians to surf
Move to year round usage?
8th grade student
– Watching the lecture gives him the freedom to pause/rewatch and
repeat.
– Can just ask a question if totally lost
Science teacher
– Gives students the ability to take responsibility of their own
learning.
Some students don’t like the flipped classroom, they’re used to the
currecnt way instruction is given.
Q: How do you do teacher training
A: Training during the week. Additional training for the teachers with
classrooms that have netbooks.
Q: What do you say to someone who’s afraid of failure on the state test
due to the change in structure?
A: They’ve never had a student come back and say they didn’t do as well
on a state test, they come back and tell how much better they are at
communicating. Supt: I want to know how the students are learning, and
believes that they do well on the tests.
Q: How much time is spent on homework?
A: More time right now, as they learn, and not all teachers are doing
it yet.
Q: How are you planning on staying up with technology? Software
upgrades?
A: Cloud computing has helped.
Teachers aren’t excited about how easy it is to be fact checked. 🙂
Q: How long is a video?
A: Ten minutes average.
Q: How is video delivered?
A: Google Apps with Google Sites
Q: When they leave what happens to licenced materials?
A: District takes it off when the student leaves
