Ohio County Schools Innovation Team Attends Technology Conference
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WHEELING -- New computer tools will be awaiting teachers and students in Ohio County Schools when they return to classrooms in mid-August.
Members of the Ohio County Schools Innovation Team last week attended the International Society for Technology in Education conference, which happened June 23-26 in Philadelphia. The group included Ohio County Schools innovation coordinator JoJo Shay, as well as team members Gail Adams, Brian Leggett and Monica Supanik.
The trip came just as the school district is planning to distribute 2,000 Chromebooks to all students in 6-12 grades, with last year's sixth grade students already receiving their lap top in a pilot project to begin the "one to one" computer initiative in Ohio County Schools.
The challenge for the innovation team is to educate Ohio County teachers how best to utilize the new technology, and pass this learning on to their students.
"We spent time in sessions, seeking to further knowledge about tools for our one on one program," Shay said. "We sought out new tools, and we will be spending rest of these summer familiarizing ourselves with these tools so we can inform teach the teachers about them."
Among the tools purchased was WeVideo -- a platform that will make it possible for students to create video presentations to complement projects. Last year, students utilized the iMovie tool available to them to produce visual stories.
"We spent an entire year seeking a free video-making tool for Chromebook similar to iMovie, but we couldn't find one that was free," she said. "We will be purchasing this, and teachers and students will be able to do multi-media presentations."
Also acquired was "Rocket Book" software, which will provide students with a digital notebook option similar to the use of traditional pen and paper. They will be able to write and do math problems by hand on a provided "beacon" or digital notebook, which communicates with the Chromebook.
"It will be great to use with math," Shay said. "They can write on what looks like sheet of paper, send it to Google Drive, the wipe it off with water and use again.
"It's for when teachers want to see the math work."
Also available to students will be Google Jamboard, which will allow the students to take notes on their Chromebook tablet and use it as a small white board. In addition, they will have access to "Book Creator," a software program that makes it possible for students to create, read and share interactive books through their Chromebook.
A teacher had asked the Innovation Team if they would find book creating software that he might use in his class, and team members try to find those tools teachers have specifically requested.
"We regularly ask our teachers to let us know what they are looking for," Shay said. "We search for the tools the teachers asking for, find the tools, then branch out more. It makes us feel like we're moving in the right direction.
"We listen to the needs of students and teachers. We could find a lot of tools, but if teachers are not going to use them they are not helpful. We want to make sure we find tools that are helpful in the classroom."
The Innovation Team will be conducting summer workshops for teachers beginning next week to instruct them on how to operate the Chromebooks and use available tools in the classroom.
Shay said it was "very exciting" at the conference to see what's on the horizon for education technology.
"It seems we are right in the middle of what is going on, and right where we should be," Shay said
She said Ohio County Schools will apply to do a presentation at next year's ISTE conference, which is set to take place in Anaheim, California.