Last week I was on Long Island, New York, working with with Nassau BOCES (Board of co-operative educational services) who provide a huge range of support programs for 56 school districts in Nassau County. The newly refurbished headquarters (Robert E. Lupinskie Center for Curriculum, Instruction and technology) included some model, ICT rich, flexible classrooms such as the one pictured below.
The desks were equipped with pop-up compartments that contained a MacBook and a couple of ‘clickers’. (more on clickers in an up-coming post) As these desks were powered, lockable and the wi-fi was sound, any issues associated with using this technology was eliminated. The lids closed to provide a multi-purpose surface.
Nassau BOCES are working with implementing Studywiz as one of the services they are providing to their schools. As part of the discussion it was noted how much engagement and learning could be gained from filming students with the iSight camera on a Mac and posting to Studywiz to share. In a protected LMS, video of students demonstrating skills to their peers was a powerful tool.
We covered handheld learning using Studywiz mobile / iPod touch as an element of a ‘ubiquitous technologies’ proposal for New York State schools. One of the major barriers perceived was the cost of devices for low income families.
The Regent ( our equivalent of the school council president) was in during the morning and we were treated to presentations on facets of the BOCES services to local schools. My host Trish, the program supervisor for distance education services, had been hiding her light under a bushell, and wowed me with her video-conferencing program that she has spent years establishing and growing. Trish has connected with content providers across the US and around the world to allow experts on nearly any topic to be invited into classrooms. She mentioned innovative interactive reading programs using video-conferencing such as Read across the planet and Mystery Quest a middle school world geography video-conference project.
We saw a presentation on a new data collecting tool known as’The instructional data warehouse’. There was a concern aired that a large number of students were being over-looked by the education system as so many resources were assigned to at-risk students; there is a need to show value adding for all. Under ‘no child left behind’ the US is focussed on standardised high stakes testing. There is a cycle perpetuating itself in classrooms flowing from teaching to performance indicators to data to teaching to target weak points in data (gaps). Even grant applications were written to target gaps in data collected. The Regent suggested that the data should be provided to test developers to analyse their questions to identify if any were misleading.
Quite ironically, this session was followed by an innovative piece from Cliff on transformation in the classroom, looking at the design of flexible learning spaces and programs. He commenced by showing scenes from the industrial age with kids sitting in rows performing repetitive tasks under close supervision. A clip from Disney-Pixars animation ‘Ants’ was shown. In the clip, a line of ants were dutifully carrying food back to the nest. Disaster struck when a leaf floated down across their path and they were paralysed, not knowing which way to turn or what to do. A ‘thinking’ ant had to brought it to guide them back on the path. Draw your own conclusions please.
There is certainly a place for data. I have noted a need for a structured and replicable data collection system to support my own research into the use of the iPod touch and a ‘gap’ in any meaningful results possible without this data.
In the afternoon I was made to feel very welcome at the monthly NASTECH meeting. This is essentially a district showcase of ideas in the innovative use of technologies in the classroom.
Some of the offerings included:
Gale – Cengage learning partnership for the 21st century: proprietary online textbooks
My thanks to all those at Nassau BOCES for welcoming me to their vibrant learning hub, especially Trish and Pat. 
