K12 Schools Must Fill Need For Digital Media Skills
There is a new urgency to teach digital media literacy as a study finds students are taking online information for granted
Wildfires that raged in southern California in 2003 forced the Lemon Grove School District to shut down for a week. The poor air quality meant many students spent that time in their homes, trying to fill the hours with TV, video games and marathon phone calls. But nearly all of the members of Samantha Swann's sixth-grade science class had a better idea.
With Tablet PCs given to them by the school and a home wireless connection arranged through the district's cable company, the students spent the week creating Web sites about fire, ecology and water use. From her home, Swann guided discussions, supervised site development and suggested more topics relevant to their situation, all from her own wirelessly connected Tablet PC. "It was a blast," says Swann. "Because the kids had wireless, they could go anywhere in their house and work on the project. It felt like we were all in the classroom together."
It isn't only students who are getting the
wireless perk-some teachers are given
wireless home networks and one school
board got to cut the cord.
There's little question that wireless is changing educational directions, both at Lemon Grove and in a growing number of districts across the country. According to education research firm Market Data Retrieval, 37 percent of K-12 public schools have wireless access, up from 27 percent in 2003 and 15 percent in 2002.
Although wireless initiatives require some budget outlay for access points, site surveys and software, often these programs are seen as money-saving tactics that will benefit a district far into the future. The benefits are numerous, including better Internet and network access for teachers and students, more flexibility and mobility for redefining classes' makeup on the fly, and no pesky wires or construction efforts needed whenever more rooms are connected.
The technology does have limitations as well, as some districts have found. Sometimes, schools are constructed in a way that means many more access points than normal are needed for full wireless implementation. Also, coming up with the funding for a full rollout can be tricky, especially if a school is already wired. Technology directors fret about issues like network security, and multiple layers of authentication to keep non-authorized individuals from jumping onto the network from the parking lot or down the block. In fact, one high tech district, Scarsdale (N.Y.) Public Schools, eschewed wireless during its recent high school renovation mostly due to security concerns.
Despite its challenges though, wireless technology looks to be the way of the near future, and the schools that already have it are exploring different ways to use it, from teacher development to student enrichment.
Getting Trendy
As wireless proliferates, several trends seem to be prevalent. These include the growing use of Tablet PCs and handheld devices, more home access, increased focus on centralized management, and full-scale implementations instead of using wireless laptop carts with access points on them.
For Swann, the Tablet PCs have been a boon. Unlike laptops, which force students to type, tablet-based computers can be made to recognize handwriting. This can be especially helpful for middle school and elementary school students who might struggle with the small keyboards on most laptops, as well as help them draw diagrams or navigate the Web using just a stylus.
At Lemon Grove, the Tablet PC initiative was rolled out in 2003 for sixth and seventh graders as a pilot project. Students applied to be in the program, and were given the computer and home wireless access after writing an essay about why they wanted to be part of the project. Swann says it was important for students to understand the Tablet PCs weren't just funky new technology, but that they constituted a new--and more intense--educational format. "We had to explain to kids that the program involved more work, and doing things differently, because they'd be using new applications," says Swann.
With that caveat in place, and students eager to start clicking wirelessly, the program has taken off. Swann, who teaches math as well as science, has found the wireless implementation has changed how she teaches. Instead of an entire class following along in a single textbook, students work at their own pace on their PC, including taking tests and doing homework. From her PC, Swann can track the achievement level of students and split them into small groups so they can work with others at their level. "It's allowed me to individualize math," she says. "I can do workshops and help students with certain skills, instead of teaching the whole class at the same time."
Although such an effort could be done with wired PCs, Swann credits wireless access with giving the students more flexibility in how they do their work. Often, the students send her e-mail from the cafeteria, the library or home. "They can ask me a question when they think of it, and move on with their work," she says.
Stock Trading on the Fly
Other schools are also discovering that going wireless doesn't mean being confined to standard laptops. Wireless-enabled devices like Palm handhelds, Sidekicks, cell phones, even portable GPS systems, can tap into a district's connection and provide educational opportunity.
