it’s iNavis… the teacher technologist

Well hello there world! I have moved from Hong Kong International School to the American International School of Guangzhou.back into Middle School and High School.  The move has brought me out of the elementary classroom and into the world of technology integration … well almost.

AISG is still following the 90’s model of stand alone MS and HS classes. However, it is in the formative stages of planning the implementation of a 1-2-1 laptop program. At the moment, there are over 70 kids in the MS/HS that have registered their own laptops in the school’s wireless system.

This year the school committed to upgrade the wireless system to handle hared-core wireless use. We have had a few glitches but overall it has gone well. The “plan” now has to move from tech classes to integrating the tech into the classes. A major roadblock seems to be the logistics of what do we do with students if we don’t have the tech classes to teach? How do we fill the time? Can we afford to hire more part or full time teachers.

The elementary school seems to be much further ahead than the MS/HS. As part of the PYP unit of study students will now complete an “ICT Passport”. It’s an information and communication technology booklet that students complete as they integrate information technology into the unit of study. As a students uses a photostory, researches a topic, develops a presentation using tech skills, they are are also logging what tech is being used. Pretty cool stuff.

But now … what about the MS/HS? How do we build on the program? How do we keep moving? A plan needs to be developed. If any of you out there have suggestions, I would appreciate hearing from you. Next year we hope to put a laptop on every teacher’s desk. More of my time will be dedicated to collaborating with teacher’s to integrate meaningful tech into the lesson plans. The idea is to give the teacher’s a year’s head start before the kids arrive and spend their time with something more than a $1000 pencil.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Best Practices, Dave Navis, Information, Research, Tech Resources and Tagged AISG, American International School of Guangzhou, High School, Hong Kong International School, ICT, laptop, Middle School You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.