While the school year is quickly coming to an end, I’m looking forward to teaching grade four again in 2013. Next year my school is introducing a 1:1 netbook program for grade four students.
Early this term we held a parent information night and we are now delighted to have around 90% of families signed up for the 1:1 program.
Parents are purchasing an Acer Travelmate B113 which the students will use throughout grades four, five and six. 
Some people have asked why we’re not doing iPads/Macs/BYOD/BYOB/a different computer. A range of factors and research was considered when our school decided on the Acer Travelmate but this is not what this post is about.
We are now planning our 2013 curriculum and while we already have many ideas, I’m calling on my PLN for some different viewpoints.
Do you have any curriculum documents, links, advice or resources about successful 1:1 programs? I’d love you to comment!
We already have all the logistics of the program finely tuned but I’d love to hear any pedagogical ideas or advice.
Please comment!
On another note, thank you to all my readers who voted for this blog and my class blog in the recent Edublog Awards. We were thrilled with the outcome!
Hi Kathleen,
As the only Tech Integration Specialist in a district with 7th-9th grades one-to-one, I can share the best advice is to focus on the pedagogy. Otherwise the one-to-one just creates expensive online worksheets and no significant impact. However, if the pedagogy is focused on 21st century, student-centered learning, there can be amazing achievements.
Here’s some of the trainings I did to prepare for one-to-one at our high school.
Hope that helps!
Kind regards,
Tracy
Hi Tracy,
Great to hear from you. I know you have a lot of valuable experience in this area. Excellent advice to focus on the pedagogy. Thanks for the link to your wiki. Lots of great stuff there!
I’m very excited about what 2013 will bring 🙂
Cheers,
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
We have had a 1:1 program for a number of years now. Next year I will be in Year 4 with netbooks as well, having used them in Year 6.
Being a long time reader of your blogs I am guessing you won’t have any problems planning and using the netbooks.
The best link I have is this Teach Inquiry one (http://teachinquiry.com/index/Introduction.html).
Your focus is on developing rich curriculum and the netbooks simply become a tool to use; just like a pencil, paper, ruler, book or camera might be. You plan and choose the best tool to use!
The beauty of the netbook is that you can use eduSTAR, ABC Splash and FUSE resources,Google maps, access to experts, Skype and…I could go on and on.
Best of all your classroom blog, and probably student blogs, can be used to connect students and parents even more deeply to what is happening in your room.
Have a great year.
Regards Tim
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your comment. I am really looking forward to continuing blogging and also having a bigger focus on student blogging. I agree, choosing the best tool to use is the way to go!
Thanks for the link to the Teach Inquiry site. Lots to look at!
Cheers,
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
Like you we started using notebooks in our ICT lesson and we are now looking to integrate them into other subjects. Although most of what we have done centers around the technology we have found that there are some useful online tools like Edmodo which is a great way to manage and share content with the students and like blogging gives them a voice. It would also be helpful with flipping the classroom if this was something that you are looking at! I am sure you have tried many online tools, google etc, have you looked at google Chrome?
Hi Stephen,
Thank you for your comment. There are some classes at my school that use Edmodo and I’d be really interested to use it. I hope I find a way to use that alongside our class blog as a online space.
Did you mean Google Chrome or Apps? Google Chrome is my favourite browser. I’m looking forward to using Google Apps next year.
Thanks again for your thoughts!
Kathleen
We’ve been 1:1 for several years now, and Google Docs/Google Drive has made things super easy to share across classes, teams, and students. We don’t have textbooks at all, so everything is done online or in person.
Another comment mentioned focusing on pedagogy – the technology in the classroom has made webquest options fun and interactive. There are hundreds of sites you can use as extensions to your lessons.
Have fun!
I really look forward to using Google Docs/Drive with my students. I use it a lot myself so can’t wait to introduce it in my classroom. Thanks for the tip about webquests too!
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
My teaching partner and I began this year by picking up our Yr 5s who were in their second year of netbook lease. We found that by using OneNote we could utilise the netbooks more and also develop independent skills in our students throughout the year. We had a shared class notebook and then each student had thier own for their work. We had to house the notebook son our school server as we couldn’t get through our firewalls to host on a cloud drive, but we just had to turn on netbooks at start of day for what had been done at home to sync.
Hope you find the year successful, no matter how far along the journey you get with your students!
Candice
@chuntlytweet
Hi Candice,
Thanks so much for your insights into OneNote. It definitely sounds like a program that is worth exploring.
I’m sure it will be a great year!
Cheers,
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
I am the ICT Coordinator at our primary school in Western Australia. The school is entering its 5th year of 1:1 from Year 4 to 6. The two incoming teachers in Year 4 in 2013 are experimenting heavily with the SAMR model of ICT integration and we’d love to connect with others to keep the ideas flowing. Our belief about 1:1 is that it can be a massive financial investment over the years so we need to maximise the learning by doing more than substitute one tool for another. Also, would love to connect our children to other Year 4 students as well.
Lyn
Hi Lyn,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. That’s a great achievement moving into your 5th year of 1:1, I’m sure it has been a big learning curve with lots of rewards for students and teachers. I definitely agree that more needs to be done than substituting one tool for another – this is a trap that some classrooms can fall into. If your students are involved in blogging, they’re welcome to visit our class blog in the new school year http://4kmand4kj.global2.vic.edu.au/
Kind regards,
Kathleen
Hello Kathleen!
My name is Jasmine Smith and I am currently in an education class about blogging and computers. I am interested in learning what a 1:1 is. I will be reading your blogs so I’m excited to read your upcoming blogs. In the future I will be summarizing your blogs, also. A link to my blog is jasminesmithedm310.blogspot.com in case you want to read my summary. Also, here is a link to my class blog edm310.blogspot.com
Thanks!
Hi Jasmine,
Thanks for commenting and good luck with your studies and blogging!
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
I am in Edm310 at the University of South Alabama. We are learning about the wonderful possibilities that can come with using technology in classrooms. Actually two years after I graduated from high school, my school got Macbook Air laptops for the entire school. (1,600+ students) They paid $125.00 and they keep it for the four years they are in school. Teachers upload their notes onto the macbooks, as well as study guides for test and quizzes. I think my favorite part is that their is an open line of communication between the teachers and students. At USA I probably email my teachers five times a week, and then when I do, I get to wait for a day or so for a response. But I also have a large network or others world wide that I can turn to for advice. Most of my Personal Learning Network (PLN) is quicker to respond than my professors!
Anyway, my advice from student to teacher is to make your lessons interesting for them by using hands-on assignments. And let them communicate with others. Let them create and expand their own PLN. Whether it be you, students in their class, or us in the United States. My favorite part of EDM310 is getting to communicate with people around the world. It makes the class interesting! Good luck with your new technology!
-Heather Perrin
University of South Alabama
perrinheatheredm310.blogspot.com
Hi Heather,
Thanks for your advice and good luck with your studies. You’re luck to be in such a wonderful course.
Kind regards,
Kathleen