Mobile Technologies—Anytime, Anywhere Access for Students

by Susan Brooks-Young

From iPods to netbooks, find out how educators are integrating students' favorite mobile technology into the classroom.

As mobile technologies including iPods, netbooks, and cell phones become more sophisticated and less expensive, innovative educators are changing their thinking about where and how they can use technology with their students. Catholic schools are well represented in these efforts, particularly when it comes to use of iPods (or other MP3 players) and netbooks. This month’s column highlights a few pioneering projects in the United States and Australia. The scope of these projects ranges from providing mobile carts of netbooks for use at school to programs in which devices are available for home and school use. Read on to see what these inventive educators are doing.

Bishop Dunne Catholic School

In 2006 President Kate Dailey and instructional technologist Christine Voigt worked with Development Director Lydia Torrez to secure the first of two grants used to fund an iPod project at Bishop Dunne, a Catholic school serving grades six through twelve in Dallas, TX (bdhs.org). One objective of the original program was to use the iPods to recruit new enrollees in grade nine. But a far more compelling reason to provide an iPod to every freshman was to ensure that all students had access to this technology both in the classroom and away from school. Checked out on a loan basis, the video-capable iPods are collected and serviced every summer, then redistributed in the fall. The original plan was to add another grade level each year until each high school student had an iPod.

Technology director and teacher Paul Wood and his colleagues initially envisioned students searching the internet for existing video and podcasts which they could download to the iPods for use at school and home. But it wasn’t long before teachers and students found other uses for the iPods. For example, students learned in English class how to make flashcard slides in PowerPoint, convert the slides to pictures, and save them on the iPods for review. Additional uses included watching video and presentations; using the iPod as an external hard drive; viewing text and written documents; and recording original podcasts. By year three of the project, students were engaged in podcasting activities on a larger scale. For instance, last fall Bishop Dunne students worked with peers attending the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia (scienceleadership.org). On Election Day, students in each location conducted exit poll interviews with voters which were recorded directly on the iPod and uploaded to share between schools.

Now Wood is launching a new initiative for 2009-10. With support from grants funded by the Kenedy and Sturgiss Foundations, the school is going wireless. In addition, for the first time ever, students have the option of using traditional hardbound textbooks, digital textbooks, or a combination of the two. To take full advantage of the upgraded network and digital texts, students will be permitted to bring and use personal internet-enabled devices while at school. Students who already own a laptop, iPod Touch, cell phone, or other mobile technology are ready to go. For those whose parents want to purchase a new device, Wood has published information about netbooks on the school’s main Edline page (edline.net/pages/bishop_dunne_catholic_school). And iPods are still available to those students who do not have access to any other mobile technology.

Opening up the network may seem foolhardy to some, but Wood is firm in his conviction that it’s the right thing to do for students and faculty at Bishop Dunne. In a blog entry posted on August 14, 2009, he writes: “I feel that if we truly believe in what we are doing we have to make strides in the direction of being more open with our students, with our parents, and with our networks. Sometimes it is hard to let go, yes it can be a scary world out there, yes I want to protect my students and I do everything possible to make that happen, and yes we do teach online safety across the board; but I also want to share what is available, open the eyes of my students and teachers to all the possibilities, and hopefully help to make them successful for their future” (From whatisyouritvision.blogspot.com).

Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School (OLHC)

In May 2009, OLHC in South Lismore, New South Wales, Australia (liss.lism.catholic.edu.au) initiated a 1-to-1 HP Mini 2140 netbook project with 60 year 5/6 students, the first large roll-out of netbooks in the region. The netbooks have six cell batteries, run a version of Linux called Edubuntu, and are connected to the internet using a Cisco wireless netbook. Unlike some 1-to-1 initiatives, the netbooks remain at school where they are recharged every evening in lockable carts that are designed to allow 16 netbooks to be charged using a single outlet.

To date, the project has surpassed all expectations. Infrastructure issues have been minimal. The HP Minis are robust and reliable. Fully charged batteries last throughout the school day, even when the netbooks see additional use from younger students not included in the pilot program. Students and teachers are learning the ins and outs of using the new operating system and, despite a few software bugs, Edubuntu seems to be a viable alternative to Windows; reducing software costs has allowed the school to put more netbooks in front of students.

But OLHC staff and students’ primary focus is on learning, not the technology, and they are finding that the netbooks are opening doors to learning in ways that were not readily available before. Both groups are seeing that they are part of an education community, not just members of a class. Charlie O’Sullivan, senior system support officer for the Catholic Education Office, is co-writing learning activities with teachers at the school and delivering these activities using Learning Management Software (LMS) called Moodle, exposing teachers to new pedagogy and Web 2.0 tools they can incorporate into their teaching repertoire. The LMS also allows students to access learning activities and upload their assignments from anywhere that they have internet access.

O’Sullivan recommends that anyone embarking on a similar venture be ambitious. “Aim high in terms of what technology can deliver. A 1-to-1 netbook program should be about improved learning opportunities for students. Dropping prices for netbooks mean that parents can contribute to such a program, allowing children to own netbooks for use at home and school.”

St. Elisabeth Catholic School

Junior-high students at St. Elisabeth Catholic School in Van Nuys, CA (stelisabeth.org), are the first to participate in a 1-to-1 netbook initiative that will eventually encompass grades K-8. Although students may use any netbook that meets basic specifications, the school is recommending the Acer Aspire One with an 11.6” display and full-sized keyboard and running XP Pro, and is providing group pricing and financial assistance—in the form of fund-raisers—to families to ensure that all students at targeted grade levels are able to participate.

Principal Barbara Barreda is very excited about the multi-year project: “Teachers and I started laying the groundwork for this program three years ago, involving parents from the beginning.” During this planning time teachers have participated in various professional development activities designed to help them craft a shared vision for technology-supported instruction. For example, faculty meetings have become opportunities to focus on issues related to curriculum and instruction, including ways that technology can be used to redefine children’s classroom experiences; and teachers have been encouraged to attend major conferences addressing these topics.

Once the decision was made to initiate the project in 2009-10, teachers of grades 6-8 visited a school with a successful traditional 1-to-1 laptop program, spending time with the technology coordinator there to learn as much as they could about the pros and cons of 1-to-1 classroom computing. Since May 2009, these teachers have also met to discuss pedagogy, identifying ways they will change the instructional strategies they use to take advantage of the netbooks. “The point of this program is to help students increase their critical thinking skills, develop information literacy, and have opportunities to collaborate globally. We can’t accomplish these goals if we don’t make fundamental changes in our approach to educating our students,” says Barreda.

Teachers and students are using online tools introduced over the last three years including Google Earth, Diigo, iTunes podcasts, Skype, Google Docs, blogs, and wikis. Every netbook has Open Office installed for offline work. The school has purchased subscriptions to Discovery Education (discoveryeducation.com) and DyKnow Monitor (dyknow.com), software that supports interactive note taking and student response tools. The DyKnow program also allows teachers to monitor student activity and transmit information to the students’ netbooks.

Barreda reports, “We know there will be ups and downs, but staff and parents have a shared vision for what we can accomplish. We have applied for E-rate funds to build a fiber optic network for the school to handle increased traffic when the project is expanded. We are also considering use of iPods and cell phones as instructional tools because we are open to using a variety of devices to provide access to our students.”

On the Horizon

This is just a sampling of the innovative mobile technology projects found in Catholic schools. Several campuses in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are launching netbook initiatives this school year including St. Francis de Sales (teacherweb .com/pa/stfrancisdesalesschool/sistermary), where netbooks on a
mobile cart will be available to students in grades 5-8, and Villa Maria Academy Lower School (villamaria.org), where 7th and 8th grade students will use netbooks provided to enhance classroom learning. The Summer Tech Academy sponsored by a grant to the Archdiocese also included netbooks and iPod Touches for individual teachers.

All of the projects mentioned here are linked to my wiki page for Today’s Catholic Teacher (bit.ly/10Hbt4). In addition to using this page to access resources provided in this column, please feel free to add links to additional projects you know about where Catholic educators are exploring use of mobile technology with their students. Simply click on the link to contact me and request access to the workspace.

Mobile technologies can be used to extend learning beyond the school day and engage students in activities that are meaningful and relevant to them. Let’s use the wiki page to continue this important conversation!

Former Catholic-school teacher Susan Brooks-Young spent 23 years as a teacher and administrator. She now works as a professional consultant and author. Her latest book is Making Technology Standards Work for You: A Guide for School Administrators, Second Edition (ISTE, 2009). Susan invites your comments at SJBrooks@aol.com.

Source: Today's Catholic Teacher, November/December 2009

Copyright 2010, Peter Li, Inc. All rights reserved. This article is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, redisseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of Peter Li, Inc.