Computers for everyone
By Russ Oechslin, Journal Correspondent | Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2007
Note-taking becomes a different exercise with computers in the classroom. (Photo by Russ Oechslin)
EVERLY, Iowa -- The school marms of a hundred years ago might get lost in the classrooms of Clay Central-Everly High School, where instead of using a chalk board each student has their own laptop computer -- and is sometimes more proficient with it than the instructor.
It isn't that teachers aren't good with computers. They are.
But these students grew up using technology. Teaching via computer is still a new experience for a faculty that grew up thinking a "mouse" should be exterminated, not placed atop the desk.
The CC-E school board gave administrators two years to have a working system in place by last fall. The reason for the push? To give CC-E students a boost in technology to better equip them for college and the technical world ahead. Eighty percent of the students here further their education.
With an $80,000 grant from the state technology fund and $170,000 of local money, the laptops, a network and techs were put in place.
Staff and students were on-line in the school's wireless network when school began last August. Training is ongoing for students and faculty, according to high school principal Chuck Kuester.
"Our student and teacher response -- along with parents -- has been incredible. And the students have handled this first year very well. We will continue to in-service everyone as advancements are made," Kuester says.
In addition to the school's wireless network, most students have Internet access at home.
Ben Bisaillon, a junior from Royal, used to have dial-up at home. His family has since gone wireless. Instead of carrying his government text book from home to school and to classes, Basaillon transferred the text to his computer from a CD.
In addition, his instructor also gives the class supplemental reading assignments on-line. Those assignments aren't listed on the blackboard as they might have been a decade ago. The assignments -- categorized as due, overdue, due today, this week and next week -- are downloaded from a class server, which in Bissaillon's case also features listings for algebra, animal science, design art, English III, library, physical education and U.S. history.
Senior Euvonne Sheridan of Greenville, who plans to study computer and graphic design at Buena Vista University, has a senior photograph she has "PhotoShopped" for a friend, a poster for a retail business and her own graduation invitation in her portfolio.
Another senior, Jessica Schoelerman of Everly, has a folder for scholarship information. She plans to attend Minnesota State University at Mankato next year to study athletic training.
All grades get laptops
Freshmen began using their own computers the first day of class with instruction in many of the Microsoft programs they will use throughout their high school years: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher.
Math and science teacher Allyn Heikens notes students are quick to learn to use a touch-pad and stylus. But some "old school" teachers like her are more comfortable and make better time with a mouse next to the laptop. Heikens says most of her students still print out text to read on paper because they were taught to read the printed page.
"That will change as the students learn to read more on a computer beginning in kindergarten," she predicts.
Even note-taking isn't what it used to be with the conversion of student laptops into tablet computers which accept hand-written notes to be translated to type.
Exams can be paperless. Multiple choice and true-false questions can be automatically graded.
"Then all I have to do is enter the grades," says Liz Kardell, a business teacher. Essay exams allow faculty members to pen comments in the margins and return the test to a student if clarification is desired.
Kardell sees the benefit of having students' spreadsheet files to grade in her bookkeeping classes so she can check formulas along with the finished work.
But the business teacher does not use computers extensively in her first-year accounting class. "The work in accounting I is still done with a pencil and paper to learn accounting principles -- debits and credits and how to balance a journal," she says.
The QuickBooks program posts debits to an account when writing a check. "But students have to learn that first. They need to know how to do it. The program can make bank reconciliations easy. But they have to learn to do it by hand. And eventually they will find errors more easily," she says.
Classes close to paperless
Instead of carrying stacks of assignments and test papers home to correct at night, all Kardell has to do is log-on to the CC-E site from home and work online. If school is closed for something like a snow day, assignments may still be completed on time. Parents also have the ability to access their child's work.
Clint Goodchild teaches what was known as industrial arts. Today, his industrial technology curriculum includes electricity, electronics, laser optics, flight simulation, weather, and animations, along with CAD (Computer Aided Design), and, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) -- much of it on desktop computers as a matter of convenience in his classroom, where there are no texts.
In addition to course material, students use the Internet to check specifications, parts, assembly diagrams and the like for things like small engines.
"There are fewer tech manuals on the shelf these days. If they have a problem in the shop, they come in here and look it up.
"In this day of video games, this stuff is gold," he says. "The students relate to the computers better than pen and paper. They still need to go to the source and read. There's still value in reading -- even in shop class."
Goodchild is a long-time fan of computers. Like many CC-E faculty members, including the principal, Goodchild's first computer was an Apple IIe -- with two floppy disk drives. Each program was on one disk. The data was on the second, as hard drives were not common 25 years ago.
"We're all learning," Goodchild says. "Students may know more than we do. They're willing to teach you. We're all on the same page. I try to combine computers and the traditional in class. Soon, what we're doing here they'll be doing in every high school."
Learn from each other
Heikens, who has spent 23 of her 25 classroom years in the district, says she has also learned a lot from students, many of who have been using computers since they were in the second grade.
"We all use them in different ways, depending on the program and our own experiences," says Kardell.
In her ecology class, Heikens shows a student-produced video on endangered species, which includes music with video clips. The 15 students in that senior level class were also participating in an on-line discussion that saw 85 responses to questions dealing with issues like human population and infanticide.
Senior Kim Seavert, who will study accounting at Wayne State College next year, says she's taking the ecology course because she’s already taken the other science courses. She will get extra benefit from the class because she will receive college credit from Iowa Lakes Community College -- credit transferable to Iowa's three state universities as well as many other public and private schools.
Heikens' daughter Kaelynn expects to take her credit to the University of North Dakota, where she will study forensic science.
There are 'glitches'
With any technology problems are inevitable. That's why Murray Gafkjen and Mark Joenks are close at hand.
Gafkjen is primarily responsible for the network. Because the laptops are new and still under warranty, Joenks' responsibility falls in the software area -- "keeping working computers in the hands of the students as much as possible," he says.
His biggest problem involves trying to get students to backup (to the network) and shutdown properly.
"But with just two minutes between classes they don’t always get to shutdown as they should," he says.
Accidents happen, too
Accidents happen -- even when your mother is president of the school board. Just ask sophomore Laura Brugman.
Leaving school one Friday afternoon, Brugman's mother Sue explains her daughter "had about 18 things to carry and set them down to unlock the car. She had basketball gear, text books, a trumpet, and her computer. She was carrying like a mule. It was a game day. So she also had a change of clothes.
"She got in the car, started it up and gets a little distracted, puts the car in reverse and backs over the computer. Her friends were watching and yelling 'No! No!' But she just continued backing.
"When she realized what happened she was just white. She was so shaken up she could hardly play basketball that night," her mother says.
An all-conference player the previous year, Laura was all-district this season. And while she had been averaging 13 points a game, she only scored four that night. Still, CC-E beat the team from Graettinger-Terril, a team that eventually won the Class 1A state title.
"Winning the game salvaged what would have been a really terrible day if the (CC-E) girls had lost," the school board president notes.
Monday morning, when Laura took the smashed laptop back to school, Mark Joenks was a bit apprehensive when he saw the tire marks on the carrying case.
The good news is that when Joenks put the hard drive in another computer that data was also salvaged.
It isn't that teachers aren't good with computers. They are.
But these students grew up using technology. Teaching via computer is still a new experience for a faculty that grew up thinking a "mouse" should be exterminated, not placed atop the desk.
The CC-E school board gave administrators two years to have a working system in place by last fall. The reason for the push? To give CC-E students a boost in technology to better equip them for college and the technical world ahead. Eighty percent of the students here further their education.
With an $80,000 grant from the state technology fund and $170,000 of local money, the laptops, a network and techs were put in place.
Staff and students were on-line in the school's wireless network when school began last August. Training is ongoing for students and faculty, according to high school principal Chuck Kuester.
"Our student and teacher response -- along with parents -- has been incredible. And the students have handled this first year very well. We will continue to in-service everyone as advancements are made," Kuester says.
In addition to the school's wireless network, most students have Internet access at home.
Ben Bisaillon, a junior from Royal, used to have dial-up at home. His family has since gone wireless. Instead of carrying his government text book from home to school and to classes, Basaillon transferred the text to his computer from a CD.
In addition, his instructor also gives the class supplemental reading assignments on-line. Those assignments aren't listed on the blackboard as they might have been a decade ago. The assignments -- categorized as due, overdue, due today, this week and next week -- are downloaded from a class server, which in Bissaillon's case also features listings for algebra, animal science, design art, English III, library, physical education and U.S. history.
Senior Euvonne Sheridan of Greenville, who plans to study computer and graphic design at Buena Vista University, has a senior photograph she has "PhotoShopped" for a friend, a poster for a retail business and her own graduation invitation in her portfolio.
Another senior, Jessica Schoelerman of Everly, has a folder for scholarship information. She plans to attend Minnesota State University at Mankato next year to study athletic training.
All grades get laptops
Freshmen began using their own computers the first day of class with instruction in many of the Microsoft programs they will use throughout their high school years: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Publisher.
Math and science teacher Allyn Heikens notes students are quick to learn to use a touch-pad and stylus. But some "old school" teachers like her are more comfortable and make better time with a mouse next to the laptop. Heikens says most of her students still print out text to read on paper because they were taught to read the printed page.
"That will change as the students learn to read more on a computer beginning in kindergarten," she predicts.
Even note-taking isn't what it used to be with the conversion of student laptops into tablet computers which accept hand-written notes to be translated to type.
Exams can be paperless. Multiple choice and true-false questions can be automatically graded.
"Then all I have to do is enter the grades," says Liz Kardell, a business teacher. Essay exams allow faculty members to pen comments in the margins and return the test to a student if clarification is desired.
Kardell sees the benefit of having students' spreadsheet files to grade in her bookkeeping classes so she can check formulas along with the finished work.
But the business teacher does not use computers extensively in her first-year accounting class. "The work in accounting I is still done with a pencil and paper to learn accounting principles -- debits and credits and how to balance a journal," she says.
The QuickBooks program posts debits to an account when writing a check. "But students have to learn that first. They need to know how to do it. The program can make bank reconciliations easy. But they have to learn to do it by hand. And eventually they will find errors more easily," she says.
Classes close to paperless
Instead of carrying stacks of assignments and test papers home to correct at night, all Kardell has to do is log-on to the CC-E site from home and work online. If school is closed for something like a snow day, assignments may still be completed on time. Parents also have the ability to access their child's work.
Clint Goodchild teaches what was known as industrial arts. Today, his industrial technology curriculum includes electricity, electronics, laser optics, flight simulation, weather, and animations, along with CAD (Computer Aided Design), and, CNC (Computer Numerical Control) -- much of it on desktop computers as a matter of convenience in his classroom, where there are no texts.
In addition to course material, students use the Internet to check specifications, parts, assembly diagrams and the like for things like small engines.
"There are fewer tech manuals on the shelf these days. If they have a problem in the shop, they come in here and look it up.
"In this day of video games, this stuff is gold," he says. "The students relate to the computers better than pen and paper. They still need to go to the source and read. There's still value in reading -- even in shop class."
Goodchild is a long-time fan of computers. Like many CC-E faculty members, including the principal, Goodchild's first computer was an Apple IIe -- with two floppy disk drives. Each program was on one disk. The data was on the second, as hard drives were not common 25 years ago.
"We're all learning," Goodchild says. "Students may know more than we do. They're willing to teach you. We're all on the same page. I try to combine computers and the traditional in class. Soon, what we're doing here they'll be doing in every high school."
Learn from each other
Heikens, who has spent 23 of her 25 classroom years in the district, says she has also learned a lot from students, many of who have been using computers since they were in the second grade.
"We all use them in different ways, depending on the program and our own experiences," says Kardell.
In her ecology class, Heikens shows a student-produced video on endangered species, which includes music with video clips. The 15 students in that senior level class were also participating in an on-line discussion that saw 85 responses to questions dealing with issues like human population and infanticide.
Senior Kim Seavert, who will study accounting at Wayne State College next year, says she's taking the ecology course because she’s already taken the other science courses. She will get extra benefit from the class because she will receive college credit from Iowa Lakes Community College -- credit transferable to Iowa's three state universities as well as many other public and private schools.
Heikens' daughter Kaelynn expects to take her credit to the University of North Dakota, where she will study forensic science.
There are 'glitches'
With any technology problems are inevitable. That's why Murray Gafkjen and Mark Joenks are close at hand.
Gafkjen is primarily responsible for the network. Because the laptops are new and still under warranty, Joenks' responsibility falls in the software area -- "keeping working computers in the hands of the students as much as possible," he says.
His biggest problem involves trying to get students to backup (to the network) and shutdown properly.
"But with just two minutes between classes they don’t always get to shutdown as they should," he says.
Accidents happen, too
Accidents happen -- even when your mother is president of the school board. Just ask sophomore Laura Brugman.
Leaving school one Friday afternoon, Brugman's mother Sue explains her daughter "had about 18 things to carry and set them down to unlock the car. She had basketball gear, text books, a trumpet, and her computer. She was carrying like a mule. It was a game day. So she also had a change of clothes.
"She got in the car, started it up and gets a little distracted, puts the car in reverse and backs over the computer. Her friends were watching and yelling 'No! No!' But she just continued backing.
"When she realized what happened she was just white. She was so shaken up she could hardly play basketball that night," her mother says.
An all-conference player the previous year, Laura was all-district this season. And while she had been averaging 13 points a game, she only scored four that night. Still, CC-E beat the team from Graettinger-Terril, a team that eventually won the Class 1A state title.
"Winning the game salvaged what would have been a really terrible day if the (CC-E) girls had lost," the school board president notes.
Monday morning, when Laura took the smashed laptop back to school, Mark Joenks was a bit apprehensive when he saw the tire marks on the carrying case.
The good news is that when Joenks put the hard drive in another computer that data was also salvaged.
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Doodee wrote on Feb 1, 2008 8:53 PM: