Michigan District Successful in First Year of 1-to-1 Program
Nearly
two years after voters in the Grand Haven
(MI) Area Public Schools approved a $19-million bond issue to
enhance the use
of technology for its 6,200 K-12 students, every student in
kindergarten
through fourth grade has an iPad and every student in grade 5-12
has a Chromebook.
Even
though the bond issue was approved in May
2014, District Technology Director Doug Start said the district took
the entire
2014-15 school year to plan, prepare and test devices so that teachers
would be
ready when school started the first full year of a new 1-to-1 program
last
fall.
"That
was critical in ensuring the devices were
successfully implemented," Start said in a report in the Grand Haven Tribune. "This preparation reduced
anxiety. While
not everyone is at the same level, we can say that technology is being
used
daily where appropriate and effective for each student."
For
instance, said White Pines Intermediate School sixth-grade teacher Gary Knight, it's made his job more
efficient and
less time-consuming. Now, rather than photocopying lessons in advance,
he sends
students the information they need electronically in a matter of
seconds.
His
extended learning class students are working together
on a digital project to help a local United States Coast Guard unit recruit new
crew
members in the area.
"It's
fun and easy to work with," said
sixth-grader Tucker Kooi of his Chromebook.
Nate
Mihalek, a seventh-grade teacher at
Lakeshore Middle School, said it's opened up new options for students
who crave
different ways of learning. In his science classes, he gives his
students
different options to prepare assignments. In some cases, it may be
writing a
traditional paper, but it could also be making a video or choosing
other
mediums that interest them.
"It
empowers them to go out and seek the
information themselves and be a digester of information," Mihalek said.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.