Where Technology and Education

Meet In the Middle.

Patrick Hovey
MD 300
October 19, 2008
Professor Grignan

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 “How would you describe the efficiency and effectiveness of the use of
instructional technology in your school?”
To answer this question I visited Midlakes Intermediate School in Upstate New
York. I spoke with two very qualified, dynamic educators:

Mrs. Bradley is the Library Media Specialist at Midlakes Intermediate School in

Clifton Springs, New York. She has been working there since the school has opened

five years ago. MIS is a brand new school built with keeping technology in mind. The

entire school is wired for wireless, every two classrooms if connected by a computer

“pod” containing eight or nine computers, and teachers are supported by a staff of five

professional tech assistants who aid in anything that might arise.

Ms. Hovey is a fifth grade teacher in Midlakes Intermediate. She has been

teaching there for eight years. Ms. Hovey’s classroom is shares a small computer “pod”

with the adjacent classroom. Also located in the classroom is a Smart Board with

Projector, scanner, personal laptop, an ELMO visual presenter projector, and a digital

camera. Ms. Hovey finds integrating technology into her lessons vital to having a

dynamic, fun, and progressive classroom.

Demographics

Midlakes Intermediate School is located outside of Rochester, New York and its

district services two small communities: Phelps and Clifton Springs. The

district/community is a rural area populated by about four thousand people (approx.

2,100 in Clifton Springs and 2,000 in Phelps). Given this relatively small amount of area

to service, the district is able to offer 100% coverage of bussing. Phelps-Clifton Springs

is not the most diverse school district with about 94% of its population being white.

African Americans make up 1%, Asian 1% and Hispanic/Latino 4%. The Midlakes

Intermediate School consisting of grades three through five has about five or six

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teachers for each grade level with a total of sixty-one staff members including the

Principle, Art, LMS, Reading, Technology, etc.

School Faculty

The library and the media center, two very distinct places in Midlakes are staffed

by two wonderful, committed personal. Mrs. Bradley, who has been working there for

five years, is by self title the tech savvy librarian and Mrs. Scott, who runs the computer

lab. Both of these two have their degrees in their respective fields. Mrs. Bradley’s library

contains twenty desktop computers and has two very large flat-screen TVs in opposite

corners of the library. She sees every student in the school once in a six day cycle, and

concentrates her time on literature based computer instruction. Such as ways to better

research using the internet, help with typing papers, creating more professional

presentations and the rest of the duties associated with a Librarian. Connected the

library is the computer lab. The computer lab is a dedicated computer learning area for

the school, just like the library and Mrs. Bradley sees each student once in a six day

cycle, Mrs. Scott sees each student once in a six day cycle. The computer lab contains

a full thirty full function desktop computers. Mrs. Scott engages the students with

instructional software, but also makes the time enjoyable with games and competitions.

She has students play online and off-line instructional games centered on reading,

writing, typing, mathematics, geography, and science.

Associated with the Library and the Computer lab is the technology committee.

This committee which meets “sporadically” is responsible for the acquisition of new

technologies for the school. Mrs. Bradley explained that even though the committee

meets seldom, it acquires almost anything a teacher might request. Already available in

the Library/Lab are IPods for teacher use, laptops (additional to two laptop carts), and

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digital video cameras. This committee is also responsible for hearing any teachers’

requests for further technologies in their respective classrooms. Already in place in

about twenty five percent of the classrooms are SMART Boards, with a goal of one

hundred percent in one year. These Boards, as stated by Ms. Hovey “Are an asset to

the classroom.” For teachers to have these and other technologies placed in there

room, they must appeal to the

Acquisition Committee and the

committee decides whether or not to

install the tech (most often replying with

the positive answer). Finally, this

committee along with the tech. team

already in place in the school plans and aids in teacher development. Whether this

development is training, installation, trouble shooting, or just answering a few questions

the tech team is ready to assist with anything the teachers could need.

Technology (Soft /Hardware)

Computers, computers, and more computers are located throughout the school.

The Library has twenty, and the adjoining computer lab has thirty more. As stated

before every two classes share one computer pod that contains eight computers, a

scanner, printer, and digital cameras. These computers are well maintained and

updated through the careful help of the tech. team. The computers are kept updated

with the latest editions of Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.), and

these computer all have internet connection with a full range of sites preapproved for

student usage. Along with the Microsoft Office, teachers have a full range of

instructional software at their finger tips. While on the visit, I watched the students utilize

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 math, English, typing, geography, and

science software. They were a mixture

of drill and practice, game like, and

problem solving programs. Also, each

student was given their own login

name and password with the ability to

save file that can be accessed

anywhere within the school network.

Teachers are also given the option of using

one of two laptop carts (one for each floor)

when the need to have the entire class

working on projects is needed. Each cart contains enough laptops to service the entire

class (approx. 25 per cart). These laptops can all access the wireless internet and slow

down issues were not a concern to the classroom. In each classroom that has not yet

received their SMART Board; a large TV hooked with cable, DVD, VCR, and the

school’s own broadcasting channel. The classrooms with the SMART Boards still can

have the option to have the TV remain in their rooms, but as Ms. Hovey said “I just

enjoying using the larger projector screen, and its one less thing I have to have

cluttering up my room.” One of the most interesting pieces of educational technology

that I have never seen used was the ELMO visual presenter projector. The ELMO uses

a camera, so that when any type of print is placed below it projects that image onto the

SMART Board or through a projection screen. This as told by Ms. Hovey is “wonderful.”

It makes presenting articles, photos, books much easier and larger than printing the

same information onto projection paper. Also, the feature I liked most about it was the

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ability for teachers to do math problems using the ELMO. Instead of writing on the

board, a teacher could write directly onto the piece of paper they are working from

which made for less mistakes and a cleaner product.

Scheduling

Midlakes Intermediate does an amazing job integrating computer usage and

computer literacy into their curriculum. Time is allotted for both Library and Computer

once a six day cycle for forty five minutes each. This time is spent working on skills a

student would use in the library, which is mostly computer work focused on research

and writing. The computer lab

time is used primarily to make

students usage on the computer

more efficient. Time here is spent

using keyboarding programs with

time allotted to instructional

games as well. The laptops, one

set for each floor are scheduled

by a first come first serve basis. Teachers divide the time up for each week working

around each other’s schedules. When using the laptops for publishing, teachers

reported little to no problems with them, however due to their age (5 years old) they are

becoming less efficient with online work and their battery time is starting to fade with

age. Ms. Hovey stated, “It is sometimes frustrating when your students are complaining

about batteries running low and internet surfing more comparable to internet crawling.”

But she also said, “I am thankful for their presence and the fact that I can get every

student using the computers simultaneously.” Computers in Ms. Hovey’s classroom

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were most often used for either publishing work or for extra time with instructional

material disguised as games. Ms. Hovey found student’s interest in material such as

math, w hen they were being engaged through the use of computers.

Student Learning

Ms. Hovey and Mrs. Bradley both reported that student’s interest, quality of work,

and motivation all were increased when technological devices, especially computers

were utilized. Ms. Hovey stated, “My kids really enjoy seeing their work look

professional when completed.” She went on to state that some of her students found in

much more difficult to produce the same finished product without the help of computers.

Seamless integration of technology was seen throughout the school and especially in

the classroom. As I observed, Ms. Hovey went from using an English lesson using the

SMART Board, directly in a math lesson using the ELMO. Never once did the classroom

flow become affected by the use of technology. The technology being used seemed

right at home in the classroom, and almost seemed impossible to accomplish so much

so fluidly with it. I have always had a special desire to help the needs of challenged

students, and again technology was right there helping Ms. Hovey do this. Naturally

Speaking Dragon is voice recognition program used for students who struggle with fine

motor skills, and with students are classified learning disabled in writing. Ms. Hovey has

seen students who were previously not able to express their ideas because of

challenges they face, but this adaptive technology is one more aid in the process of

achievement. Student learning is the primary goal for any school and Midlakes does an

outstanding job in utilizing the technology available to achieve this goal.

Midlakes Intermediate School should be an example set for all future schools

being constructed. Technology integration is seamless into the curriculum and the

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effects are obvious. Teachers and students are able to work in a more efficient manor

creating more professional pieces that they can be proud of. These effects are seen

throughout the school, from students getting excited to see their work displayed in the

halls or online to seeing students smile when completing an online exercise. From top to

bottom Midlakes Intermediate School is a shining star in sky of education and

technology integration.