Assessment made easy
By Andrew A. Zucker
Denver School of Science and Technology (DSST), was the first public charter high school to on one-on-one laptop school. With a donation the school was able to buy computers for every student attending the school. By having a laptop for every student the school test score improved dramatically and every graduating senior were accepted to a four year college, which is rare.
Students and teachers said that by having test and work done through the computer students were able to receive feedback instantly, and teachers received responses and knew what their students needed help in. by receiving responses immediately students were able to see in what area they needed more help and knew where they stand in the course. This also gave more time for the teachers to correct other work that need more attention, for instance essays. Also, for language art teacher this system is great because students are able to upload their papers and the teachers can project them to the whole class, of course they can make the name confidential. By projecting the papers students are able to see the corrections and why, they will understand their mistakes others so they will not commit the same mistakes.
This would be something I would love to have in my class, having a system where students can receive feedback on their work, and test right away. This would help my students and me to see where my class stands on the subject being taught, and my students would also know right away in what they need the extra help in. The only thing that I see that would cause problems is in that I know that not all schools will be privileged with donations, or having a laptop for every student.
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5 years ago
One of my concerns with using computers in my classroom is that the school district I work for may not have enough money to supply enough computers for all my students. If I were to do an assignment through the computer but there were only 5 computers in my classroom, then that assignment may take too much time. My main concern would dissapear if all of the students in my class had their own lap top. I plan to teach the primary grades so I'm not sure if a lap top for every student would be realistic. A curriculum that is based on everyone having their own computer would be more useful in high school or even middle school.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think this program is great, like Lorena, I do not think it could materialize for schools that do not have the budget for it or the means to do so. Anyhow, I still think schools need to exhaust all efforts to make laptops available for their students.
ReplyDeleteBased on first-hand experience, a program like this would be effective because laptops make completing assignments easier, more convenient, and faster. This was the first semester that I brought my laptop to school and I definitely regret not taking it with me sooner. Writing papers and completing projects have become less challenging mainly because I can get my work done anywhere. Being stuck at home in a dimly lit room made me trapped which in turn decreased my productivity. Furthermore, because most of my professors lecture off of PowerPoint, I am able to follow the lectures on my laptop and easily and efficiently take notes (typing a faster than writing which makes me able to write detailed notes). The biggest perk of using a laptop is being able to save paper!
I think the idea is great, but definitely would be limited by budget concerns. It's definitely great for older students, but younger students would probably be far too distracted by a laptop to accomplish any work. Even high school students would have to be banned from playing games, chatting, etc. during class and it would have to be monitored. On the upside, laptops in classrooms have a ton of benefits in terms of allowing students to take notes more efficiently, send assignments more rapidly, and use computer software in every single class. Especially now that Netbooks and even some notebook computers have become much less expensive this could be a more feasible option for students.
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