SPRINGDALE -- Sharon Cain's fourth-graders spent the day before Christmas break working in pairs on new laptops that the class received this school year.
They used their laptops to access a Google service that allows both partners to work simultaneously from separate computers on the same slideshow document. The pairs could work on the same slide or on different parts of the slideshow.
They were so involved in their projects that some sighed when Cain told them it was time to put away the computers and get ready for lunch.
Until this school year, Cain's students would use computers for class assignments once per quarter, and each student had to create a separate slideshow. Now they use them one or two hours a day and can work in teams.
"They're talking to each other. They're definitely more engaged," Cain said. "It's hands-on. They're going to retain the information better."
A little more than a year has passed since Springdale Superintendent Jim Rollins huddled with a group of district administrators in his office while awaiting an announcement that Springdale was one of five school districts nationally to win a grant from the Race to the Top competition for school districts.
Springdale's award totals $25.88 million over four years.
The primary focus of the grant is creating a system of personalized learning across the district, said Marsha Jones, the district's Race to the Top grant coordinator.
Personalizing learning includes classroom activities that require students to work together, with each student accountable for components of the work, she said. Students also should have the ability to learn in any place and at any time, which is easier when students have immediate access to a computer.
The district wants its 21,000 students to be independent, self-directed learners with the confidence that learning something new is something they can manage and handle with grace, Jones said.
"We want them to be versatile and well-equipped as they enter a technology-driven age," Jones said.
In 12 months, Springdale has spent $7.45 million of the grant, with 82.4 percent going toward technology, according to a mid-December summary of expenses from the district.
The technology portion of the grant so far has paid for 10,000 Chromebooks, provided wireless Internet access across the district and allowed for the addition of four computer technicians to keep everything working, said Eric Hatch, the district's technology director.
The district will continue buying Chromebooks, a type of laptop computer, so that the district will have one device for every sixth- through 12th-grade student by the end of this school year and one laptop for every third- through 12th-grade student by December 2017, Hatch said. The district does not plan for students to take the devices home, Hatch said.
The district used a bidding process to choose Chromebooks based on criteria that included memory, processing power, longevity and battery life, he said.
Chromebooks are laptops that run only a Web browser and cost about $300 each, Hatch said. When students log into their Google accounts, they have instant access to Google programs, bookmarks, classroom Web pages and any work they have saved in the Google programs.
Even though the computers remain at school, students can access all of that information from any computer with Internet access, he said.
The grant also will provide one electronic tablet for each child in kindergarten, first and second grades, he said.
Chad Burkett, an agriculture science teacher at Springdale High School, has a set of 30 Chromebooks for his students to use in his classes this school year. They replaced a classroom set of aging mini-laptops.
The new computers and the Google programs have helped Burkett organize and streamline his classes, he said. Burkett has all of the curriculum online for the four classes he teaches. Students find their assignments and instructions through Burkett's Google Classroom page.
When students were submitting lab reports early in the school year, Burkett provided a template with the correct format and detailed explanations for each section of the lab report. Students were able to refer back to the templates as the semester progressed.
He doesn't have to worry about forgetting students' papers at school for grading because they are all housed within his Google Classroom page, he said. Burkett can keep track of students who have finished assignments and quickly see whether assignments were late.
"With these devices, I'm able to get kids to turn things in," Burkett said.
The change to a mostly paperless classroom has freed Burkett to give students more individual attention while they are working in his class, he said.
While some teachers are tech-savvy, others are learning the basics of logging into their Google accounts, said Laura Bishop, one of four teachers the grant is paying to act as technology integration specialists.
Each specialist is receiving two years of intensive training on effective technology use in the classroom through the eMINTS National Center, a program based at the University of Missouri, said another specialist, Shawna Polk. The eMINTS name stands for "enhancing Missouri's Instructional Networked Teaching Strategies."
The specialists in turn train teachers on each of the district's campuses, who pass on lessons to colleagues in their buildings.
The challenge for many teachers is in learning to let students figure out assignments on their own without providing explicit, step-by-step instructions, Polk said. Teachers also are adjusting to students having choices about how they complete classroom assignments.
The training gives teachers experience working with a variety of Internet programs, specialist Ty Davis said.
Teachers learn that Google programs, such as Google Slides, can accommodate small groups of up to five students working on one document at the same time without the need for students to email each other paragraphs or parts of an assignment, specialist Mickey McFetridge said.
With Google programs, students can work side by side or from different parts of the classroom, Bishop said. As an example, a science teacher teaching a lesson on the five phases of cell division might divide students into groups of five, with one group member responsible for creating a slide on each phase.
The teacher then could instruct all students from each group responsible for the first phase to meet in an "expert" group, Bishop said. While they meet with the "expert" group, the students can contribute to the slideshow that their original group is creating at the same time.
By the time they finish, each group would have a complete presentation on all five phases to share with the rest of the class, Bishop said.
"It's still about teaching the content or the skills," McFetridge said. "The teacher gives tools and support so a student has options."
NW News on 01/04/2015