"We want people to use their technology at school just like they use them in real life."
So says Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Jim Shevchuk, whose portfolio includes the use of technology in Living Sky School Division.
"We really are becoming data driven so it's helping us out in the academics and assessment piece," Shevchuk told members of the Living Sky School Division Board of Education last week. "I think we are really finding that we are able to split up the data into pieces we've never been able to do before and we are finding that very helpful, just looking at desegregating the data with our First Nations for example."
In a report presented by Shevchuk, Learning Consultant Donna DesRoches and ICS Manager Jason Caswell, board members heard about how technology is supporting an effective student data system and also how it is supporting student learning.
School secretaries have provided excellent leadership in student data, said Shevchuk. Through the SchooLogic system, parents can check students' attendance by phone, he said.
He added, the effectiveness of North Battleford Comprehensive High School's student data system was demonstrated recently when an incident that caused a lockdown of St. Mary School resulted in a decision by Living Sky School Division that students in the area should be picked up instead of walking home or taking the bus.
"NBCHS was able to send out a message to everybody about how everything would work and the system was successful," he said.
He added a series of training opportunities will be coming up to reinforce some of the things secretaries, teachers and administrators have been working on.
His catch line, he said, is, "There will be no teacher left behind when it comes to the student data system."
More than just attendance information, SchooLogic also includes an interface between student and teacher information, including the posting of scores, assignments and progress.
"We are able to support the board's goals with this system and the data will assist in programming and … diagnosing some of the students' needs," he said. "Right now as they are wrapping up semester one we are able to see where students are with various credits so we can anticipate problems and remedy situations even before going into semester two."
He added, "Whether there's a hot spot in one of the schools or an attendance issue or just even the way we look at assessment or reports cards, the tenet of the system is that we are able to officially communicate with government or parents or our biggest users of the system – the students."
How the devices of today's technology are used to support student learning was also addressed in the report.
"We've been asking our students, our teachers and our team to re-examine the way they use these devices and perhaps the number of chances they can use devices in their classroom to expand the learning networks," said Shevchuk.
DesRoches said every year the division develops a number of professional development workshops and the technology team tries to be collaborative with other consultants so technology isn't viewed as an "add on."
One of the most interesting meetings, she said, was one that pulled together all of the teachers who had been working with the innovative classroom grants made available by the division.
"It was an astounding day in so many ways," said DesRoches.
They shared the changes that were happening in terms of their instructional practice and in their students' learning.
Teachers are no longer providing information to the same extent, she said.
"The students are doing their own exploration in terms of their learning," she explained. "There really is a shift from the kids finding the answers to verifying the answers, whether it's relevant, correct, what they need and they find that the answer is real."
The teachers reported that when the students have a chance to use some of the simulations available they get a quicker grasp by seeing things happen.
She also said they are seeing students taking more control of their learning and becoming more collaborative, teaching each other and teaching the teacher.
"It's more experiential learning, not just reading but actually experiencing and making a greater connection to the information and content," said DesRoches.
Teachers are also seeing more independence on the part of the students and greater discrimination about the information they are researching.
Moving forward, she said, they will be using the SAMR model of technology integration, a digital fluency rubric that will help move the use of technology from simple substitution of tasks that were already being done to accomplishing things that could never have been done if they didn't have the technology.
It starts in kindergarten with students learning a word processing skill set so that when they are in Grade 3 they will be able to word process their writing assessment that is done in that grade.
Throughout the division, there are some schools and some classrooms that have a 1-1 ratio of devices to students. Across the division the norm is more like 2-1, however, Shevchuk, pointed out, this is a number to be proud of compared to other school divisions.
As far as the “bring your own device” model goes, they are still moving toward it, but there are issues at the “real level” that have to be resolved, such as “where do you store that device at school.”
Meanwhile, there are also some Lean successes, said Shevchuk, such as saving on the cost of servers by “virtualizing” them, streamlining telephones, printing and facility maintenance requests, as well as being able to get new devices to the students faster by having them shipped directly to the schools.
Regarding how quickly technology can become outdated, Shevchuk said industry standards suggest changing things out every three years, but he’s asked Caswell and his team to stretch things out to four plus years, so they are spending approximately $400,000 in hardware replacement.
Caswell said meeting with the schools at least once a year to find out their goals and requirements helps them come up with appropriate planning.
"It's not so much about chasing the technology,” he said. “It’s finding out what you're doing and then applying the right fit that's going to last the three or four years you need it to work."
