“The applications are nearly endless”. This quote regarding the use of i-Pods for learning made by Northview educator Candee Morrison in last week’s edition of the Press Citizen caught my eye. Over the past three years I have worked a great deal on legislation designed to promote the use of technology in Iowa’s classrooms. The Northview story is a wonderful example of the direction Iowa schools need to move in order to make sure our students are competitive in a global market.
In the early 1990’s the Iowa Legislature appropriated $150 million for technology over a five year period to school districts. With personal computers being relatively new, most schools needed extra money to make this investment for their classrooms. The money was used primarily for hardware and software, and today the student to computer ratio in Iowa is roughly 3:1.
The problem was many of the schools bought the hardware, but had little idea of how to actually incorporate it into the day to day learning process. Too few opportunities for professional development hindered teachers from infusing technology--when appropriate--into their best teaching practices.
At the same time, kids took to technology like a duck to water. For them, learning through the use of technology was natural. In particular, the use of technology in learning has been shown to be successful for students who are visual learners as well as students who lose interest in school around the sixth grade level.
A 2003 legislative interim committee assigned to assess the technology in education concluded that while there were some school districts in Iowa—like Ankeny—that had already invested money into moving technology into the next phase, this vision was not widespread.
To encourage schools to invest in technology, the Iowa Legislature created the Iowa Learning Technology Commission in 2005. The ILTC, made up of members from both the public and private sectors, was tasked with developing grant opportunity criteria for Iowa schools. The successful grant candidate would be able to demonstrate a technology project in their school that would innovatively incorporate technology to improve student achievement.
The Legislature has appropriated $500,000 in both the 2006 and 2007 budgets to use for technology grants. The first round of grants, distributed last year to six schools, is in its first year of implementation, after which it will be evaluated for its effectiveness in improving student achievement. The goal of the ITLC grants is to produce a “best practices” warehouse of ideas that can be duplicated in other school districts.
I am proud to announce that the Ankeny Community School District has been successful in securing one of the grants in the second round. The grant of $37,762.50 will jointly benefit the Ankeny Historical Society and Ankeny High School. AHS students will design and update the Historical Society’s website, incorporating audio and video pod casts which highlight local residents talking about their experiences during the time period the students are studying. The students will also develop audio guided tours of the museum, recording them on i-Pods to be available for museum visitors, as well as on the website. Additionally, students will create interactive kiosks on computers for visitors to use at the museum, and archive oral history interviews on DVD and the website.
This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn about several technology applications, partner with another generation of Ankeny residents, and even learn a little bit about history along the way! Kudos to those on the Ankeny staff who have worked on this and other projects.
As always, please contact me in any of the following ways:
E-mail: carmine.boal@legis.state.ia.us
Home Address: 3301 SW Timber Green Road, Ankeny
Home Phone: 964-3335