#EdTech is Engaged at @JTNicholsMS

BYOD, WiFi, GAFE, and Other Great #EdTech (Educational Technology) Advances at the @JTNicholsMS

I don't know if everyone in the Nichols Community knows, but the John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School has become a BYOD school.

Some might not understand what exactly that means, but BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device.  In the last month or so, the MPS Technology Department has worked with us at the Nichols to pilot a BYOD environment for our students and faculty to take advantage of.

 

In order to make this happen, the WiFi had to be made available to all.  The WiFi is now open to all students throughout the building.  Students can bring in any device and log on to our Student WiFi log-in.  Students have been bringing in tablets, laptops, iPads, iPods, smart phones, and other devices to use.  One can see our teachers and staff utilizing this ability to have our students engage with their teachers, their fellow students, and the world.

We, again, are in our second year of using Digits, a completely digital, online math program.  This year sees us having a set of tablets for all students to use in every single one of their math classes.  Students use the tablets to practice their work or follow along as their teacher instructs on a lesson.

My favorite part of utilizing Digits, though, is still how one can see students in their math classes with the tablet open and then next to it will be "low tech" tools of paper, pencil, and notes.

We also became a true Google school just a couple of months ago, and with it, teachers and students have been starting to use the Google Applications for Education (GAFE) of Google Drive and Google Docs to work and share with their fellow classmates and their teachers.

We have been able to purchase one set of tablets for each grade level to again support our students in the ways they can learn.  Just another way to help us get as close as we can to a 1-on-1 environment for edtech to be available to all of our students.

In walking around the building these past couple of weeks, I have been able to see these advancements working to all of our advantages:

Students are doing research.

Students helping, supporting, and teaching each other.

Students who might not have access to devices at home can then utilize these devices in their DIAL classes.

Students continue to use the advantages of Digits online when they need some support or need to practice more problems in a certain area.

Students are engaged with the means to take notes or write papers from their own desks with their own devices.

Students are working collaboratively with each other in class.

Students are writing and sharing their work through Google Drive and Docs with their classmates and with their teachers.

Students and teachers are being given the tools they need in order to achieve more academic success.

My other favorite part of our 21st Century Teaching and Learning and how are teachers are not only figuratively working as the "guide on the side" instead of the "sage on stage."

All of this is putting the students at the center of their own learning.  This is what we continue to work towards as a school.  

We know that if we do this everything will improve, especially student achievement, which is exactly why we are doing what we are doing.