the
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 109 Glenview, IL
GLENBROOK SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL 4000 W. LAKE AVE., GLENVIEW, IL 60026
OR ACLE
FEB. 1, 2013 ISSUE 4 VOLUME 51
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
theoracle.glenbrook225.org
SYNCHED: During fifth period, David Jakes, instructional technology coordinator, speaks to science teacher David Lieberman’s AP Chemistry class-
es. He discussed the intentions and goals of a district-wide pilot that will integrate Google Nexus 7 tablets and Google Chromebooks into education across six classes at South, including Lieberman’s AP Chemistry class. Photo by Jacqueline DeWitt
Photo from pcadvisor.co.uk
District pilot to test Nexus 7, Chromebook in classroom setting Kathryn Jaslikowski
co-editor in chief As part of a district-wide pilot to test the effectiveness of new technology in the classroom, six classes at South received Google Nexus 7 tablets and Google Chromebook laptops Jan. 29. According to Principal Dr. Brian Wegley, the pilot was initiated by David Jakes, instructional technology coordinator; Ryan Bretag, Jakes’ counterpart at North; and Superintendent Dr. Mike Riggle. Jakes said that a South committee consisting of himself, technology trainer Lisa Sly, participating teachers, librarians and instructional coaches has been meeting since midway through the first semester to plan the pilot. Cameron Muir, associate principal of curriculum and instruction; Kris Frandson, Muir’s counterpart at North; and Rosanne Williamson, associate superintendent for educational services, were also involved in the planning process. Muir said that the pilot discussion originated from the debate over electronic versus traditional textbooks. “From there it became apparent that the electronic textbook discussion really couldn’t be discussed without, logically, the question of the device and how students would be accessing those electronic textbooks,” Muir said. “[…] The question of the device became a topic and what would happen if we went with one device […] to a situation where a student can have any device.” Once the pilot was proposed, teachers in the district were asked to volunteer to participate. The six teachers from South that will implement it are David Lieberman,
NEWS
2
Science; Christina Cosgrove, World Languages; Matthew Hamilton, Special Education; Scott Glass, English; Kimberly Kiraly, Family and Consumer Science; and Elizabeth Bushek, Math. The pilot will last for 12 weeks, with classes testing out one device for six weeks before switching to the other. After those 12 weeks, Jakes explained that he and Bretag will make a recommendation to Riggle and the Board of Education about whether or not to pursue the use of these technologies in future school years. He is unsure when a schoolwide implementation of the pilot would take place. “It could be next year if it’s successful; it could be a year later; it could be maybe we don’t do it even if it is successful,” Jakes said. “We’re hoping to have a great experience and say, ‘Look, this is compelling enough, this is so compelling that we have to do this,’ and then it becomes, ‘How do we do that at scale?’ […] It’s one thing for six teachers. It’s a whole different thing when you’re talking about the entire school.” In order to evaluate the success of the pilot, a team at South will conduct frequent classroom observations under the Instructional Practices Inventory (IPI) method of measuring student engagement, according to Jakes.
OPINIONS
6
FEATURES
11
North’s observations will be conducted under a different method in order to gain different perspectives, Jakes said. “[At South], the team comes to the classroom, spends about two or three minutes observing the classroom, interviews students if they need to, and we can then take a look at, on [a] sliding scale, what level of engagement the kids are at,” Jakes said. “If you’re watching a demonstration of some calculus problem, that’s one thing, but if you’re actually doing it and processing that and asking questions, it’s a different level of engagement.” According to Jeffrey Rylander, instructional supervisor of the Science Department, the teachers in the pilot do not have a set plan for how to use the devices in the classroom. Rather, the pilot is designed so that students will play a large role in integrating the technology within the specific subjects. “In any kind of a pilot [...], the purpose of it is to really learn and evaluate and have the kids teach us, get [students] to help us figure this out,” Rylander said. “I think as [students] play with it and experiment with it, we’re going to learn a ton. Some of that is going to […] help us evaluate whether this is a direction that we want to go as a school or not.” Cosgrove plans on using the devices in her Spanish
See PILOT page 2
A&E
18
SPORTS
24