FAQ's

=FAQs ON THE C.I.S. TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE= • Wiki – for collaboration in the planning phase and sharing this information with others online • Online research • Using digital still and video cameras to further enhance their projects • Using programs such as Comic Life for video preparation (storyboard) and also for making digital comics for sharing online • Using Curio or Inspiration for mind mapping/planning Without digital equipment, students will be limited to traditional tools such as poster boards, printed material and oral presentations which are very good tools to use, but they only represent a portion of what we view are key literacy skills. || As we work with the units of inquiry, we will make it clearer for everyone what specific needs in technology are. Thus, we are revisiting the original technology plan and coming up with a revised plan based on “Traditional and Digital Literacies.”
 * ===How can we demonstrate that the pedagogy influences the technological choices that we're making?===
 * We have explored different avenues of enhancing learning in the classroom including the use of technology. What we have found is that using “CREATION” devices indeed enhances and makes learning more meaningful. We used the following to guide us in building our curricular framework: IB (PYP and MYP) NETS (National Educational Technology Standards), The Digital Literacy Framework (based on DAOW), and WEACT. Because our curricular framework has a strong digital component, it is necessary to use appropriate tools (i.e., computers and other technological devices). Teachers and learners need computers to support this type of teaching and learning we believe in. There is no better tool than a “creation” device to facilitate the learning within the classroom. Laptops and other types of computers are the essential types of creation devices that we adults use in interacting with our world. By using these same tools with our students, we are giving the tools they need to become successful learners. ||
 * ===How is the technology that is being requested absolutely critical in terms of teaching and learning, such that the absence of the technology makes it impossible or impractical to teach a particular unit of inquiry?===
 * This question will be answered in the following example.
 * Sample Unit of Inquiry:
 * “Science – Improving your local environment.”
 * GOAL: Students will be challenged to come up with ideas to make our school a “greener school.”
 * With the use of technology, the students will then be able to create the following to accomplish the project.
 * ===**It would be helpful to see a plan that addresses the needs at each grade level/subject area, so that we can make informed decisions about what to purchase in year one and why.**===

“The continuously changing technologies of literacy mean that we must help children learn how to learn new technologies of literacy. In fact, the ability to learn continuously changing technologies for literacy may be a more critical target than learning any particular technology of literacy itself." (Leu, The New Literacies) - http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~djleu/newlit.html”

At this point, with the powerful applications available on the Mac out of the box, all we need are laptops for students plus a few key software items that do not have premium prices attached to them.

Currently, we have a few samples of units of inquiry that have technology integrated in them. We will continue to have conversations with teachers to further.

As in all schools, our teachers are at different points of expertise in the continuum of technology integration and infusion into the curriculum. Thus, we will support teachers from where they are by using the new digital literacies as our main entry/collaboration point to reach a successful standard throughout the school. || Pioneer users will be identified and trained. Then the main technology trainers will have additional help from those who have been trained. The initial training of trainers will begin as soon as the hardware arrives. The August orientation period will also provide a time to bring new and returning faculty further along the training continuum. This will all be reinforced by an ongoing program to further develop the faculty’s knowledge of hardware and software applications that can be employed to assist learning in the classroom. || Ideally, professional development in digital literacies should be under way at this point. However, given our current situation, we are dealing with an unknown immediate future which has forced us to constantly reconfigure a tech implementation plan. It is however sufficient to say this much: we need to start as soon as possible and the first step is at least providing all teachers and administrators with the proper technologies (i.e, laptops and initial training). || New faculty will be updated on technology use at the school once they receive their Teacher Tech Packs which includes their Mac laptop. Depending on their educational technology proficiency, they will need about 15 hours of training. || If you think Apple computers are best for education, it should not matter what culture you are in. Your focus is education, not what format is more popularly used in Korea. Furthermore, Apple provides a lot of support for implementing, integrating, infusing technology and how to get programs going in your school and how to take them from one level to the next. You will not see that from ANY PC vendor. Apple has had a big focus on education for many years. This is a big part of their business model and will continue to be. PC manufacturers’ focus is business and making tools for business.
 * ===**How will faculty be trained to utilize the technology that is requested?**===
 * ===**When would that occur?**===
 * ===**How and when would new faculty be trained?**===
 * ===**How can we best guarantee that we have a support structure in place for the technology that we employ? Will Rolly and Gary have the time and the means at their disposal to deal with the issues that invariably pop up?**===
 * Rolly and Gary are very capable of dealing with technology training and support for teachers. However, given the amount of hardware involved and size of the network, the hiring of a third person (preferably, Korean/English speaker) would be a judicious move. Yes – we need an additional full-time person.
 * This would require that Chadwick hire a full-time person to fulfill responsibilities of a full-time substitute. (Chadwick PV has a few individual support personnel – what is Chadwick PV’s model? How would this translate over to Songdo?) ||
 * ===**How do you know that it is best to go with Apple products in a culture that seems to be more PC-centric?**===

We found that the Macbook was a better tool to support our curriculum with a bundled software integration which is quite easy and seamless. Time is focused on creating the content, not figuring how to use the tool because the Mac hardware and software all work together so easily. With PC’s, you have to think about getting a lot of 3rd party software to work together on different machines, etc. There is a bit of a learning curve, but that is mostly with teachers and parents; the kids adapt very quickly. This means that we have to provide training and support for teachers and parents. Providing teacher training before implementation and ongoing training is key to a successful program, whether it is Mac or PC. The same line of thinking is applicable with students’ parents. When it comes down to it, parents only know the basics of computer use. They really do not know how kids are using computers, so they need training too, to understand what kids are doing. It also provides us with a common platform for both teachers and students, which is very critical.

Keep in mind that Apple can run both the Mac Operating System and the Windows Operating System. It is the only computer that can very easily be configured to run two or even three operating systems in one device. Most people just don't know Apple. A fellow educator from Korea International School (KIS) got about 15 parents on Macs a few weeks ago and they had a great experience learning about the Mac OS. They had heard about it, but had never experienced it.

If you survey international schools in the Asian region, you will see a trend of schools moving into the Apple platform. Over a dozen very good international schools in Hong Kong are Mac-based, such as the Canadian International School. Think about the trend and how there must be a rationale for why very good schools are doing this. Also keep in mind that Korean populations are not unique to Korea. If you survey international schools OUTSIDE of Korea, you will see a lot of Korean populations in these schools. Many of them have significant Korean populations, and the Apple platform works very well for them. || We will be providing an international education that involves many cultures. I'm not sure that I buy that Koreans have a particular bias in their culture favoring a particular OS. Much of this comes down to Windows being popular, and that is what everyone knows. Getting into Apple is “out of the box.” Thinking outside of the box is not always accepted in this culture, so it then becomes a challenge.
 * ===**We believe that Apple products are the best, given our experiences with them in American primary and secondary schooling. How does that translate to Korea and Korean culture?**===

When it comes to transitioning to Apple, this quote from Seth Godin comes to mind: “Competent people resist change. Why? Because change threatens to make them less competent. And competent people like being competent. That's who they are, and sometimes that's all they've got. No wonder they're not in a hurry to rock the boat.”

[]

Another reason to use Apple laptops is the nature and goal of our school. If we want our students to go to universities in the U.S., why wouldn't we give them the advantage in every possible way to step successfully into that environment, if that is what the best U.S. schools are doing? || The following schools in Korea have moved from a PC laptop environment into a Mac environment: • KIS (Korean International School) • SIS (Seoul International School) • GSIS (Gyonggi Suwon International School) • TCIS (Taejon Christian International School) • YIS (Yongsan International School)
 * ===**What do we know about implementation in other international schools?**===

These schools have implemented full one-to-one laptop or laptop cart programs in different grade levels.


 * SFS (Seoul Foreign School) is currently looking into adopting the Mac environment.

Other international schools in these regions have moved into an Apple environment. A number of international schools in the following countries started in or are moving into the Apple environment: Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Japan. || 21st century skills are about adaptation and transferring skills and applying them to new situations and using skills in relevant ways. I watched a presentation from Apple that showed how Photoshop Version 1 was developed and what it looked like years ago. It’s amazing how far Photoshop has gone from plain black and white, simple photo editing to what it is today. What version will Photoshop, the Mac OS, or Windows OS be in 8-10 years when our current freshmen go into the workforce (and for some, with graduate school calculated in, it may be longer)? If we have to teach these students mechanically how to work a machine, we are in trouble because that machine won't be in use when they want to make a living from it. We need to teach skills that transfer. It's not about teaching a platform but a skill set in technology that transcends specific software. The platform choice question deals with what is best for education. The Mac platform, being a creativity tool out of the box, provides the best means of creation and digital literacy that is available for us. We need creation “tools”, not “access” machines.
 * ===**Are we confident that they will transition to these computers? Why?**===

In reality, Korean students are heavy tech users and transfer skills easily. It's the adults that have a more difficult time learning or transferring knowledge/skills. ||
 * = FAQs ON LAPTOP COMPUTING = ||
 * ===What is "one-to-one computing"?===
 * By definition, “1:1 computing” refers to the level at which access to technology is available to students and teachers; by definition, it says nothing about actual educational practices. Given that access to technology must predicate use and that technology use predicates any educational impacts (Norris, Sullivan, Poirot, & Soloway, 2008; O’Dwyer, Russell, & Bebell, 2004), having a robust access ratio of one computer to one student would seemingly provide an optimal setting for educational technology impact on teaching and learning.
 * By definition, “1:1 computing” refers to the level at which access to technology is available to students and teachers; by definition, it says nothing about actual educational practices. Given that access to technology must predicate use and that technology use predicates any educational impacts (Norris, Sullivan, Poirot, & Soloway, 2008; O’Dwyer, Russell, & Bebell, 2004), having a robust access ratio of one computer to one student would seemingly provide an optimal setting for educational technology impact on teaching and learning.

So students will be on their laptops the whole school day? How will they learn from a computer?

 * "One-to one" means that each student will have access to a laptop for maximum impact. It does not mean that students will be on their computers the whole day. There will some classes that will not require the use of the laptop at certain times of the period -- sometimes maybe even the whole period. The laptop lids will be closed and perhaps put away safely on the charging carts in these instances. Very much like other school activities. Certain books and materials are only used when they are needed. The laptop is a highly maleable tool that can fit many needs in the classroom. But there may be times that laptops wil not be needed. Students will not learn from their computers -- they will learn through the assistance of their computers.

**How will faculty be trained to utilize the technology that is requested?**

 * Pioneer users will be identified and trained. Then the main technology trainers will have additional help from those who have been trained. The initial training of trainers will begin as soon as the hardware arrives. The August orientation period will also provide a time to bring new and returning faculty further along the training continuum. This will all be reinforced by an ongoing program to further develop the faculty’s knowledge of hardware and software applications that can be employed to assist learning in the classroom.

**When would that occur?**

 * Ideally, professional development in digital literacies should be under way at this point. However, given our current situation, we are dealing with an unknown immediate future which has forced us to constantly reconfigure a tech implementation plan. It is however sufficient to say this much: we need to start as soon as possible and the first step is at least providing all teachers and administrators with the proper technologies (i.e, laptops and initial training).

**How and when would new faculty be trained?**

 * New faculty will be updated on technology use at the school once they receive their Teacher Tech Packs which includes their Mac laptop. Depending on their educational technology proficiency, they will need about 15 hours of training.

But aren't laptops expensive?

 * Laptops are expensive and like anything else that costs, we would want to a laptop program that delivers tangible and relevant results that make the expense “worth it.”

I haven't found any research that supports one-to-one computing - so where's the proof?

 * The laptop is the most powerful tool kit available to educators and students. Students work habits will get focused and expanded through the use of this tool kit. A list of available studies online will be added to this item soon.

If students are on their computers, wouldn't they be constantly off task?

 * Chadwick International School is a new school and we are working to build a culture of responsibility around our laptop program that will help assure great results. This represents a profound opportunity – give students responsibility and they will respond and become leaders.

What happens if a kid gets on inappropriate sites while they are at home with their laptops?

 * Citizenship (and its digital avatar, if you will) is one of the most important skill sets we can be teaching kids today. Laptops are central to the process of learning about and engaging this process.

I'm a parent and I am worried about my child having access to the Internet at home. What can I do?

 * When a community engages in a laptop program, there is an opportunity to become collaborators with the parents as well. Parents will need to be educated and their knowledge and skills will need to be tapped to help with this process.