Off to a Great Start!

What a busy 2 weeks!  We just finished up distributing devices to every student in grades 3-8.   In addition 1.5 hours of training was delivered to every student that received a device.  We covered topics such as initial set up, using Edmodo, accessing email, internet safety, privacy, cyber bullying, and appropriate use.  Teachers and students did a great job working with the tech team to get everything configured.  Here are some images from these roll outs:

We have also been getting information out to parents about the 1:1 devices.  Three parent nights were hosted at Pinedale Middle School (you can see the video of that presentation here in English and here in Espanol; the slides are here), a one-to-one hands on parent boot camp was put on at the BOCES to demonstrate some of the classroom tools teachers will be using, and a presentation on the 1:1 initiative was put on at the Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.  Thanks to everyone that came out for these.  

Two of the platform tools that we are training teachers to use are Google Apps for Education and Edmodo.  Many teachers have already been implementing these tools this week.  Here are a few screenshots of Edmodo from the training sessions to give you an idea of how it looks:

Tools like Edmodo and Google Apps give teachers a platform on which they can run their one to one classrooms.  Students can use Google Apps to collaboratively create and share documents, presentations, spreadsheets and forms.  Edmodo can be used as a classroom discussion tool that allows all students to share their perspective.  In addition Edmodo can be used to give short quizzes, collect assignments that are created digitally, and for students to share works that they have created with their peers.  Having tools such as these are the essential foundation of an effective 1:1 classroom.