Link

Purpose:

Wireless web was a look at the potential and pitfalls of wireless technology in education. I competed it with four wonderful  "cinqs", iMET 5 members Willie and Gray Pattillo, Ellen Skidmore, and Glen Branaman. We presented to the iMET 5 cohort via Tapped In.

Audience:

Our audience was iMET 5 but this presentation would work fine for a staff meeting or short staff development to increase awareness of new trends in technology. Well, it's new to many people!

Feedback:

From iMET5 Cohort:

-Great links to free, useful tools

-Links to success stories really show how effective wireless tools can be

-Easy to use layout

-Nice overview of the good, the bad, and the ugly

-From Dr. Menchaca:

-Well done, good examples

-Don't forget Windows-based handhelds

Reflections:

I worked in a district that spent a ton of money on a Palm Pilot initiative. A one-shot staff development was followed by the distribution of hand-helds to all principals, central office staffers, and teachers who had attended the training. The project failed to have much of an impact and many Palms ended up languishing in desk drawers. I believe the problem was two-fold. First, there was no expectation to DO anything with the tool. There were no requirements to share how you'd used it or to write curriculum integrating it. They never got into student hands. Second, the one-shot training was not enough to get teachers to incorporate it into their daily practice.

Perhaps if the stories from this wireless web project had been shared, and if teachers had a forum to share their own stories things would've worked out better.

In this same district, a ton of money was spent on wireless laptop carts. Jamie McKenzie visited us while he was researching his book Just in Time Technology. He asked a few of us Technology Integrators (it was a position at the time) how the laptop carts were working out. We cited chapter and verse about how problematic they were; batteries dying while teachers were trying to use the carts six periods in a row, students racing madly for the electrical outlets in the hallway, etc. Busted Flat in Batteryland was about McKinney ISD!

If I had to change one thing about this artifact, I'd add more examples of successful integration. Giving teachers a peek into other teachers' classrooms is important to help them see the posibilities.