Week 11- Sitka school district

In my research, I found there are many ways that technology can be used to help students learn better. One of these ways is student-directed learning. This is the idea that when students are in charge of their own education and use of technology as part of their learning they greatly increase their learning and retention of material. According to the Learning and Technology Policy Framework, when students are in charge of their learning and communicated and give feedback to their peers their learning rate can double (The Learning and Technology Policy, 2013). 

As I am not currently teaching in a public school I had to look up the policies for the Sitka School District. According to SitkaSchools.org the goal of the district's technology equipment plan is to "provide a consistent, appropriate level of technology equipment for both students and staff to achieve the highest possible level of education with the available resources. Most of these policies have to do with ensuring the technology in the district is up to date and is maintained. It outlines the technology in each classroom and dictates the staffing of IT personnel to maintain the technology in each building. 

When I looked at the policy the Sitka School District (SSD) has adopted I found many concerns when it was compared to recommendations from K-12 Blueprints a website that outlines tools to help school leaders evaluate their current policies and many any changes that may be necessary to keep up with our ever-changing world. 
One concern I have is that the SSD is that their policies seem to be more focused on using technology as long as possible (even if they are outdated). I understand the restrictions placed on the purchase of the newest technology because of budget restraints, but to have the same computer for 4 years is a long time. At that time many of the programs and softwear will be old and need to be replaced. 
Another problem I see with the SSD technology policy is there are only a few IT employees to serve hundreds of teachers, support staff, and administrators. This brings to the surface an entirely new set of problems. How are a few technology support employees supposed to update, replace, and service every computer in the entire district? I would imagine that is an overwhelming undertaking and there have been errors made.
If I were to recreate the SSD technology policy I would add the following things.
- Technology would always be placed at the forefront of students education
- Using other technology (QR codes) to aide in students learning.
- Use free technology time as a reward.



District Technology Equipment Plan. (2018, July 24). Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.sitkaschools.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=353&dataid=150&FileName=District Technology Equipment Plan.pdf

Hudson, H. (2013, May 28). 10 Classroom Technology Policies that work. Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.weareteachers.com/10-classroom-technology-policies-that-work-2/

Learning and Technology Policy Framework. (2013). Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://education.alberta.ca/media/1046/learning-and-technology-policy-framework-web.pdf

Policy & Leadership. (2020). Retrieved April 16, 2020, from https://www.k12blueprint.com/toolkits/policy

Week 10- Electronics and crafts

How are electronics viable additions to “crafting” for today’s young person?

This weeks topic is right up my alley. I love crafting. I am currently working on sewing face masks for the community. I have made over 150. With that in mind, I wonder how I could incorporate technology into the masks. My first thought is to incorporate some type of higher-tech filtration system to keep the wearer and environment safer, but that is a bit beyond technology. My other thought was to put technology in the masks that track a person's movements, breathing patterns, heart rate, body temperature, and location. This may be a difficult task since I am making simple fabric and interfacing masks in my kitchen, but one can dream. 
After dreaming high with my face masks idea, I check out some amazing art pieces that use electronics. 
It was incredible to see in the Ted Talk with Leah Buechley how the kids listening weren't very interested in the topic at the beginning. They are used to adults getting up in front of them and spewing information at them. As soon as the video showed how Leah made a musical instrument out of the circuit and special pen the students were all very interested. This is a great reminder that it is important to find different ways to present the same lesson you may have taught the same way for years. 

Another video I checked out this week was the on the Chibi Tronics website. I loved watching the lights appear on the dandelion video. At points throughout the video, it appears the picture changed and transformed, but in reality, it was just the circuits and lights changing. The picture was brought to life and the addition of electronics added a different and unusual depth to the art. I love the idea of incorporating art and technology into a single piece of art. 

In my research, I found a lot of articles about electronics and technology in fashion design. One interesting article spoke about the increase in the use of Ipads and drafting computers to design clothing. I can speak to the fact that the Apple iPad Pro with Apple Pencil is incredible for writing and drawing. I actually have completely switched to using my iPad to take notes during meetings. 

Even though we already focused on 3D printing, I wanted to revisit it for this week's post because I found a lot of articles that focused on the use of 3D printing in fashion. With this technology, designers are able to create unique patterns and designs not typically available without technology. I mean look at that picture of the crazy dresses! While I don't think students will be creating such interesting pieces of clothing, 3D printing can be used to create unique pieces of art. 


Chandavarkar, A. (2015, March). Will 3D printing Revolutionize Fashion? . Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/7528/will-3d-printing-revolutionise-fashion

TED (2012, November 15). Leah Buechley: How to "sketch" with electronics.[Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTBp0Z5GPeI

Qi, J. (2012). Interactive Light Painting: Pu Gong Yin Tu (Dandelion Painting. Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://vimeo.com/40904471

What is Chibitronics? (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://chibitronics.com/

Zha, W. (2019, May 28). From High-Fashion to Custom Sneakers: Will 3D printing Disrupt the Fashion Industry?. Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/from-high-fashion-to-custom-sneakers-will-3d-printing-disrupt-the-fashion-industry/2019052843396

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Week9 - BYOD

This week I really learned a lot, I have never heard about BOYD, but I guess it makes sense. When students are given the opportunity to bring their own device to school the school is relieved of some of the hardship involved with getting enough technology for all the students to use. According to an article on Wikipedia, there are two contexts for BOYD. The first one is mobile phones and the second is using your own devices in workplaces (and education).
When students are allowed to bring their own devices to work on during school they will be more familiar with the operation of that particular device since it is their main device. While this may be a positive aspect of BOYD policies, what happens with the children who are from families that are not able to afford the cost of a $2,000 computer for their child.

When I was in school there was a strict no cellphone policy in the entire school. I remember getting in trouble a lot for using my phone during class (some times even for looking up the information being shared in class). With the increase in the number of students with cellular devices the idea of BOYD is a very interesting one because it involves a switch in thinking that cellphones are a distraction to cellphones can be an education tool with many positive aspects. The below video speaks to the tools using your own device provides including; note-taking, flashcards, and typed notes.

According to an article by TeachThought Staff BOYD can pose more challenges than economic equality. By allowing students to utilize their own technology in the classroom there is a great need and challenge to ensuring the safety and security of these devices. According to the same article, there is software that allows districts to install web security programs on devices to monitor and ensure the safety of all students. Another challenge to BOYD is that some schools have slower or less capable bandwidth to withstand many students logging on to do school work.


Bring your own device. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_your_own_device

Evans, D. (2019, November 6). What is BOYD and why is it important?. Retrieved April 9, 2020, from https://www.techradar.com/news/computing/what-is-byod-and-why-is-it-important-1175088

Fairfax County Public Schools. (2012, January 17). Bring your Own Device at Carson Middle School [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnFPWkk1AoM

4 Challenges That Can Cripple Your School's BOYD Program. (2017, June 25). Retrieved April 9, 2020, from http://www.teachthought.com/technology/4-challenges-can-cripple-schools-byod-program/