Today I visited Melissa Nussbaum's class. Her goal was to have students participate in an online virtual lab.
Mrs. Nussbaum linked all of the necessary resources (all found on United Streaming) on her website and distributed a handout for the students to complete while working online. Students were instructed to complete the virtual lab three times and experiment with different variables. The website provided all the needed instructions and students could work at their own pace. Students appeared excited to have the opportunity to work on the computers.
At 8:06, 26 minutes into class, the majority of students were still attempting to log on to their computers--at no fault of the students or teacher. At 8:15, with only twenty minutes left in class, the final student got logged on to the computer and could begin.
Observing these frustrations with laptops and the internet connection reassured me that I am not the only person dealing with these frustrations. The internet and computers at Truman run so slowly that these issues have actually prompted the creation of a technology committee. We really don't know who to turn to get help or answers. The district level technology support staff seems to overworked that there is no physical way for them to be in all places at one time.
I don't want to be a snarky, negative teacher in commenting on these issues, but it's difficult to observe a technology lesson without recognizing the very large issues at hand. Plain and simple: lessons with technology are difficult to teach when the technology does not work effectively or efficiently.
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