AKRON – Classrooms at Tippecanoe Valley High School could look very different starting next year if initiatives presented Monday are passed.
TVHS Principal Kirk Doehrmann, along with members of the school’s technology committee, gave a two-hour-plus presentation on ways, using technology, they could better improve students’ learning.
The focus is on three main areas: student engagement, curriculum and collaboration.
Doehrmann said the school has been looking at how effectively to bring more technology into the classroom for three years.
The school corporation’s director of technology, Brad Hagg, said he’s sort of served as the brake on any moves toward technology until the curriculum was set.
The two major things discussed concerning curriculum Monday night were project-based learning and a concept known as flipping the classroom.
U.S. history teacher Jeff Shriver and English teacher June Yazel talked about plans they had for next school year to combine an advanced placement class for a block time and combine both subjects to better teach the students both U.S. history and English.
The idea of project-based learning is to get away from teaching to get kids to pass standardized testing.
Doehrmann showed a video of a project-based learning school in Canada. The teacher stated that the method not only increases engagement in students but also helps them when it comes to testing.
Doehrmann shared his own experience as a father of a student who goes to Eagle Tech Academy in Columbia City. He’s seen how project-based learning works and how a critical part of that is peer review.
Rather than groups where some kids do all the work, students review each person in the group to determine whether they are pulling their fair share.
Shriver said some of the concepts are scary for some teachers, but they know that they are what’s best for students.
“I’m used to being the keeper of the knowledge as a teacher,” said Shriver. “With this I’m more of a facilitator.”
Shriver said the project-based learning class for AP students will hopefully usher project-based learning into all classrooms.
One reason for a paradigm shifting in the way schools operate is that technology allows for kids to find answers to questions they have without having to wait for the teacher to teach it.
Shriver relayed an anecdote of a TVHS student who will be an exchange student in Japan.
Using the Internet, she taught herself the language in preparation for her trip.
Doehrmann admitted that there are gaps when it comes to project-based learning in certain classes like math.
That’s why the concept of flipping a classroom is also being looked at.
Math teacher Alyssa Trippiedi gave a presentation on the concept.
In a one-to-one school, that’s where each student has access to a smart tablet or laptop, students can have lessons and videos uploaded to their device when they arrive at school, put it into practical application in the classroom, then study lessons at home on their device.
The lessons and videos would be put on the devices so students wouldn’t need an Internet connection at home, though the school is looking at ways to bring cheap Internet access to lower-income students. Hagg said the new digital divide is providing Internet access to people.
Doehrmann admitted that many of his teachers aren’t comfortable yet with an influx of technology or changing how lessons are delivered.
That’s why he said professional development would be such a key part in whatever the school decides on doing.
Yazel talked about using the Internet and Wikis to help teachers better grasp topics or even collaborate with other teachers at the school or teachers from around the world.
TVHS has developed a website for teachers to share ideas and to learn concepts.
It’s also there to help teachers develop their websites, learn to blog and learn about how Twitter can help them.
As for what devices the school may actually purchase, Hagg said that they are looking at management software through a company called CurriculumLoft.
That company has promised between $15,000 and $18,000 in software and hardware if the school goes with it.
Hagg said the school is currently looking at an Android-based tablet with a keyboard dock.
Hagg said those tablets are durable, and at other schools where such tablets are used the rate of them being broken or damaged is quite low.
Hagg said it was also important that the technology is an integral part of the curriculum so the students see the value in having it.
The Tippecanoe Valley School Board made no decisions on the presentation other than to give the committee the go-ahead to continue working what they’ve been working on.
