There has been a shift in mindset toward the use of technology in K-12 classrooms in Ontario. \u00a0In fact, the provincial ministry of education has led different research projects studying the link between the use of different types of technologies for learning and student engagement and achievement (Jenson, 2011; Shields, 2012; Shields, 2013).\u00a0 The conclusions drawn in these published study reports state that in classes where technology was used to enhance student learning, teachers noticed a renewed student engagement and better overall achievement (Shields, 2013).\u00a0 This has led to new initiatives by the government to support the purchase and use of mobile technologies in all Ontario English and French school boards.<\/p>\n
My school board was not ready for this.\u00a0 Large sums of money were received for the purchase of mobile devices and improvement of our infrastructure (i.e. Wi-fi access in schools, improvement in bandwidth, etc.).\u00a0 Most of our schools now have a Wi-fi network reserved for the board\u2019s mobile devices and another (very limited) Wi-fi network for students and teachers personal devices.\u00a0 The school board\u2019s official has not yet revised its policies (it is a work in progress), therefore, it is still forbidden for students to use their cellphones in our schools.\u00a0 Some schools don\u2019t enforce the policy,\u00a0 some schools do.\u00a0 It becomes very challenging for teachers that want to use technology for learning projects in their classrooms but don\u2019t have enough devices for all their students.\u00a0 Since there is not yet a defined policy, our schools are very heterogenous when it comes to technology.\u00a0\u00a0 Some school principals have put aside important parts of their school budget to purchase mobile devices for students.\u00a0 Some schools prefer to wait for an official policy from the board.<\/p>\n
We have a lot of challenges, but the two greatest ones are to create a flexible policy for the use of mobile devices that will allow teachers to have a clear view of the board\u2019s vision.\u00a0 Since we are further north of the province, access to proper Internet speeds (bandwidth) is also a big issue and a big investment (if we compare with boards in the south who can choose from a variety of internet providers).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
References<\/p>\n
Jenson, J., Taylor, N., & Fisher, S. (2011). Critical review and analysis of the issue of \u201cskills, technology and learning\u201d. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.edu.gov.on.ca\/eng\/research\/Jenson_ReportEng.pdf<\/p>\n
Shields, C. (2012). A shifting landscape: pedagogy, technology, and the new terrain of innovation in a digital world. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.edu.gov.on.ca\/eng\/research\/Shifting_LandscapeE.pdf<\/p>\n
Shields, C. (2013). Extending the Landscape and Enlarging the Vision: Pedagogy, Technology, and Innovative Practices in a Digital World. Retrieved from https:\/\/www.edu.gov.on.ca\/eng\/research\/Extend_LandscapeE.pdf<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There has been a shift in mindset toward the use of technology in K-12 classrooms in Ontario. \u00a0In fact, the provincial ministry of education has led different research projects studying the link between the use of different types of technologies for learning and student engagement and achievement (Jenson, 2011; Shields, 2012; Shields, 2013).\u00a0 The conclusions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39554,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1455715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-d-mobile-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39554"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3353,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3342\/revisions\/3353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/ldash2015\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}