-tictech message:
Dear Tic-Techers,
Many of us involved in Technology at the instructional level know the
frustration of introducing technology options which offer tremendous
educational opportunities - only to have them ignored.
How gratifying it has been to experience something completely different.
Recently, that difference at Hale has been iMovie. All of our tenth and
eleventh grades are doing iMovie projects. That's about ONE HALF of our
entire student body! This came about spontaneously on the initiative of
some of our staff as soon as the capabilities of our standard levy iMacs
became known. The fact that each iMac comes with firewire and the very
simple iMovie built in, means only a $500 camera is required to complete
the picture (pun). From there, the educational possibilities are endless.
This year, iMovie is proving to be the "killer app" for technology
integration at Nathan Hale. Power Point is a close second however. Read
on for some details...
THE PROJECTS
One of our Math teachers has completed an iMovie project where students
explain proofs to various Math problems. It took me about 50 minutes to
train the teacher in the use of iMovie and our DV camera so she could do
this independently. Before this training, she had seen neither.
Our eleventh grade class is doing a project they've entitled a "Video
Quilt". They are dividing into 9 teams, each doing a section on some
aspect of Civil Rights. This will then be assembled with the help of a
professional producer and hopefully be aired on television. A DV/Analog
bridge and large external Firewire drive are also being used on this
project to store files and transfer the final product to VHS tape.
Our tenth grade class is making a mural depicting themes of relating to
Central and South America. Students will then make a video tape of the
mural along with explanations of its various scenes.
Our Foreign Language department has used video tape for years to film
students acting out various roles in a foreign language. They have
recently ordered some iMacs and a digital video camera, and will be
switching to the more edit-friendly digital medium using iMovie.
This Tuesday evening our Seniors will be exhibiting their required Senior
Projects. Each project must involve some aspect of technology. Just
under half the participating seniors - about 80 students, will be using
Power Point to present their projects.
Perhaps other Tic-Techers would like to share their technology integration
successes?
EQUIPMENT ISSUES
In the category of "be careful what you ask for", having technology
suddenly used to such an extent has stretched our capacity. We really
could use more Macintosh computers, cameras and projectors for our current
projects. We currently have about 35 Macs in classrooms. If I had our
Technology plan to do over again, I would encourage receptive teachers to
order Macintosh computers as some portion of their levy order.
Fortunately, we have 3 TLP recipients this year which may help our
situation.
Cameras have come down in price significantly which helps. Projectors
however, are always an issue because of the price. Hopefully the teacher
roll out will help provide these for schools.
Our Equipment:
iMac Computer from Apple ------------------------------------- $699-$899
(eMac Computer from Apple ----------------------------------- $999-$1456)
160 GB Firewire External drive from Mac Mall ---------------- $350
Dazzle DV Bridge from Hard drives Northwest (CompUSA) ------ ~$299
Cannon Digital Camera ZR20 now up to ZR40 (avail everywhere)- ~$550
Mitsubishi Projectors - 1000 Lumens, Troxell Corp ----------- ~$1800
Power Point - MSOffice - insideseattleschools.org ----------- ~$60
Wiring needs -Data Pro - 1480 NW 70th 206/782-8890 Jim often gives
discounts to schools
Anthony Hand <anthonyh@cks.ssd.k12.wa.us>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat May 11 2002 - 18:59:59 PDT