Classroom+For+Today

The presentation by Coshocton Schools discussed a grant program run within the district to select one teacher from each building and provide them with the "technology of their dreams". Teachers submitted a grant proposal. Grants were mostly for sets of iPads, netbooks, etc along with document cameras, projectors, and other digital media tools. Each teacher had to agree to some professional development over the summer and to present their progress to the board of education. In return the teachers were given the technology resources requested.

The presentation discussed benefits: 1. Teachers who were selected for the program joined a cohort and were able to support each other with ideas. 2. Other teachers not participating in the program were inspired by the work of this cohort 3. Teachers reported higher levels of student engagement 4. Good way of testing different types of technology to see if their use is practical.

The presentation also discussed some challenges: 1. Teachers found it may not be possible to implement all of their goals in only one year 2. Sometimes additional resources were needed which were not included in the original grant. Examples include money to purchase apps for the iPads, a more robust wireless access point.

Other ideas: have a no questions asked return policy to allow teachers who have received some piece of technology in the past but are not using it to return it to the district and have it be reassigned. This should be non punitive.