News
EN students like their computers
11/18/2011
Author: Dave Kurtz
Published by: The News Sun
A new program putting computers in the hands of every East Noble student may take some adjusting, but the kids say their teachers and parents are getting the hang of it.
"Some of the older teachers, it's hard for them to catch on sometimes," said Kerrick Gerst, a senior. But other teachers are very tech-savvy, she added.
Gerst and other students spoke to visiting educators in a daylong seminar Thursday. More than 100 teachers and administrators from 20 school districts flocked to East Noble to learn about its first-year technology program.
East Noble has equipped children in kindergarten through second grade with iTouch devices. Third- and fourth-graders use iPads. Students in grades 5-12 carry laptop computers.
In the morning, the visitors toured East Noble High School, East Noble Middle School and Avilla Elementary School to see the program in action. In the afternoon at the high school, they attended their choice from sessions on topics such as policies, financing and how teachers are responding to the computers.
In one of the seminars, 16 students from grades 4-12 did the talking. They gave mostly favorable reviews to their new computers.
"If you want to slack, they allow you to slack very easy. If you want to learn, it allows you to learn a lot faster and a lot better," said freshman Caleb Larson.
"We're able to use technology to its greatest potential. That's when it gets fun," said Jake Peterson, a sophomore.
Seth Waring, a junior, said he is not tech-savvy at all, but using a laptop has improved his grades to mostly A's, and he has typed more than 40 essays this trimester.
Not all teachers are taking advantage of the computers, students said.
Eric Dye, a senior, said one teacher still uses the traditional board "and we do not get our computers out at all."
However, other teachers are making their own instructional videos for students to watch at home.
"It's nice to go home and see those videos," senior Grace Bower said about the lessons her teacher creates. "It's like she's at my house with me. It's really kind of weird."
Gerst said the laptops allow students to learn at their own pace.
"If you want to move forward before the whole group does, you can do that," she said. "So you're not sitting in class bored."
"I'm not stuck learning my own teacher's opinion" in social studies class, senior Alex Berkey said. "He wants us to go learn what other people think about government."
Answering a visitor's question, students said cheating might be easier with laptops, but teachers know how to spot it.
Two elementary students joined the panel. Avilla fourth-grader Lily Miller said she likes a program providing news for children her age.
"They have really neat apps" for kindergarten students, Bower said. The kindergartners are struggling to type on keyboards, she said, but added, "I think it's good they're learning that, even at a young age."
High school students can use their computers for sites such as YouTube one hour each day in 10-minute segments.
Senior Patrick Worthey said YouTube videos help in speech class.
"You can see how it's done in the state-level competition," he said.
Other high school students said YouTube videos can be useful in learning Spanish.
"Believe it or not . there are a lot of educational things on YouTube," Waring said. "Who would have thought?" Back to Top