“One-to-one,” in case you haven’t heard, is a program within schools to provide every student with an electronic device for academic use. The school I work at has been doing one-to-one for years with MacBook laptops. This year, they switched over to the MacBook Air. Currently, every sixth through twelfth grade student in our district has a MacBook. Next year, every single student will have a device of some kind, either a MacBook or an iPad.
This is my first year in this district. I previously taught for six years in a district that was less than advanced in its technological use. So, needless to say, I’m loving the fact that every student I have is fully equipped with a laptop. This has opened several doors for me to be innovative with my classroom, and I thought I’d share a few with you. My hope is that some of these applications might be useful to those who serve their church in Sunday School, youth group, or those who actually work at a church-run school.
Digital Learning
I’m endeavoring to go entirely paperless in my class. I probably won’t get there for a year or two, but I’m trying. I have reduced my copier use from four times a week to one every two weeks, which is pretty substantial. Instead of copy reams and reams of worksheets and notes for my students, I provide most of it to them digitally. My notes are all available on our class website in PDF form on in Keynote format on our school’s internal server. Many of the assignments that my kids have to complete are either PDF forms that they download or Google Forms that they access from our website. Some of the best things we’ve done have been simple Pages or Keynote projects that start with a stripped-down template that I provide them at the beginning of the lesson.
I particularly love giving them these types of assignments because it forces them to “create” something using the class content, which encourages thinking on a higher level. There’s also the added bonus of teaching them a variety of computer skills, which are increasingly invaluable.
Flipping the Class
My newest application, set to debut next week, is my new “flipped class” approach. This is approach to teaching that “flips” the standard model of “lecture at school; homework at home.” Instead, my students will be assigned a video or Keynote to watch at home. They’ll watch the presentation, complete a simple note-taking assignment, and then be done for the night. The next day in class, however, we’ll skip the lecture entirely and begin working on a project which will have the student applying the knowledge from that lecture in deep and challenging ways.
I’m excited about this approach. By making the lecture into a video or presentation, the students have control over the lesson’s pacing. Those who catch on quickly can breeze through the assignment while those who might have been embarrassed to ask for clarification in class can easily watch the video a second time. What is more, this will free up our class time for making more detailed and amazing projects.
In the Church
So, how can “one-to-one” work in a church? Great question. My church is looking into offering Bible college classes. What better way to structure these classes than with every student being equipped with an e-reader or some sort of digital tool, like an iPad or a netbook?
Maybe you want to take a much more experiential approach? How cool would it be to arm every member of a missions team with an iPod touch or camera of some sort for recording their trip?
No, maybe you can’t offer a computer or an iPod to every member of your congregation—some may not even want one—but perhaps there is some limited or strategic manner in which one-to-one could benefit your ministry.
What do you think about “one-to-one”?
Is there any way to use this in the Church?
[Image via William Brawley]
Ben Miller says
The idea of a paperless school makes me sad. Even 8BIT sees the value of paper.
Phil Schneider says
Honestly, I feel the same…sometimes. The benefit, though, is that students who have language problems can record themselves in Photo Booth explaining their answers in a method more in keeping with their skills.
Plus, using the computers allows me, as the teacher, to put all of the material in a digital format. That means I can have tons of videos for each class w/o having to worry about buying physical media. Plus, the kids can load their textbooks on their laptops, too.
I’m not going to lie. I do miss physical writing, but this is what it is.
Sele Mitchell says
My kids were involved with one of the very first one-to-one programs that Apple did about 10 years ago. It really was a great program. Apple even came to our schools and interviewed teachers and students for the program. I will never forget how excited my kids were when Apple presented them with a brand new iPod for their appearing in the video.
Our church has kicked around the idea of having some technology classes for some of the older people who aren’t familiar with computers. We will provide the computers or tablets for them to use.
I think using a tablet in a teaching setting in Church is a great idea. I use mine to teach from all of the time but it would be great to have a classroom full of students with tablets to share information electronically.
Phil Schneider says
We did some computer classes for those who lost their job back in 2008. It was really positively received. We’ve thought about doing more, but unfortunately, timing has been a serious issue. What topics would consider covering if you offer classes?