School and Community Summer 2024

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Schools Turn the Page on Digital Technology V alerie Hunt loves books. That is, the old-fashioned kind that have paper and a cover and everything. She realizes it might seem odd that she tax valuation for the area, but most of the students at the school come from low-income families. More than 76 percent of the district’s students receive free- and reduced-price lunch. Textbooks often cost more than $100 each, and typically don’t hold up well, Diekmann says. The netbooks, cases and chargers cost

specific page number they’re looking for. Hunt usually runs the class by displaying the textbook on a smartboard and having students use their tablets to take notes. Occasionally, the computers do freeze up, so teachers keep a few textbooks on hand in case students need to check them out. And, for now, most assignments are still done on paper. In math classes, it’s harder for students to show their work if it’s done on computer, says Irene Mauss, one of two math teachers using the netbooks. Overall, the transition has been easier in math classes. Mauss sees it as a win, since her previous textbook was seven years old. By using the downloadable version, she and her students get the most recent text available. Because the book is downloaded to the students’ hard drives, they can refer to their books even if they don’t have an Internet connection. The netbooks also have applications that can serve as graphing calculators, saving money on another potentially expensive device. “It’s really user-friendly,” Mauss says. “The page numbers are down at the bottom and they just type it in.” Mauss sees the netbooks as something that will prepare students for college, where many students are switching to online or electronic textbooks, rather than pay the skyrocketing prices for paper ones. “If that’s what our students have to be accustomed to when they leave us, then let’s get them used to it here,” Mauss says.

was part of a group of teachers piloting tablet computers for Climax Springs High School, but the English teacher wanted to be in on the top of the technology game. If the school was going to adopt electronic textbooks, she wanted to get in on the ground level. “I didn’t want to be dragging my feet in the process,” she says. “I wanted to be proactive and fall in love with it myself.” In Missouri, Hunt is a digital pioneer. Climax Springs will be one of the first schools in Missouri to go mostly textbook free. The school introduced Lenovo Netbooks to three classes in fall 2010 and hopes to add more next year. Soon, all of the school’s 70 students will have a netbook, which they could use to read downloadable textbooks, take notes, do assignments, complete exams and more. In a similar program, Grandview R-2, in Jefferson County, voted to replace paper textbooks with e-readers at its high school for the 2011-12 school year. Climax Springs Superintendent Mike Diekmann began to research the devices as a way to save money on textbooks and to make sure the school’s students are up-to-speed on technology when they graduate. For now, the program is only being implemented at the high school. Climax Springs R-4 is a district of 236 students, just south of Lake of the Ozarks. Vacation homes near the lake provide a high

$300 each, and have countless uses. Most downloadable textbooks are either available for free as open-source textbooks, or for a much smaller price than the paper version. Students must pay for the netbooks if they are lost or damaged, but so far, the students seem to be taking care of their devices. The netbooks, so far, have not fully replaced textbooks at the school. Many students still don’t have Internet access at home, and if they do, it’s often a dial-up connection, Diekmann says. Some have worried that the netbook keyboards are too small for students to use. In response, Dickmann holds up a smartphone equipped with the mini keyboard that appears to be glued to the fingers of many teenagers. “Ninety-five percent of all the typing kids do is right here,” Diekmann says. There have been a few kinks. The book for Hunt’s English class is only available online, not by download, so students must connect every time they need to access the textbook. That means she often spends several minutes at the start of every class making sure students’ netbooks are turned on and logged in to the book’s website. The online version of the book Hunt chose also doesn’t allow users to flip between pages, so readers have to know the

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