For my masters class CEP 822 Approaches to Ed Research I am in the process of developing a research proposal based on the question above.  Please leave me a comment with your thoughts!

Introduction & Background:

The elementary school I currently teach at is the oldest and only elementary school in the city of Plymouth, Michigan.   Smith Elementary has approximately 510 students in grades kindergarten through 5th with 18 highly qualified talented classroom teachers.   Our school also has teachers specialized in the areas of art, music, gym, early intervention, media, speech pathology, and resource room.

While we are an old school we do have an updated media center.  Our school media center has approximately 30 Dell computers, a printer, and an Epson media projector attached to the teacher computer.  The computers have a variety of software installed on them including:  Miscorsoft Office (word, power point, excel), Kidspiration, Timeliner, and a variety of other kid friendly programs.  The teacher computer also has Vision installed on it, which allows teachers to not only demonstrate what students will be doing it also allows the teacher to monitor student computers from one location.

Each classroom at Smith Elementary has one dell hard drive with two monitors.  First grade through fifth grade classrooms also have an Epson media projector and access to a printer in their prospective hallways.

One hundred percent of my twenty-six fifth graders have computer and Internet access at home whenever they need it.  However, due to school scheduling my students are lucky to access the computer lab for a 45-minute period every other week.  Teachers are able to sign up for “extra” lab time, however it is done on a first come first serve basis.  Scheduling these times around the other 18 classrooms vying for lab time can be down right difficult to nearly impossible.

Even though I have two classroom computers I rarely use them for student projects.   Time is the biggest constraint for me not using the computers in my room.  It is very difficult to carve out the time I need students to work on technology-enhanced projects and still be able to give direct instruction in other subject areas.  Having access to more classroom computers rather than just two would greatly enhance the use of technology in my fifth grade classroom.  There is so much out there in the area of technology that I am unable to bring to my students (note taking, podcasting, voice threads, blogging, etc) due to the limiting factor of only having two computers in my classroom and limited access to the computer lab.

According to the article, “When each one has one: The influences on teaching strategies and student achievement of using laptops in the classroom,” students in grades five through seven who had 24 hour access to laptops greatly increased their writing achievement, computer literacy skills, and increased their interest in learning (Deborah L Lowther, 2003).  Students using laptops used them for word processing, research, note taking, as well as project bases assignments.

Computers in the classroom do not just increase student interest and involvement in projects they also can help them become teachers themselves.  Computers  in the classroom can also help students who have advanced computer skills develop advanced academic and social skills by sharing their knowledge with their peers and teachers (Brogan, 2000).

My desire is to find an education technology grant that will allow me to introduce more computers into my elementary classroom.  With the additional access to computers my students would be able to collaborate on project-based learning, digital story telling, create podcasts and blog on a consistent basis.  Adding these computers to my classroom would also increase student interest in learning through access to new technologies.

Sources:

Brogan, P. (2000, October). A parent’s perspective: educating the digital generation. Educational Leadership , 57-9.
Deborah L Lowther, S. M. (2003). When each one has one: The influene on teachign strategies and student achievement of using laptops in the classroom. Educational Technology, Reaseach adn Development , 51 (3), 23-44.