Teaching Now! 105 - Watch in Real Player
We feature one of the top 10 Microsoft Schools in the nation located in Redmond, Washington. The Lake Washington School District is one of the most information rich in the country. We explore the district's online report cards and class server system. We see how long range planning led to infrastructure, access, professional development for teachers, and community support.
Introduction - Watch
Teaching NOW! looks at how colleges of education are preparing tomorrow's teachers to use technology. We also visit K-12 schools where technology integration is changing traditional classroom activities.
Online Report Cards - Watch
We learn how Lake Washington secured community funding for their technology intiative to make the school district one of the most information rich in the country. Then we hear about their online report card project, which provides a web-based reporting tool that tracks detailed student data over time, stores teacher lesson plans, and provides more meaningful assessment data to teachers and parents.
Panel Discussion of Online Report Cards - Watch
Our panel of experts emphasize the role of Lake Washington School District's comprehensive and long range planning, centralized leadership, and parental support in the successful implementation of their online report card project.
Class Server - Watch
We learn about Lake Washington School District's Class Server pilot project at Wilder Elementary School. Class Server is an online tool that allows teachers to create individualized classroom assignments for students that are aligned to standards. The tool has built-in assessments that offer immediate feedback to students and provide useful indicators of student progress to teachers.
Panel Discussion of Class Server - Watch
Our panel of experts discuss the implications of the Class Server tool for teachers and parents. The tool helps teachers manage their work loads by offering automatic assessments, and allows teachers to easily modify their instructional activities based on student progress. However, the panel also addresses how the public nature of the data may impact parental expectations on teachers.
