LVR Secondary School

Nelson, BC

To use the SOLO Program as a tool to help students develop a foundation of written communication skills in a grade-9 Social Studies class.

http://www3.telus.net/msmcgregor/school.html

Mr. Apel’s Grade 9 Social Studies Class.

In this class, there is a heavy concentration on writing. Students are required to complete five essays on a variety of topics relating to European History.

Goal Met In Progress

To develop student communication skills – oral, reading and writing skills

Writing skills goal met. Oral skills and reading skills in Progress

To develop student collaboration skills In Progress

To prepare and introduce teachers to use SOLO6 so that the technology is available for all students in all classrooms at the Secondary level.

Discussion about the use of Solo have taken place.

Teachers’implantation of Solo in the classroom.

Students in Mr. Apel’sgrade-9 Social Studies class were introduced to Solo in February 2016.Mr. Apel was given a brief introduction to the Solo program.

Students in Mr. Apel’s class were also given an introduction to Solo in the Learning Lab.

Solo Laptops were also available for students to use during class time.

Student writing data was collected prior to the start of the project. Writing samples were then collected in the middle and end of the projects for comparison.

PORTION OF PRETEST (Feb 2016)

How Will you Know When Your an Adult

You will know when you’ve become an adut when you are forced into a Position that you must move out and get a job and pay Bills.

You will Be given the options of Luxeries to buy a House or a car and the option to Purchase Alcahol or tobacco products as well as the right to vote.

PORTION OF POST TEST (May 2016)

The Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution helped in alt of different ways citys got larger and life was easier from the new inventions and methods. But it made some things worse towns and citysgot dirtier and highly populated and everyone was working and living in poor conditions.

https://sd8learns.sd8.bc.ca/lvrsetbc/category/examples-of-student-work/

Likes

I really like that I can see two views [draft view and paragraph] while writing.

I liked using Draftbuilder in the outline view because you could do subtopics and a subtopic of a subtopic. It organizes [my writing] for me

because I can see the outline and the paragraph side-by-side.

Challenges

It could be really useful if you knew how to use all of it.

I liked Co:Writer, but sometimes it got annoying because it was in the way.

It was sometimes confusing.

“It was easy. It just made everything a lot faster. I had to write a report in English about anything I wanted. I wrote about a trip I went on. I would probably still be working on it. It was a lot clearer and I could write my ideas all out, and after I wrote them out, I could use them in my paragraph.”

Solo seems to have some of the same components as Kurzweil,

Students seemed to like draftbuilder and Co:Writer. Read Out Loud had some glitches. You couldn’t open up some of the web pages which was frustrating. When it did work, I think that the students liked that they could highlight and pull it over, and that was a quote from the internet.

Student didn’t seem to use Write Out Loud. They used Draftbuliderbut most students copy and pasted into MS word instead of using Write Out Loud.

I think that Solo is a great tool…another tool in the toolbox. I liked the concept map for kids that are visual. I don’t think that we explored the toolbar enough. We could spend more time really going over what was available for them.

http://www.savoringyoursixties.com/miracle-drug/learning-sign-pixabay-learn-64058_640/

Survey Monkey

Teachers were interviewed about how they felt about using technology (Solo) in their classrooms.

60% of the teachers are curious about learning Solo however…

most teachers already feel stretched in their teaching assignments. Some teachers even teach three different classes and have very little prep time to prepare for these classes.

Learning and implementing another program would add yet another task onto their already busy schedules.

“Teachers are so busy they simply can not get to all their students in time and need a safety net of support. In terms of technology for many students technology is a time waster and a distraction. When we understand its educational purposes and have strong evidence of its effectiveness for student learning, I believe teachers are happy to allow it/use it. I am so busy learning about different apps for myself in the classroom that, although I would love to learn more about SOLO, I simply need to limit the time I put in to technology. HOWEVER, I believe the staff could benefit from a brief overview of SOLO - maybe a staff meeting?”

http://shoulderhead.com/

Most students saw the value of using Solo and actively used this tool to complete their Social Studies assignments.

Technology

School Culture

High School Environment

Laptops were processed and returned by the District Tech in January 2016, pushing the Project start date from November 2015 to February 2016.

Issues with bandwidth and other glitches also created some disruptions.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/10089147606

LVR is a busy school that takes pride in their many beyond the classroom activities, such as sports and clubs for various causes (LGBT). Teachers volunteer their time to support these after school programs.

Teachers often voice their feeling of being overwhelmed due to the extra time put into after school activities and dealing with a general truancy issue at the school.

The pace of the high school semesteredschedule did not allow for teacher collaboration time, so there was often a disconnect between the project goals and the teacher’s lesson planning.

Too many obstacles for the classroom teacher to promote the use of Solo in the classroom setting. Students left the Social Studies classroom to use the Solo equipment in the Learning Support Room.

Provide more flexibility of project implementation to adapt to the unique needs of the high school culture and environment.

Provide times where teachers can learn about the program and how to implement it in their classrooms.

The Solo Project needs to be included in the school-wide planning process

Insure that technology is completely setup and working prior to the beginning of the project.

Having classroom teacher proficient in the use of Solo so that they can support the students in its use.

We are in great appreciation of SET-BC for providing this opportunity to LVR Secondary School.