Some teachers at Lyons Township High School are testing a pilot program that allows a range of benefits including immediate grading of tests and quizzes, embedding videos of lessons and teachers’ individual responses to assignments and digital organization of students’ homework and other materials.
The Canvas Learning System is being tried out at the high school where the program also is part of an on-going discussion about how to best ensure that all students have access to computer devices and the Internet, whether in school or out.
Two English teachers, Bradley Anderson and Michael Kuehl, have been trying the learning system out this school year. They discussed the program Wednesday with the district’s technology committee. They said it’s easy to work with even though they are not immersed in technology.
“We’re about as far from tech gurus as you can get,” Kuehl said. “We’re not exactly early adopters.”
The system tracks students’ work and allows them, for instance, to complete a work sheet or other assignment on a computer device or phone rather than on paper. Teachers also can also issue a discussion prompt that students respond to in a group discussion.
“They’ll actually do their literature discussion on the their phones while they’re waiting for the bus,” Kuehl said.
Knowing other students will read their work makes students more careful about writing well, Anderson added.
The program can grade tests immediately rather than over two to three days, which Anderson said is how long it would take him to read and grade 75 quizzes. The benefit to students is that they are not moving forward to another chapter of reading with misinformation or an incorrect understanding of work they’ve already done. It also helps teachers understand what topics might require further review for all students, Anderson said.
Kuehl said he recently used the program to record videos of individual responses to students’ essays. He was at home, in his basement when he recorded the videos. He eventually wants to have students record themselves reading their own work. He, and Anderson, agreed that the program can aid students who learn better in a visual or auditory format.
Because the program tracks students’ assignments, Anderson said it helps those who have trouble organizing these items.
“They have a back-up, a safety net. It reduces their anxiety,” he said.
Despite the program’s benefits, committee member Jessica McLean said she’s concerned about students who don’t have access at home to computer devices or the Internet.
“If we’re really going to embrace this, what number don’t have a computer?” she asked. “We need a hard number.”
Scott Eggerding, director of curriculum and instruction, said the district bases its estimate of the number of students who might not have ready access at home to computers or the Internet on the number of students who receive free or reduced lunch, which is about 15 percent.
Jeremy Vrtis, a math teacher at the alternative school and a technology coach, said he also is concerned about the number of his students who don’t have access to the Internet or computer devices.
“For my population, half don’t have it,” he said. “I’m not fully going into (Canvas) because I don’t want those kids to suffer because they don’t have access,” he said.
While other districts have adopted 1:1 programs that provide each student with their own computer device, Ed Tennant, director of technology, said Lyons Township has taken a more methodical approach and is looking at how such programs have worked at other districts.
“We’re not just rushing to do something to say we’re doing something,” he said.
He said the district continues to look at ways it can ensure students have access to computers and Internet during the school day.
“It’s a big dance to see we have assets in place so they can be used throughout the day,” he said.
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Eggerding noted, however, that learning is changing.
“We used to spend a lot of time in the computer lab. Now we’re relying on students to do it more on their own,” he said.
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