I’ve been overwhelmed and impressed with 1:1 initial laptop program since I first heard about it. Laptops allow students and teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum. They also enable students and teachers to access unlimited information to support learning. With audio grading, submission of assignments via GoogleDocs, storage of files online, and the posting of class lectures on the OLC.

Although I was in LS at that time, I still participated in IT courses. There I learned DyKnow software. Last year I changed to MS, finally I can practice it in teaching.

DyKnow, it functions as a virtual, interactive whiteboard, it allows teacher to mark up lecture material, share it with students, and accept and display in-class work from them, it made class, particularly in the Chinese, more visual and interactive. It works particularly well in large lecture classes, because it brings my notes to each student, and the submission of in-class assignments makes diagnoses easier when students have trouble with new concepts.

When I started to use it, what I like the most was that I could save all the different activities for students on different levels. Such as: Polling, chatting, File Send/Retrieve, and group panels Management. It sounds like the collaborative capabilities for the classroom are almost too good to be true.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

However, I soon discovered that the files I sent to the students were too small for them to read. That meant I would have had to design each file, that’s why I went back to OneNote. But I missed the DyKnow Monitor which is useful in focusing my students’ attention and engaging them. Another problem was that students don’t have styluses. If the students can’t write, that interaction is impossible. The laptop and its spinoffs can be invaluable learning tools. They can also be terrific timewasters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Therefore, efficient laptop learning requires not only teacher’s competence, but also well equipped hardware and software.

Or can you image eating Chinese food without chopsticks?