Students Have Fun, Improve Writing Skills at AISD Tech Camp - July 6th., 2006

A student reads his book with support from Angela Beach, a recent graduate from the College of Educationís teacher preparation program.

This summer, a group of Austin 4th and 5th graders learned a lot about writing. But it wasn’t through the usual less-than-exciting summer school fare. They had fun as they used technology to create color-printed, hardbound books made up of their own stories and photographs. Not only that, their teachers learned the same technology skills and strategies for integrating this kind of project into their teaching, and three technology teacher-leaders learned how to teach other teachers to do the same.

These were the ambitious goals of the AISD Tech Camp, which the LTC’s IDEA Studio designed and conducted during three weeklong sessions.  Participants included 80 children and 45 teachers from 18 schools. The camps were part of a joint AISD/UT Technology Application Readiness Grant for Empowering Texas (TARGET) from the Texas Education Agency. During the previous three years, the LTC’s IDEA Studio collaborated with AISD on the “Visual Voices” program in which teachers and their 4th or 5th grade students received video equipment and learned how to produce digital videos.

During each camp, teachers received instruction in the morning, learning the use of iPhoto, Comic Life, and Inspiration software, just as their students did. They learned how to plan and assess technology-infused projects and how to use the activities in their own lessons. They also learn about the logistics involved in conducting an after-school technology program or summer camp. In sessions prior to the camp itself, district technology teacher leaders learned how to conduct similar offerings. During the first two weeks of the camp, they observed the IDEA Studio team as they led the professional development sessions, and gradually began leading the sessions independently.

Students, teachers, and parents enjoy a student's story as he reads his book to the group during the Friday showcase.

The students attended the free camp in the afternoons, and the teachers observed how they interacted with each other in a computer-equipped classroom. The students learned about the elements of a good story and were told they would write a book about their life at home. Together, they used Inspiration for brainstorming ideas, and they learned iPhoto and Comic Life, two programs that can combine photos and text to create books. They took pictures at home, then drafted their text and planned their books on paper templates. After the electronic versions of the books were created and printed, they were bound and presented to the students.

From the outset, the camp was a collaborative effort. IDEA Studio representatives Karen French, Treavor Bogard, and Ken Tothero joined with AISD instructional technology staff members Howard Martin and Arturo Guajardo to lay out an initial design. Doctoral candidate Heather Hickman joined the team to finish the planning and preparations. In addition to their roles as AISD teacher-leaders, Carl Hooker, Inez Flores, and Donny Branam took very active roles in tweaking camp curriculum to meet the needs of the practicing teachers and their students.

Dr. Karen French, the instructional technology specialist who coordinated the design and implementation of the camps said, “Everyone loves this experience: teachers, parents and students, and we have found that we learn as much from them as they do from us.”

A online wiki site has been created so that teachers can share their ideas about the camp, and in the future see projects and get questions answered by others doing similar projects. Karen hopes this will lead to an online “community of practice” among the teachers as they continue to integrate this type of technology-based project into their instruction.

The final AISD Tech Camp ended June 23. For additional information about the camps, contact Karen French at kdfrench@mail.utexas.edu.