Enhancing the Learning Environment in a 1:1 School: It's Not About Computers

Peter Lovenheim was shocked in 2000 when on the street he had lived for most of his life, a murder/suicide rocked the neighborhood. Like many of us, we would begin to ask questions as to how something like this could happen in our local community. However, Peter Lovenheim went a bit farther than most of us would choose to do. He realized he didn't know his neighbors other than on a surface level. He decided to change this by asking, ever so nicely, if he could sleep over. As an author and journalist, he took this experience and wrote a book titled, In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time. Now, this may seem quite strange at first glance. If one of my neighbors asked if they could sleep over, I would ask some intense questions to figure out their motivation. However, Peter Lovenheim believed to truly get to know someone, spending some quality time with them would be the best way to learn and begin to build a solid relationship. A sleepover was just the ticket.

Peter Lovenheim's idea got me thinking about the power of relationships and student interaction in learning. As an educator, I know there is power in learning through conversations and verbal interaction. I also know higher-order student interaction doesn’t happen nearly enough in schools. Are neighborhoods and classrooms very different from one another? Both seem to have people in such close proximity, yet rarely do they interact with one another. In a neighborhood, this means we are missing out on some great relationships. In a classroom, this means students miss out on the ability to process and interact with information using the input of others to help connect to, extend, and apply their learning. In Okoboji, we have started to use a measurement tool called the Instructional Practices Inventory to help us accurately measure the field of learning we are creating to provide a yield of student learning. The Instructional Practices Inventory, or IPI, measures how students are engaged throughout the day and allows our staff to have an accurate look at reality, thus providing some data as a catalyst for improvement. The IPI has six levels of student engagement distinguished by the level of thinking and engagement activity students are experiencing.

According to the extensive research done by IPI founder Jerry Valentine "increasing the time students spend in higher-order, deeper thinking is associated with increased student achievement, and just as importantly, how students develop life-long thinking skills. These relationships in achievement are evident regardless of how student achievement is measured. Increases are apparent even when the measure is a predominantly recall-format high stakes state assessments.” The IPI helps us to measure the amount of time students spend in a higher-order, deeper thinking environment which will positively impact student achievement and improve learning for the many important things we are unable to measure with a standardized test at this time.

One of the most interesting findings we have from our initial results is the amount of time students are spending with one another in higher-order student learning conversations. Higher-order student learning conversations (Level 5 on the IPI) includes cooperative and project-based learning where students are engaged in learning as a group. This is one of the most powerful ways of learning, but even in highly successful schools, this occurs only 3-5% of the time. Last Spring, we did our first measurement of our school learning environment and found our students were spending 6.22% of their day (based on 310 observations) in this powerful format of learning in their core classes. This was a good number as this was a baseline measurement, and it was already higher than average results found in many highly successful schools.

In December, we completed our second IPI measurement cycle and had our first staff collaborative conversation about the information. Our staff had some great insight into the new data and it was a pleasure for me to listen to the wisdom and passion our teachers expressed as they began to process the evidence. Going into this year, we knew it was a year of great change. For the first time ever, our teachers would be teaching in a 1:1 learning environment. Not only would this be new for our teachers, but this would also be a new experience for our students. In all of our preparation for moving into this environment, our teachers were focused on using the laptops, an amazingly powerful tool, to create the best learning experiences for our students. As with anything new, not everything would be perfect and we knew there would be bumps in the road. One of the challenges we wanted to overcome was to implement so our students would not lose out on student-to-student higher-order learning (i.e. Level 5 on the IPI). Our staff was committed to leveraging the great power of laptops to increase higher-order thinking and create a learning environment to improve students’ abilities to create, communicate, collaborate, contribute, and critically think. Their focus is beginning to show. The amount of time our students are spending in higher-order student learning conversations has improved, and quite significantly. Based on over 237 observations taken in December, over 14% of our time was spent in this kind of learning. Put another way, our teachers are harnessing and the power of computers in kids hands to advance our learning environment. This advancement is increasing the amount of interaction our students have with one another, not taking away from human learning interaction.

I can’t close this post without giving some well-deserved credit to our entire teaching staff for their determination, desire, and focus to be amazing teachers. Robert Marzano has so clearly stated that “the number one factor impacting student achievement is the teacher.” Never have I believed this so firmly as now. Our teachers make great learning happen. Great learning does not just happen because of computers, the great curriculum our kids have, or the vast amount of resources our teachers have access to. It is their work everyday using the best of tools to create opportunities for learning in every classroom that will produce a lifetime impact for our students. Our 1:1 initiative is just the next step in the progression of technology in schools and education as a whole. However, putting computers in the hands of students without teacher preparation and focus is like attempting to fly a space shuttle without training or a mission. You may have a powerful tool, but if you are not sure how or why you are using it, it will be ineffective. I guarantee the future will bring change and uncertainty, but with adaptable, improvement-focused teachers and leaders, our education system can rise to the challenge.