This year the survey asked the same questions, but looked at them through the lens of each class. If you review the General Use bar graph for the core content areas you would assume that English would be the class that is most conducive for using iPods in the classroom.  The question you ask is why?  How are the English teachers using it as opposed to Math which received the lowest rating.

It does not appear so much to be the subject area itself, but the teachers involved in that subject area and their level of comfort with this particular technology.  One of the main English teachers for the 9th graders is a member of our tech team and an avid user of iPods and instructional technologies in general.  Students in his class expect that they will be using a lot of technology and they do.  What is puzzling is that these same students then go to other classes such as math or science and they do not transfer their learning.  Also teachers are not quite as comfortable with the technology and the expectation is not at the same level as the English classes.

The key to bridging these gaps is good staff development.  Now that we have the data, we know where we need to focus instruction and provide assistance to faculty.  We are restructuring our professional development model from one-size-fits all trainings to departmentalized training.  We also will be developing individual goals with each teacher team and teacher for utilzing not only the iPods, but with all of our technology tools.  We hope to be able to provide more one-on-one instruction, providing ideas and assistance for specific projects teachers are doing in the classroom.  In addition, we will continue to develop resources for faculty utilizing Web 2.0 tools.