The conference has wound up now, and we have five minutes before we check out and go to catch our two flights this evening to go to Cincinnati – so a very brief final blog entry from Virginia Tech.
Our presentation was first up this morning after the keynote, and went very well. We presented the journey that we have gone on from the initial Wacom bluetooth graphics tablets, to the trial group of teachers with Tablet PC’s, to the staff rollout of Tablet PC’s and then the trial year 7 class. Specifically we looked at the maths data we have for the year 7 class that has been taught by Michelle, using Tablet PC’s. Whilst the data is only very preliminary, and there obviously needs to be a lot of work done on the reasons why and how, the class has improved its results more than any other class in year 7, both on internal assessment instruments and external assessment instruments – they are not the best performing class, but their improvement is the highest. Now this could be because of the teacher, because of the program, because of any number of things – but they are also the Tablet class, and it is a very interesting observation. What is of most interest to me, is that this finding was reported on multiple occasions over the conference – but we need more longitudinal data to be sure.
The audience was great asking lots of questions, very engaged by the preliminary results – we have made a lot of contacts that are going to be very valuable for the next few years as our data collection and evaluation continues.
Now we’re off the airport – hopefully we will have internet at the next hotel so we can report back on our school visit!
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