Gilles-Sweet sixth-graders Sidney Schuller, Tricia Aerni, Meghan Graham and Christi Skelly work on a script for a podcast April 8 on a computer at the Apple Store at Crocker Park. Members of the school’s technology club took a field trip to the store to demonstrate the use of modern technology in education. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Students show off tech skills at Apple Store
By Kevin Kelley
Westshore
Published April 15, 2009

Computer technology is fully integrated in the curriculum at Gilles-Sweet Elementary School in Fairview Park.

Not only do students use computers in their classrooms, but 32 sixth-graders belong to an after-school technology club where they learn and experiment with multimedia.

Earlier in the school year, the club demonstrated its expertise to administrators at a board of education meeting. Last Wednesday evening, the club demonstrated their skills to parents and the public during a field trip to the Apple Store at Crocker Park in Westlake.

Matt Dunlap, technology instructor at Gilles-Sweet and moderator of the technology club, said he had wanted to take his students to an Apple Store for some time, but the one at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst was too far. After the Crocker Park location opened in September, Dunlap filled out an online application and was soon contacted by Apple.

The purpose of the field trip, Dunlap said, was to showcase the skills the students have learned.

Incorporating technology into classes allows students to utilize critical thinking and problem-solving skills instead of just memorizing the subject matter, said Dunlap, who also teaches educational technology as an adjunct professor at Baldwin-Wallace College.

“When making a podcast, there are many steps that they have to think through that they ordinarily wouldn’t do if they were just doing a pencil and paper activity,” Dunlap said.

Gilles-Sweet students Cayleigh Gibbons and Paige Kerrigan work on creating a video podcast during the field trip to the Apple Store. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

Students have produced video newscasts, audio podcasts and written blogs, said Dunlap, who has been teaching in the Fairview district for 14 years, the past two as a technology instructor.

“Using technology allows students to show their creativity and get interested in things they ordinarily wouldn’t be interested in,” Dunlap said.

Sixth-grader Nick Seelbach played a four-minute video he made about author Christopher Paolini. All fifth-and sixth-grade technology students had to do a similar research project, which involved doing all research online and creating a mini-documentary.

Seelbach said he already knew a lot about the video-creation software iMovie, but learned more about how to edit and add effects.

Students also gave live demonstrations of their skills at the Apple Store. A group of four students wrote a script, and then recorded a podcast live in the store.

“It was about the field trip and new technology,” said student Tricia Aerni.

Milan Janca and J.P. George combined 25 digital photos of on iPhone in use in iMovie to create a stop-motion video.

“We do longer ones at schools that have over 300 (photos),” Janca said.

The technology club also videotapes school assemblies that parents can view online from home or work, something parent Karen Lachowski finds very convenient.

“We’re on the school Web site all the time,” said Lachowski, whose son, Eric, is a member of the Gilles-Sweet tech club.

In addition to exchanging ideas on computer projects, the students develop closer friendships, Lachowski said.

Gilles-Sweet’s sixth-graders are already far ahead of the adults in terms of computer knowledge, Lachowski told West Life.

“I’m very impressed by what they can do,” she said. “(My son’s) shown me a lot of things I never knew you could do with a computer.”

To view blogs, videos, podcasts and other projects created by Gilles-Sweet students, go online to http://gstechnology.edublogs.org.

On the Web:

• Fairview Park School District
• http://gstechnology.edublogs.org.