Vision in Action @

Bishop Hartley High School

First Monitoring, Then Interaction

A private Catholic school located in Columbus, Ohio, Bishop Hartley High School is a pioneer in one-to-one computing. The school started one of the first one-to-one Tablet PC programs in the nation, placing a computer in the hands of every junior and senior at the school. Students have the computer 24 hours a day, seven days a week for true anytime, anywhere access.

Kenneth Collura, Director of Communication and Instructional Technologies for the Diocese, had implemented the Tablet PC program and wanted it to effectively enhance teaching and learning in the classrooms of Bishop Hartley. He investigated DyKnow Monitor software to minimize electronic distraction in the classroom (read more). During his research, he discovered that DyKnow Monitor's partner software, DyKnow Vision, could also help him achieve his goals of individualized learning.

"In high school, where students take seven 45-minute long classes per day, each moment of instruction is valuable," Collura explains. "We needed a way to make every minute of education personalized for each student."

Collura's solution was the introduction of DyKnow Vision to his faculty.

Collura knew that he needed to reach students with various learning styles, including tactile, visual and auditory learners. With DyKnow Vision, teachers can embed a video from the Internet into the electronic notes to reach visual and auditory learners. Students who are tactile learners can use the Tablet PC pen to add notes to the teacher's lesson. Students can use the different DyKnow Vision tools to get the best results for them individually – and all the various learning tools are captured in one personalized electronic notebook.

Collura did not require teachers to use the software, but he noticed that they were seeing positive results and were using it in class with increasing frequency. Each semester more teachers and students requested to use the software in their classes; DyKnow Vision and Monitor were enhancing the learning experience for teachers and students.

Stephanie Howe, who teaches both Spanish and French, prepares DyKnow lessons prior to class, which allows her to verify that accent marks are drawn correctly and saves her time during class that she previously spent writing out sentences and words. After each lesson, she has students practice writing the lesson they learned in DyKnow Vision and asks them to turn in their work by submitting their DyKnow panels.

Other classes have found innovative ways to utilize the features of DyKnow Vision to complement special projects as well. Each year, Curt Hansen hosts a mock trial in his government classes to give his students a hands-on experience. At the beginning of the trial, Hansen starts a DyKnow Vision session and enables the participant to moderator chat feature, which allows the students to send messages only to the teacher.

"My ability to use DyKnow in order to privately chat with my teacher during the trial has been invaluable," said student Ashley Taylor. Taylor acted as the judge in her class and appreciated the ability to communicate with Hansen via the chat feature without the knowledge of the rest of the court.

Other results have been positive, as well. Howe noticed that DyKnow helps slower writers capture all the notes. She also observed that students appreciate having a complete and accurate copy of her notes from which to study, making them more confident when taking exams.
Based on student and teacher feedback, Collura decided to purchase DyKnow Vision for all participants in the one-to-one computing program at Bishop Hartley. Today over 300 students have access to the software in all of their classes.

The students enjoy using DyKnow Vision and their enthusiasm for learning has increased. Collura acknowledges their only complaint is that they are not yet using the software in all of their classes. Parents have also noticed a difference. In fact, students are doing so well academically that parents are concerned about how their children will perform at college without a Tablet PC and DyKnow software. Collura eases their worries by reassuring them that teachers using DyKnow Vision are also training students how to take notes and improve critical thinking skills.
The DyKnow software has been so successful at Bishop Hartley that Collura has hosted several workshops for educators from around the country to experience their program hands-on. He notes that every school that has attended a workshop has left impressed by the impact the technology is having with teaching and learning in the classroom.

Bishop Hartley In Action

• Case Study (PDF 5.5Mb)
• Student Video
• Bishop Hartley in the News
• www.bishop-hartley.org

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