The Becker School District hosted its third Apple® Site Visit on Monday, with 80 representatives on hand to tour classrooms and view current technology practices in the Becker High School and the Becker Middle School as part of the one-day program, according to Becker Director of Instructional Technology Ryan Cox.

 

Attendees came from every part of Minnesota, Cox said, as well as from as far afield as Mandan, ND to meet Becker students and hear their presentations on how they currently use technology as a learning tool.  Members of the Student Technology Advisory Council (STAC) conducted participants around the schools for the classroom tours, during which they were able to ask questions of both students and teachers.  “We asked them (the students) to be completely honest with the visitors,” Cox said, “and to tell them about the things that were working, and those which were not working as well.”

 

Following the tours, the program participants met in the BHS media center with all of the student guides who were introduced by BHS media specialist Nancy Lorentz.  Following the question-and-answer session, the STAC students gave individual presentations to the meeting about various aspects of technology in the classroom that they were familiar with.

 

Becker is one of only eight Apple® Distinguished Schools in Minnesota, a ranking that is necessary to host one of the site visits the firm produces.  Students and staff do most of the presentations and preparation for such visits, Cox said, with only two Apple® personnel on hand for the Becker event, mainly to answer specific questions about the company and school programs during the visit.

 

Being an Apple® Distinguished School is about much more than simply purchasing computer equipment from the company, Cox said.  It involves a commitment and a belief in using technology to change the way information is presented in the classroom, and changing the way students and teachers communicate and share information and collaborate on projects.

 

Cox cited the recent TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) presentation at the school, in which the students do the teaching as they make presentations to their teachers in regard to technology and ways of “flipping” classrooms from traditional teaching methods to the use of current technology to create a new learning environment.