Getting the Most Out of Blocksi Implementation with Chris Gutermuth from Sycamore Community Schools
Our guest is Chris Gutermuth, Instructional Technology Facilitator with Sycamore Community Schools. Chris has 7 years in K-12 education, with 13 years as a History teacher and 14 years integrating instructional technology.
He is discussing how the school district is using Blocksi to facilitate and monitor face-to-face and remote learning and sharing his favorite piece of Blocksi technology - using the "assessment" lockdown browser tool to facilitate secure testing.
Some other tips Chris is sharing cover their school district's evolution in using the filtering solution into a more robust implementation:
Initially they were using at-home filtering on devices sent home with students
They found a byproduct - data and analytics allowed them to finetune filters even more
Soon they realized the software allowed school resource ofifcers to check histories of cyberbullying
This same technology also allowed school personnel to more easily check and update parents when anyone was hearing that students were doing things
All of this capability helped them find holes in their content filtering
As a second step they added the Parent Dashboard used in conjunction with the 1:1 teaching. Parents would have additional sites they wanted to block while they students were at home. This extra capability cost parent nothing and allows them to select time blocks or site access, see website viewing habits, and really empowers the parent.
Then the school district added the Teacher Dashboard. Teachers were able to create classes easily, much like Google Classroom. It allows teachers to have a tile for every student and show their actual desktop and every tab they had open, and also allow the teacher to close or restrict tabs.
The Classroom Management software has been extremely valuable during face-to-face instruction.
With remote learning, remote teachers have the same ability to teach at home and actively view and monitor student activity. Very effective in pedagogy, in teaching and providing access to resources.
The secure testing environment is especially helpful in remote learning and works with Schoology, Blackboard, Google Classroom, Google Forms.
schoology blackboard google classroom google forms
It's been a game changer in allowing the teacher in the classroom while at one station in elementary school, having Blocksi open on their computer and just glance to see if other students are on task. Special education teachers are able to more easily provide instruction through the messaging feature.
The built-in breakout groups and video conferencing tools also help with instruction.
Sycamore Community Schools really gained a partnership while growing their tech solutions with Blocksi. The software is aligned with outcomes, and Chris believes that staying with one content filtering solution for years has helped their teachers really get on board because they know how to effectively use the platform.
The school district added more analytics recently because of remote learning and attendance policies, and is working more hand-in-hand with a school resources officer.
He feels their use of the platform helps them more effectively engage students in remote learning, that doesn't take anyone backwards and helps make it more student-centered again.
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