This post, the final of a three-part series, will focus on one of the most powerful teaching-learning tools at our disposal: DyKnow.  Although technically DyKnow isn’t new (we’ve been piloting it for the past two years), with our 1:1 initiative underway we can finally leverage its full potential in the classroom.  For those unfamiliar with DyKnow, this short clip provides a nice (and rather humorous) overview:

More than a simple note-taking tool, DyKnow consists of two distinct components; Vision and Monitor.  DyKnow Vision fosters interaction and engagement in the classroom.  As described on their website, Vision allows teachers to:

• Instantly transmit prepared or extemporaneous content to student computers for annotation
• Spark discussion by broadcasting a student’s screen
• Empower students to lead class and share work from their seats
• Poll students to quickly assess understanding and receiving immediate feedback
• Save class notes and audio recording on a central server where students can access and replay them anytime, anywhere

DyKnow Monitor is a management tool that helps teachers maintain control in a digital environment.  DyKnow’s website highlights some of Monitor’s many features:

• View thumbnail images of student screens
• Block non-curricular applications and URLs
• Lock the keyboards and mice on specific computers
• Take remote control of a student’s workstation
• Monitor lab or mobile computers using class rosters, computer locations, or both
• Reduce administrative requirements while allowing hundreds of computers to be monitored in wired and wireless environments

This summer, DyKnow completely updated their user interface to give it a more “Office 2007-like” feel and the learning curve for utilizing Vision and Monitor is very gentle.  Courses are pre-populated, log-in credentials are consistent with other school applications, and notebook are saved to our webserver.  Anyone comfortable with the Tablet PC can start creating content within minutes and PowerPoint users can import existing work with one mouse-click.  From the student perspective, learning to use DyKnow only takes a few minutes; it is truly a user-friendly application.

The ability to change the lecture/note-taking enviroment from “human photocopying” into human dialog, the formative assessment capabilities of Vision, and the management features of Monitor make DyKnow a “must try” for anyone involved in our 1:1 Tablet program.   If you missed the training sessions this summer and/or would like more information, please check out the DyKnow overview video and let me know when you’d like to give it a try in your classroom.  I think you’ll find the experience will be of great benefit to you and your students.

Posted: 08|18|08 at 5:17 pm. Filed under: 1:1, Applications.
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