Using markers of different colors to trace paths on a piece of paper, third-grade students at North Side Elementary School guided tiny robots along a trail of their own design.
Different color patterns told the robot to speed up, slow down or perform tricks. Nearby, students used tablets to steer small wheeled machines through an obstacle course, knock down bowling pins and catapult balls into buckets.
Those were just some of the educational activities students across the Johnson City Schools system took part in during Digital Learning Day on Tuesday, which coincided with “Twosday” on Feb. 22, 2022.
Although the pandemic forced many students to adjust to an online, screen-based learning environment, Westley Harris, who teaches music and art at North Side, said the activities on Digital Learning Day are more tangible and could be foundational for students as they prepare for an increasingly digitized world.
“We know that the workforce has changed rapidly in the past few years,” Harris said.
Harris helped organize the activities at North Side and assisted students on Tuesday as they performed basic coding with markers and tiny robots called Ozobots.
It’s the sixth year Johnson City Schools has participated in the annual event, which serves as a nationwide recognition of the ways teachers use technology in the classroom. In the library at North Side, students used software to develop comic books telling a story about an important figure in African American history.
Elsewhere, fourth grade students at Towne Acres Elementary School celebrated both Black History Month and Digital Learning Day by learning about the advancements in technology made by people of color. Students at Liberty Bell Middle School, meanwhile, used a music theme to celebrate diversity and highlight how technology has changed the way people listen to and record music.
David Timbs, the system’s supervisor of secondary and instructional technology, said in a press release that the system has been able to provide technological tools and applications for students and teachers with support from the Board of Education and the Johnson City Commission.
“We have also been able to show them best practices and collaborate to get the best use out of our programs,” Timbs said. “Today was a day to really highlight the hard work of our teachers and students as we continue to integrate technology in the classroom as a means to help our students achieve the best outcomes.”
Especially this year, Harris said, Digital Learning Day helps demonstrate that the system has been able to adjust lessons for a more technical format.
“Looking at this year, I wanted to really emphasize the fact that we are doing this every day,” Harris said. “It has become part of our daily experience. We need the public to understand that it’s become a part of our daily experience. … This is a day for us to make sure that the public is aware, our families are aware, our community is aware that we are using these tools constantly.”
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