Nova: Affordable Student Computing

School Pilots Teacher References
  - State of West Virginia   - St. Charles Parish Schools, Louisiana
  - Goose Creek, TX, USA   - Nova5000 Australian Trials
  - Yolo County, CA, USA   - Technology Director for South Barber

 

School Pilots

In the short time that Nova5000 has been on the market the reviews and feedback received have been extremely positive. The product has already been adopted for a number of sizable 1:1 computing programs, including state-wide by West Virginia. Educators are very impressed how quickly students can pick up a Nova5000 and immediately start to use it. They also feel there is enough computing power to cover the entire school day's computing needs...a message emphasized by Nicholas Negroponte in his keynote speech at NECC this year. Nova5000 research and development revolves around making the Nova5000 100% compliant with school needs ‚ and the educators are recognizing that fact.

State of West Virginia
Situation: RFP for science equipment and PD to enhance skills of science teachers
Grade Level(s): High School
Purpose: Train 12 master teachers who then will train other HS teachers.
Districts had to commit to purchase of 12 Nova science bundles as part of training.
Why Fourier: Affordable, flexible science solution.

Goose Creek, TX, USA
Situation: Medium size, suburban district
Grade Level(s): 6
Purpose: Support and accelerate existing curriculum with personal learning devices
Why Fourier: Easy-to-use, loaded with applications and teachers love it.

Director of Instructional Technology for Goose Creek
"Goose Creek CISD is very excited to be one of the first districts to experience the benefits of the partnership between Fourier Systems and GoKnow Learning. Our experience with both of these companies has been extremely positive. Our sixth grade students will be introduced to the Nova5000 using the HLE and PAAM environment later this year. We know our students and teachers are going to love this easy-to-use wireless mobile learning device loaded with applications that will support and accelerate their existing curriculum."
Sharon Sprayberry,
Director of Instructional Technology for Goose Creek CISD, USA

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Yolo County, CA, USA
Situation: Small county office outside Sacramento
Grade Level(s): MS & HS math and science teachers
Purpose: PD program to enhance math and science skills of teachers via Math and Science Partnership Grant
Why Fourier: Science and math programs bundled with applications familiar



Bob Bachmeier, Yolo County Office of Education
In our annual summer technology trainings, we had been integrating PalmOne Zire 72’s into our teacher’s curriculum. Then we took a risk, being the first group to order the NOVA 5000’s. It has paid off because we have empowered our teachers to integrate math and science in ways they had not been able to before.

The capability of the NOVA 5000 to display onto a screen or larger monitor has been more powerful than we anticipated. The portability lends itself to quick set-up and use almost anywhere in the classrooms – It is so much easier than setting up a lap-top next to the projector.

Our teachers found that the software is powerful, friendly to learn and use, and is not intimidating (Portrait 4 and Multilog).

Our grant (No Child Left Behind funded) had an emphasis on increasing the content knowledge of teachers in math and science. We found that the NOVA5000s are educational tools for both, teachers and students.

Our teachers are finding how easy it is to have students collect data, then they find out how their students feel like they own that data and are much more willing to do something with it. They get excited manipulating and analyzing information they relate to and own.

The day we got our first shipment of NOVA’s, I took one home to explore. In seeing it turned on for the first time, my 13 year old daughter exclaimed, “That is way cool Dad, can I use it?” She was immediately able to collect data using the probes, but like the wireless internet the best, asking, “can I IM my friends?”

Teachers found it to be almost transparent moving from Microsoft Office and the NOVA’s productivity tools (Textmaker and Planmaker) and vise-versa. This increased their ‘technology confidence’ immediately. 

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Teacher References

St. Charles Parish Schools, Louisiana, USA
"The compact, easy to carry 7 inch screen makes viewing the data easier ... and is much easier to carry than a laptop. Nova has direct inputs for the probes. This also streamlines the connections so you do not end up with a spider web full of wires. The direct input allows students to immediately view the data in the field or in the classroom without having to download the data to another computer or attach other instruments. The graphics and set-up for monitoring using the Multilab software seems to be a much more streamlined process for students making it easier to focus on the experiment rather than the set-up of the probes, which has been an issue in the past.

Windows program on the Nova gives students more of a comfort level If I used the shut down button on the Nova, I found the battery to last."

Nova5000 Australian Trials
"I watch as children walk to their desks, talk to their friends about how to and what to do with these cool new NOVAs. They love the size and the lightweight colorful design. I will get them to post their comments here."

"My class (and the class next door) LOVE the data loggers. We held the probes near the air conditioner, took it outside in the shade and in the direct sun, and 2 boys even took theirs up to the ladies in the office and asked if they could hold the probes in their refrigerator for a minute! The graphs were saved and will be imported into their Eduweb homepages next week."

"This week in Reading groups, each group had a turn at using Inspiration to design a mind map about Weather. I loved the cooperation and teamwork! 2 of my least-motivated boys worked so well together that they were first in the class to complete their mind map."

To see the full teacher and students comments please visit - http://ozintell.edublogs.org/

Technology Director for South Barber
"Finally, instant-on, large screen size, tons of features, and something students don't want to put down!"
Luke MacKinney, Technology Director for South Barber, USA

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