Tag Archives: iPad

Our visit to Bettendorf High Schools 1:1 iPad deployment

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Entrance to Bettendorf High School

Entrance to Bettendorf High School

As part of our district’s 1:1 study, we recently sent a team to visit the 1:1 roll out at Bettendorf High School, Bettendorf, Iowa. The following is not the final notes/findings from our entire group, but instead just a summary of my personal notes.

What’s your story?  Why are you 1:1?

The process began several years ago as a discussion with administrators and the school board.  It expanded to become a K-12, district-wide discussion that included research and school visits.

Why 1:1?  If we truly believe that we are preparing students for their future – we can’t afford not to provide them access to technology.  They used a number of resources from Dr. Scott McLeod, including those relating to how our workforce needs are changing.

They also pointed out how their demographics are changing and the technology is needed to level the playing field.  Currently they are at 30% Free/Reduced Lunch  (Note: West Des Moines Community Schools demographics are also changing, as we also just reached the 30% free/reduced lunch percentage.)

Is there a person or group that was the driving force behind the project?

The most frequent answer was “Jimmy”,  meaning Jimmy Casas, the high school principal.  Of course, Jimmy wasn’t present when this happened, and I’m guessing he would have deflected the attention.  However, Bettendorf offers other districts an important lesson in 1:1 roll outs – the real implementation takes place at the school level and building leadership is crucial to any change initiative.

What was deployed, to whom and when?

In the fall of 2012, 800 total iPads were deployed to all 9th and 10th graders at Bettendorf High School.  Starting next fall, all incoming 9th graders will receive iPads.  Why deploy in this manner?  What about current juniors and seniors?   At this time, there are no plans for deploying devices to existing juniors and seniors.  The decision to deploy in this manner was strictly financial,  it’s what the district could afford and also determined to be the manner in which they could ensure long term sustainability.

What is it that you want or expect as a results of this initiative?

Increase student engagement and transformed teaching and learning.

Other general notes…

What about the existing technology, was anything taken away when 1:1 was deployed?  No..  the existing computer labs and resources stayed and when those resources are due for replacement, we’ll then discuss what happens.

Originally, they proposed to the school board to reallocate money from 1) existing computer labs, 2) textbooks, and other resources.  However, the Board choose to provide additional sales tax/ppel funds to start the project instead.

They charge a $10 fee per student per year, which is technically a tech book replacement fee that is primarily used for online text books and apps

They piloting other devices, including an ASUS tablet, which included in classroom and take home.

Are you paperless?   No. Our goal isn’t to be paperless, that isn’t the main goal.  We still use paper when it makes sense.

What’s the plan for textbooks?  As each textbook/resource comes up for replacement, we’ll be looking to see if they still need the resource and if so, if they can find a digital version.  After that, we may look to do classroom sets instead of one per student.  AP courses may be the exception.

Currently 94% of families have internet access at home.

So far, at the 18 week point of the project, 1 iPad has been lost and 7 needed repairs.

Currently spending about $625 per student for the device, case, and apps.

Originally, the high school had 13 traditional computer labs, but that will be re-evaluated at the time that each lab is due for replacement.

Can students currently bring their own devices?  or their own iPads?  No…  not currently. They would like to do this, but they can not due to limited bandwidth.

Does the high school or district have a learning management system  (LMS) selected or designated for use by staff?    There is no school or district mandated LMS or website tool.  Teachers are welcome to select the tool that is appropriate.  In fact, their training modules includes training for Moodle, Schoology, and Edmodo.  

However, teachers are required to have a web presence...  that includes basic contact information, syllabus, and assignments.  However, the district does not require the usage of any specific tool or resource.

When 1:1 was decided for 9th and 10th grade – what else was discussed for other grades?  The district is moving forward with 5 iPads per elementary room and other deployments at other grade levels will be determined in the future.

We were really impressed with their roll out nights.  Every district has required parent nights – but in Bettendorf, the parent night is the same night that the device is actually rolled out.   Compared to other districts, they are utilizing the parent night to A) handle the deployment without taking up instructional time and B) use the opportunity for parent training.  Here’s an overview of how it works….

1) Both the student and the parents are required to attend.

2) Parents and students start together in the cafeteria where they review and sign the usage agreement and responsibilities.

3) Parents then moved to another room and school leaders work with parents on understanding appropriate usage, expectations, and other tips/strategies for issues at home.

3. At the same time, students were in another location where they received the iPad.  Students then enroll the device into the management system (Casper Suite), and began basic iPad training.

4.  At the end of the night –  parents, students, and their iPad head home together.

Can student bring their own iPad? No, they want the device enrolled into their management software to enable distribution of apps that are owned by the district.

Why the iPad?  We tested other devices (even allowing them to go home), but in the end we felt that other districts with laptops were primarily doing the more of the same tasks – just electronically.  We wanted to change the tasks to do things differently.  Other important features included… the instant on/off,  ability to access a variety of apps, and it was key that many apps will allow students to work at home without internet access.

We visited several classrooms that contained students of various grade levels, which meant that some students had iPads and other did not.  What did students think?  I heard from some that didn’t feel it was problem – yet others who were upset and wished everyone had a device. 

A major portion of their professional development was developed by Physics/Astronomy teacher, Christopher Like,  @christopherlike  It focuses on the self-paced, individualized technology professional development plan that was rolled out with Bettendorf’s iPad initiative.

* It’s called Mission Possible (visit: https://sites.google.com/a/bettendorf.k12.ia.us/bhs-tech-pd/) the plan consists of individual missions, or modules, that staff typically complete on their own.  It’s based on gaming attributes like points, levels, titles/badges, etc.

* Completing missions gives you “paw points” and a certain number of points moves you to a new level.

* Certain levels must be completed before iPads are made available to you.

* There is a leader board that displays how many points and what level each staff member is at.  This is NOT evaluative at all, there is no requirement to reach the highest level.

——————— Photos from our visit to Bettendorf High School—————————————-

My notes from visiting 1:1 iPad deployment at Johnston Schools

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Johnston iPadsAs part of our district’s 1:1 study, we recently sent a team to visit the 1:1 roll out at Johnston Schools, Iowa. The following is not the final notes/findings from our entire group, but instead just a summary of my personal notes.

Tell us your story… Why did you go 1:1?

The desire to move to 1:1 was predominately driven by the community.  Several years ago, during community forums known as “Futures Meetings”, the community kept asking about 1:1 technology access for students.  The topic came up in every one of the community forums.

What results do see or expect to see?

NOTE: At the time we visited, the project was only 9 weeks old.

We expect the technology to support good teaching & learning practices. We also want our initiative to  promoting 21st century skills and digital literacy for students.

Immediately, they saw a difference in student engagement.

Staff have commented that they should shorten the passing time between classes.

Expect to increased focus on 21st century skills and digital literacy.

Feedback so far from parents, includes…  students are better organized, its more efficient, they seeing less paper used, and grading electronically is more efficient and provides more feedback to students in less time.  Parents also felt that the iPad was easier to use than a computer.

Other general notes……

How did you decide on which device?  Since the deployment was specific to grades 10-12 at the high school, they asked departments to help make the pros/cons list related to all of the final devices.  In the end, the departments helped to decide on the iPad.

How many positions were added due to the deployment?  2 FTEs were added, one related to training the other a technical position.

The policy planning took longer than they expected.  As they sent draft policies out for review, they had more revisions than they anticipated.  However, in the end, they felt it was time well spent.

Why was the high school chosen for the deployment? why not another grade?   Two reasons… 1) the “futures” meetings were the driving force behind the project and they focused on the future of the high school in specific.  2) they felt the project could make a significant difference in student engagement at the high school level.

The ability to annotate was significant for them… and Good Notes is the most popular classroom organizational app.

Do students feel that they need keyboards?  Most students adapt, and it’s usually only the adults who seem worried about this topic.  We really like their unique approach to addressing this –>  they created a keyboard cart.  A small cart with just wireless keyboards that a teacher could check out if they felt it was needed.

They created a very clear chart that outlines what is Negotiable and what is Non-Negotiable related to the iPad roll out.   For example, every teacher MUST use Moodle to post their classroom documents and syllabus.

Most professional development was done during the teachers common planning time.

PD contained:  keynote speaker at the start (they referred to as the fire-up), the Meet the iPad sessions, followed up with content specific app training.

How much push back was there on the roll out?  Most of it was when the project was announced, which was mostly concerns/fears about change.  They felt that they turned a significant corner about 4 months before students received their devices.

Student played several key roles in the roll out….  teams of students helped with various issues such as publicity, technical assistance, the actual roll outs, and even helped in developing a mobile app for high school.

They are using Casper Suite from JAMF to manage the devices.  There is a core group of apps installed on all iPads, and then students can use their own personal iTunes accounts to download their own apps.

At the launch event, parents and students were required to attend one of four optional dates/times.  They had 100% attendance.

They gave each student one stylus with their iPads, as they felt it was critical for using the device for annotation.  However, they only provided one – after this, students are able to purchase additional ones from the media center.

Web filtering is provided both at school and at home (as well any location where the device is connected to wifi).  They are using Light Speed Filtering for this task.

Students are required to use the district provided iPad and to use the district provided case.

If the device is lost or stolen – the family pays the full replacement cost.

The district does purchase Apple Care with each iPad, which covers a certain amount of damage.

Families are required to pay a $50 deposit before they can take the iPad home.  If the device is working at the end of the school year, the $50 deposit is returned.

The digital camera/ video camera has been significant for science courses – as its used to record and document their science labs.

What are the core technologies available in each classroom?  Projector, teacher laptop, and an iPad for each student.  Teachers are using software to display their iPad through their teacher laptop and then to the classroom projector.

They conducted some pilot testing in some classrooms the year before the launch.

Heard from several teachers… “Classroom management and physically moving around the classroom is more important now.”

For their first year of the roll out, they are monitoring:  student behavior incidents, student attendance, grades, and staff / student surveys.

Student iPads are randomly pulled from the classroom and are evaluated by staff.  They have found that word gets out fast when this happens… and students understand that their iPad can be taken from them at any point in time for review.

They estimate the total cost of the iPad to be $720 per student.. which includes the apps, management software, and the case.  Estimated $30 to $40 of this is specifically for apps.

Socrative is very popular for promoting formative assessment.

iPad reminders posted on the walls of Johnston High School

iPad reminders posted on the walls of Johnston High School

Challenges / issues….

Work flow issues….  Several staff we talked with are concerned about the day to day workflow of submitting and grading assignments.  It appeared that many of them are still working with email as the method of submitting and routing of student assignments.  In fact, one teacher commented that he feels that it takes longer to grade assignments than via paper – but he’s hopeful that this will improve.

Distracted by games...    Many staff commented on this – but there are two basic camps on this issue.  One side thinks it’s a technical issue and the solution is to either block all games or not allow students to use their iTunes accounts.  The other side sees an opportunity to teach students about responsible usage.  They pointed out that adults are distracted by their devices too, and we need to make this a teachable moment.   (Side note: other 1:1 iPad visits made this same comment, but also noted that it gets better with time and clearer expectations)

Written by Brian Abeling, @wdmtech