1 to 1 Schools

Visiting 1-to-1 Schools - What Are Your Goals?

If you're thinking about 1-to-1 or even honing your program, it's great to find out what other schools are doing.  Educators in general like to know what something "looks like."  Knowing and understanding how 1-to-1 can potentially transform learning at a school or district is facilitated when you've seen some examples.  Additionally, it means reinventing fewer wheels - that is if you have chosen the right wheels.

Successful 1-to-1 schools, such as the one I oversaw for five years, attract visitors.  Schools would call and ask if they could spend the day to see 1-to-1 in operation. We would welcome them and ask some questions such as what would you like to see?  Who will be visiting?  When will you arrive and leave?  Do you have goals for your visit? 

Sometimes schools or districts would have goals and that made it much easier to tailor the day.  But often there were only open-ended ideas and not many specifics.  So we would start with a meeting and introduce the technology staff and teachers, stop in to see the Head of School, visit a number of classes together, arrange lunch with students, see some more classes, have a technology/network tour, and end up with a debrief meeting. At the debrief meeting there would usually be more specific questions which we would do our best to answer.  

School or districts with goals, however, saw as much specific to their program as we could offer and not just the luck of the draw.  We might arrange time with teachers according to their interests away from the classroom, have students at lunch who could explain how the program furthered, say, their math skills, spend time with curricular leaders, even split visitors up and have them shadow certain staff members or teachers.  

If you are on the path to 1-to-1, it's great to visit schools or districts.  It's best to come up with a list of questions for your visit so the time of everyone is maximized and you'll have fodder for designing or improving your program.  Here are a few starters to consider:

1. What initial work did you do before going 1-to-1 in terms of school or district culture, stakeholder readiness, professional development, or other planning?
2. What type of ongoing professional development is in place for your teachers and administrators?
3. Do you have a learning community/robust email system/learning management system/portal in place and can you describe it?  How did you decide on this product?
4. How has teaching and learning changed with 1-to-1?
5. Have you assessed your program and if so how?
6. How did you decide on your computer platform?  (Mac/PC/tablets/netbooks)
7. What did you do to prepare your network and infrastructure?
8. How did you handle logistics such as battery life, electricity, carrying cases, lockers?
9. Do you have insurance and how does that work?
10. Do you or your parents own the computers and how did you decide on this?
11. In hindsight, what might you do the same?
12. In hindsight, what might you do differently?

There are likely many more questions you have that can help you get the most from your visit.  Best of luck and Happy New Year!

What do Virtual Schools Look Like?

When I talk about virtual schools, many people have a preconceived image in their head.  This description comes from a post by Christine Van Dusen.

"A child sits at home in front of his computer screen, working through a virtual-school lesson by mindlessly clicking through the multiple choices, never talking to a teacher or a fellow student or even glimpsing the great outdoors and interacting with the real world.

This static, impersonal, anti-social school experience is the image that many parents, teachers and school administrators continue to have in mind when they picture the world of online learning, even as more and more brick-and-mortar school districts explore full- or part-time virtual education."

This description is far from the reality of virtual schools, but it may be the image many have of virtual schools.  Van Dusen's article described various types of virtual schools, and it is interesting to note how different virtual schools may look.  I would strongly recommend that you take a look at her article.  Various recent reports indicate that 50% of high school courses will be online by 2019.  With those startling numbers, we can't ignore, or be ignorant of online learning anymore.

Using technology in the Classroom

A recent article in eSchool News highlighted a teaching model for using technology in education.  Although the article targeted higher education, it may also be a very simple guide for K-12 educators.  The article began with an interesting statement describing how educators view technology.  "Many view technology as simultaneously a transformative tool for teaching and learning and one that should be avoided where possible."  The Read, Reflect, Display, and Do (R2D2) model from the article is a tool that was designed to help educators faced with the dilemma of deciding how to use technology in the classroom.

The article goes into more details about each phase, but I have included brief excerpts from each of them.

Phase One: Read

The web contains countless resources for reading, researching, and listening. You can have your students discover and read online articles from open-access journals, expert web sites, or online portals.

Phase Two: Reflect

A natural next step is for students to blog about the concepts or ideas that they learned from their reading or listening activities. Such blogging might be done individually or in teams. Critical friends within the class or experts outside it might provide feedback on their blog posts. Your students might also read or track the blog posts of experts that relate to the topic of a class or program of studies.

Phase Three: Display

The third phase involves pictures, timelines, flow charts, diagrams, and films. Such resources can now be found online in nearly any discipline.

Phase Four: Do

The internet provides many paths to try out course content in a safe harbor.  Beyond simple reports or term papers, they might also compose their own books in Wikibooks or create class projects such as a glossary in a wiki (e.g., PBworks or Wikispaces). Students might also produce their own podcasts or podcast series or YouTube-like videos related to course content. They can also solve problems or simulations online.

When I look at education today, most educational systems seem to do a very good job at phase one.  We do have our students read, although I question the quality of many of the things that they read.  Technology gives us the opportunity to find resources that are much more rich than almost any textbook can offer. 

We don't do quite as well with the other three phases of this model.  If students are asked to reflect, many times it is not very meaningful, deep, or rich.  They may write a reflection in order to fulfill a course requirement, and they may receive a couple of comments back from the teacher, but they don't engage deeply with the topic.  This isn't true reflection for most students.

The article noted that in ten years visual content may represent the bulk of course resources.  The internet has amazing visual resources that could help students learn.  Educators could really make their classes more exciting and powerful for students by doing some work on this phase. 

The final phase in this process is the "doing" stage.  This may be where education struggles the most.  Nearly 85% of the tasks that students do in their classes are at the lowest end of Bloom's Taxonomy.  We need to change that number drastically, and eventually we need to have students completing more tasks toward the top of the pyramid.  Technology is an extremely powerful tool that can do just that by allowing students to create in hundreds of different ways.

You may want to take a look at the full article on this process for using technology in education.  It is fairly simple, and may provide schools with  a way to use a common vocabulary to use.

R2D2: A model for using technology in education 'Read, Reflect, Display, and Do' can help instructors leverage the internet's potential to help students learn
By Curtis J. Bonk  

Online Safety for Students

I post this with some apprehension because of all of the fear mongers involved with education and society.  Many people I speak with caution against bringing more technology into schools because of all of the "horrible" things that could happen.  Sexting, cyber-bullying, and online predators are just a few of the fears that exist with technology.  Although these fears are relevant, they should not get in the way of using technologies in schools.

We know that students spend a great deal of time outside of class connected to technology.  This is just another reason that, as schools, we need to take responsibility teaching our students about online safety.  If we fail to do that, we will be doing our students a big disservice.  Can we truly expect students to behave appropriately on the most powerful tool in the world without any guidance or training?

Like any sound initiative in education, we need to involve parents and teachers in this effort.  By developing that relationship, we may be better able to communicate and work with families on this tough topic.

A new booklet released by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with other government agencies, helps parents and teachers steer students safely through the online and mobile-phone worlds.  This booklet may be one resource to help both teachers and parents, and enable schools to develop a common language and curriculum on the topic.

Schools cannot ignore this topic any longer.  Curriculum and resources must be developed so that, as educators, we can take a systematic approach to teaching online safety.  We can't hope that it happens by chance in classrooms or at home by families without any guidance from schools.

1-to-1 and Teachers - Getting Buyin

When undertaking any major school change initiative, the research is clear that the teachers - and what happens in the classroom – are key to success.  If teachers are not onboard, change is a nice idea that won’t get traction. This means considering their needs and views, and developing Professional Development that helps their practice and is not just about technology. Here are some ideas on getting teacher buy-in.

Giving teachers laptops or tablets first means teachers have an opportunity to explore, research, experiment and get comfortable with the possibilities before students have the resource:

“Peck [School] knew that for technology to be integrated successfully into the classroom, teachers had to be on board with the program first.  To facilitate this, teachers were given laptops a full year before students.” Livingston, P., “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 31

“Teachers at The Urban School [San Francisco] were first given laptops in 2000, and laptops for students were provided on mobile carts” Livingston, P., “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 41

“The program [Whitfield School] was launched in the 2004-2005 school year, when laptops were    provided to all Whitfield teachers and a limited number of students.”  - Livingston, P., “1-to-1    Learning: Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 43

Remembering that your teachers are adult learners as you plan Professional Development is important as adult learners have a wealth of previous knowledge, want time to reflect and consider possibilities, are self-motivated and self-directed:                       

“To adapt to the needs of adult students, these definitions of technology-based learning must be   utilized to make its design interactive, learner-centered and to facilitate self-direction in learners.” - Andragogy and Technology: Integrating Adult Learning 
Theory As We Teach With Technology - Dolores Fidishun, Ed.D. Head Librarian, Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies http://frank.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed00/fidishun.htm downloaded 11/27/09

Making Professional Development relevant to everyday teaching is key to ensuring 1-to-1 learning is not an occasional add-in but is real classroom infrastructure as basic and relevant as electricity. 

“Offer training for both curriculum-specific and cross-curricular applications. At the same time that teachers are learning about technology integration, technology coordinators need staff development about school change processes that support the key goals of the laptop program.”    Freedom to Learn Program, Michigan 2005-2006 Evaluation Report, Prepared  for Freedom to Learn and the One-to-One Institute, Center for Research in Educational Policy, The University of Memphis, 325 Browning Hall, Memphis, Tennessee 38152  http://www.projectred.org/uploads/2005-    2006_Evaluatio_Results.pdf downloaded 11/22/09

”Finally, like teachers in this study, school administrators and policymakers would need to adapt "different mindset" about teacher professional development, which would compel them to put more emphasis than they currently do on pedagogy before technology, rather than technology before pedagogy, to help these teachers constructively re-envision both material and social spaces around laptop technology in their classrooms.”http://mitesol.elc.msu.edu/dmdocuments/call_sig/McGrail.pdf - Language Arts Classroom, Ewa MCGrail, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA  in JI. of Technology and Teacher Education (2007), 15(1), 59-85 downloaded 11/22/09

Some schools have found great success involving students in professional development with teachers:
 
“Students were hired as tutors and paired with teachers, shadowing them and helping them complete projects.  The only thing these student tutors were told, says Levin, was ‘don’t touch the keyboard or mouse, just be the guide’” Livingston, P., “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 45

“Student tech teams called iTeams help teachers with technical support and lend a student voice tothe project” Livingston, P., “1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work”, ISTE 2009, pg. 51

"Students can plan and deliver training on many topics that new laptop users will find invaluable. You        can have students do some teacher training as well. Teachers will see that students have skills and        passion about the laptops and you may find that they actually respond better to students as        technology mentors than traditional professional development.”        http://genyes.org/media/freeresources/student_support_of_laptops.pdf downloaded 11/22/09 © 2009        Generation YES Corp. Generation YES, GenYES, and TechYES are trademarks or registered        trademarks of Generation YES

 Some 1-to-1 schools have found success setting up mentorships with teachers helping one another:  

“In the pilot schools, one teacher was designated as a RIM (Regional Integration Mentor), and was        responsible for providing support and professional development to teachers in the pilot school as well        as in other middle schools in the RIM’s superintendent region.” Pg. 28 http://www.usm.maine.edu/cepare/pdf/mlti/MLTI%20Phase%20One%20Evaluation%20Report%203.pdfdownloaded 11/22/09 Trading Roles: Teachers and Students Learn with Technology, Maine Learning Technology Initiative, Research Report #3 Report prepared by Janet Fairman, Assistant Research Professor, Maine Education Policy Research Institute, The University of Maine Office, May 2004 –Pg. 28     

Pennsylvania required all their Classrooms for the Future PA’s Classrooms for the Future schools to       have an onsite coach.  Coaches attended boot camps and other state-sponsored “train the trainer” activities.    http://www.edportal.ed.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/classrooms_for_the_future/475/about_cff/202788downloaded 11/22/09 - And all about coaches http://www.edportal.ed.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/coaches/482 downloaded 11/22/09

To paraphrase Lance Armstrong, it’s not about the technology.  Helping teachers embrace 1-to-1 in their everyday practice takes multiple levels of planning and support, but is the key factor to making 1-to-1 work.

The One-To-One To Do List

This post follows up on Nick's post entitled, Getting Started. I know that as a school leader I would love to have access to a to-do list that would help with the planning and implementation. I've done quite a bit of research but have not found a simple nuts and bolts list. If you know of an organization that has a list like this, please share it with the rest of us.

If not, why not contribute to this list in Google Docs.

I have chosen to organize my categories by:

• Vision and Shared Leadership
• Curriculum
• Ongoing Professional Development
• Financing
• Infrastructure and Support  

Plus, feel free to share this link with anyone who may contribute. We need all the help that we can get. 

What Happens to Our Students?

I spent time this afternoon at my niece's kindergarten winter program.  This is the first year that I haven't been involved with a winter program as a teacher or principal for a very long time.  It was refreshing to see all of the students and their families extremely excited about school.  My niece talked to me about how great her teacher is, and from my discussion with him, I'd agree that he is an excellent teacher.

As I walked out of the school, I thought about how different these students are than our high school students.  What happens to students between the time they enter school and leave schools?  When do they lose their excitement for school?  Engagement?  Creativity? 

Scott McLeod posted a chart on Dangerously Irrelevant that displayed his belief of what happens to student engagement as students progress through school.  Most who have observed our education system could connect their experiences to this display.

Technology may be one way to increase student engagement.  It is extremely important to note that technology is only a tool to help with this change.  If we integrate technology but fail to change teaching, we can't expect to truly transform the system.  Schools that make the move to one to one need to be extremely cognizant of the teaching practices that they will need to incorporate to drastically impact this chart!

For those of you who need to get in the holiday spirit, check out the video of my niece and her class singing a song.  (My niece is the one who does the best job with the performance.....she is also the cutest and smartest student in the class:)

The Basics: Brainstorming Leadership Team Responsibilities

What are the main responsibilities of your leadership team as it works to plan and implement at 1-to-1 laptop initiative?

Getting Started

Once schools make the commitment to move to one to one, lots of questions arise about how to make that transformation.  Within the past week, I have received multiple emails requesting my recommendations about what steps to take when moving to one to one.

First of all, I must say I am extremely excited to receive these requests.  Currently, less than ten percent of schools nationwide have one to one, and I think that is a sad statistic. Leaders of one to one schools and those currently making that transition are the trailblazers in education today. Their work has the potential to transform education in a way that hasn't happened in the past 100 years.

My recommendations around implementation of one to one focus around two major themes.  The first theme is addressing all of the issues that arise with such a major change.  The second theme deals with  the infrastructure and policy issues that arise with the move to one to one.

Some educators I have spoken with have made the move to one to one with little input from other stakeholders.  They have also failed to recognize all of the issues that arise with major change.  This is a major mistake, and I believe it will cause some unnecessary difficulties with the roll out of one to one.  The move to one to one is possibly the biggest transition/change a school will ever make.  It is imperative that schools recognize this and take steps to address all of the issues surrounding change.  The two best resources for leaders dealing with change that I have found are Kotter's Leading Change and the McREL resources on change.  Kotter lays out an eight stage process that is a great guide for any organization dealing with change.  I recently posted a series in my blog on Kotter's change process in relation to one to one schools.  McREL's research has targeted change and the relationship between change and leadership.  It will be worth your time to take a look at this research regardless of what the change going on in your organization is.

The second major theme that schools need to address as they make the move to one to one centers around all of the physical changes that are fundamental in this transition process..  Those needs include all of the infrastructure changes that must be in place in order to support one to one.  They include contracts with vendors, policy changes, physical building changes, rules, regulations, and procedures to name just a few.  Pamela Livingston's  book  1-1 Learning is one resource that may be helpful for leaders with the transition.  Her book includes cautionary tales, lessons learned,  and expert advice from educators who have made the move to one to one.

Leaders need to be sure to address both of these themes as they move to one to one.  Most of you will unquestionably address the second theme because it is an absolute necessity.  It would be a huge mistake for you not to address the first theme also. Everyone realizes the difficulty and challenges that arise with change, and moving to one to one  will certainly be the biggest change any school will face.  It will be worth your time to do lots of work up front in order to make this change as smooth as possible.

A Day with Will Richardson

On Friday I attended a workshop in Ames with Will Richardson along with other educational and business leaders.  Several good discussions occurred throughout the day focusing around a couple of common themes.  You can check out our notes and thoughts from the day at Chatterous.

How do we change schools?

Throughout the day, Will challenged us to think about why schools haven't changed.  He commented that there are currently only pockets or islands of greatness in today's schools.  He went on to say that even many of the technology rich schools have not really changed.  This is because the technology hasn't been used to change teaching, but instead to maybe add a little extra media to the classroom. 

Many conversations centered around how our schools have failed to educate students about technologies that students use on a regular basis.  Eighty percent of students interact with social networks, but most schools have failed to educate students about how to effectively use these networks or connect with others.  Contrary to the belief of many, there are valuable educational experiences that can occur with social networks.  Will also encouraged us to think about other skills that are necessary that we aren't teaching in schools.  Schools must look critically at what is being taught and how it is taught.  This is a huge take away from the day.  Developing curriculum that focus on changing the ways we teach and students learn will be the most powerful way that we can change schools.  Obviously the use of technology will be a huge part of that curriculum change, but the transformation in education isn't so much about the technology as it is about changing the ways that teachers and schools operate.

How connected are we?

Leaders were given the task to think about how connected we are to others around the world.  He made a great point that we need to connect with one another and share our experiences and resources. This point is extremely important for one to one schools.  Because there are so few schools involved with this initiative, we need to use all of the technologies that we have to share our knowledge.  Hopefully, this blog serves as one way to connect those involved with one to one (forgive the self advertisement:).

At the end of the day, I was exhausted from the conversations that had taken place.  It was definitely a day that stretched the thinking of most of us in attendance.  Hopefully, more educators take the time to engage in these difficult conversations that really scrutinize the future of schools.  A very sobering question was posed at the end of the day.  I will leave you with this question, which I paraphrased, and challenge you to discuss it with others.

Can our schools actually meet the needs of students in this new digital era, or is the current system of schools at the end of its lifespan? 

Leadership and the 1-to-1 Bus

Let's use Jim Collins' metaphor of getting the make up of the bus from the book Good to Great to discuss leadership for planning and implementing a 1 to 1 Initiative. Based on my experience, I believe that the leadership component is the most important. With the leadership component in place, the curriculum, professional development, infrastructure and finances will be sorted out. The leadership team will make sure that these are planned for. During a visit to a school that was planning for a 1 to 1 initiative the principal said to me, "The IT people are driving this and I'm taking my lead from them." 

Needless to say that this worried me since this type of initiative is major and the lead has to be shared amongst a variety of stakeholders. It's also a long trip so the drivers will have to switch off based on the important tasks at hand. 

Obviously your school will have to decide on your bus drivers/riders. In international schools the leadership buses are usually comprised of the superintendent, principals, curriculum coordinator (and professional development coordinators), IT coordinators, IT facilitators, teachers, parents and students.  

Imagine that, over time, your leadership bus looks more like this one. A bus that has drivers/riders who ...

• support the cause,
• are colorful and interesting,  
• are a tight knit group,
• share the driving, 
• aren't afraid to take risks and get dirty, 
• are zooming ahead to their destination (occasionally too fast).  

  

For this type of initiative, I think that this bus is perfect.

Does Leadership Matter?

Marzano and Water's book District Leadership That Works begins with a quote from William Bennett and his coauthors in his book The Educated Child.

"The public school establishment is one of the most stubbornly intransigent forces on the planet.  It is full of people and organizations dedicated to protecting established programs and keeping things just the way they are.  Administrators talk of reform even as they are circling the wagons to fend off change, or preparing to outflank your innovation...."

This quote is similar to what I heard from many friends in education when I became a principal.  I can't say how many times someone would say to me in jest, "Nick, I heard you were moving over to the dark side.  Be sure not to turn into one of "them" as an administrator."

Fortunately, Marzano's research did find that effective schools and districts do have a positive effect on student achievement.  In other words, leaders do matter!  Effective districts and schools produce higher student achievement.

So what about one to one schools?

It seems that although many people would agree that a computer in the hands of every student is important, they still find reasons that it won't or can't work.  This sounds a lot like the quote that I noted at the beginning of this post.  I realize that there are hurdles to overcome when moving to one to one, but I also realize lots and lots of dedicated leaders have been able to overcome those same hurdles.  If leaders truly want to lead reform in such a bold way as one to one, they will need to develop ways to confront those issues as opposed to letting them be roadblocks that keep the current system as the status quo.

Teaching with Technology

I spend lots of time each week promoting technology with whoever will listen.  Some may walk away from a conversation with me believing that I think technology is the answer for everything in education.  I must admit that I do believe that technology provides educators and students opportunities that they would not have without technology.

With that being said, I also realize that technology used poorly will drastically limit the benefits of it's use.  The degree to which teachers alter their teaching due to technology will determine the impact that technology has on schools.  Technology is simply a tool that can and should help students engage in much more authentic work. 

So how can educators best use that tool to enhance education?

Create, collaborate, and communicate....to name just a few.  Educators can use technology to have students create in ways that were difficult to imagine without technology.  As a sixth grade teacher, I routinely had students make posters of various historical figures.  It was evident from their reactions and the quality of their work that some students liked that activity and others did not.  With the use of technology, I would have been able to allow students to create movies, PowerPoints, Podcasts, and a wide variety of other activities.  Those students who preferred to create on a poster could have also presented their information that way too.  The ease of which to differentiate should be very apparent.

Students would also be able to collaborate and communicate with one another and others from around the world.  Although it isn't always possible to bring an expert into the room to discuss a topic, it would be easier to communicate with any expert through the use of various technologies.  I recently read about a kindergarten teacher who used Skype to communicate with another classroom hundreds of miles away.  I can only imagine how excited students would be if they were able to communicate with other students from around the globe.  All of these things have the potential to greatly increase student engagement at school. 

The potential for education with technology is amazing, but as educational leaders we must truly focus on teaching with technology.  We can't just throw technology at teachers and expect them to know how to best use it with students.  Teachers must be taught about ways to use technology that will require higher order thinking skills and engage students.  One resource that may be helpful to both teachers and educational leaders is Web 2.0 Conquering Technophobia from Discovery Education.

 

Video Recommendations

Steve Dembo recently posted what he considered to be some of the top educational videos on YouTube on his Teach42 blog.  Take a couple minutes to look at his recommended videos.  If you haven't seen them all, I think you would find them very interesting.  I've embedded one video about an individual's digital dossier.

One to One Can't Work!

(I thought that title might grab your attention.)

I am fortunate to be able to communicate regularly with administrators who are considering the move to one to one and those who are already there.  It is amazing the number of schools that are on the brink of moving to one to one, but don't seem quite able to pull the trigger.  They are held back for various reasons and concerns.  I routinely hear concerns over finances, infrastructure, and management to name just a few.

Interestingly, the schools that have made the move to one to one have been able to get over those hurdles.  In fact, many of the concerns that schools have turn out to be non-issues for the one to one schools.  Some of the issues may simply relate to the fear of change that is evident any time organizations are forced to change.

In the near future I will be doing a series on my blog about many of the concerns schools have about making the move to one to one.  I'm writing this post as a call for your help, so that I can make this series as beneficial as possible.  I'd like those of you that are considering the move to one to one to email me some of the questions and concerns that you have.  I'll compile those questions and try to find individuals who can best answer them. This post is also a call for help for those of you who are part of a one to one school currently.  If you feel passionate about one of the concerns that you know many people have, I'd like to include your thoughts in the series.

Again, please consider my request for those of you with questions, and also those of you who may be able to offer some guidance.  Send me your thoughts at njsauers@iastate.edu. 

I am excited for the potential of this series!  Thanks in advance for your help.

National Education Technology Plan to be Unveiled

Karen Cator, the new Director of Technology in Education for the Department of Education, will be sharing the first draft of the Administration's National Education Technology Plan next month.  An article posted in eSchoool News highlighted some of Cator's views along with some guidelines as to what the national ed-tech plan will look like.

There were a couple of key comments Karen Cator made that struck me from the article.

• "Technology will be in play in every aspect of the education-reform agenda."
• It will focus on "seamlessly bridging the gap between the wide array of technology students use outside of school and the more limited technology available to them in the classroom."

Prior to assuming her current role, Cator chaired the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and worked with Apple Computer.  I was able to find an interesting classroom video that Karen viewed as "what can be done in schools today."  I think it may look very similar to classrooms in schools that have moved to 1:1.

Hopefully Cator will be able to use her role to effectively change American schools.  It would be extremely exciting if all classrooms looked like the one from this video!

Technology Boot Camp

Today I spent the day at the SAI Boot Camp in Ames, Iowa.  The Boot Camp is intended to give administrators a chance to learn technology skills that they can take back to their district.  School Administrators of Iowa (SAI) have partnered with CASTLE to offer the training.

The skills that are taught at the Boot Camp should be skills that all administrators possess.  Unfortunately, too many of our schools' leaders lack these skills and yet they are expected to lead change in their schools.  Today was the third session of Boot Camp and there has been a very positive reaction from the participants.  Hopefully, those participants will be able to apply this new learning to help their schools move forward into the digital era.

Kathleen Reyner from SAI describes Boot Camp in this video.