TRANSFORMING EDUCATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

PROTECTING STUDENT DATA PRIVACY p. 6

WHY CHROMEBOOKS SHINE IN CLASS p. 22

THE POWEROF

SMALL DATAp.12 thejournal.com

42, No. 3 Volume Needs Spelling Keeps reading improved missing

April/May 2015 | “9x7” #296e92 tutor by 23% r: 41 g: 110 b: 146

0415cam_composite.indb 1 3/24/15 12:02 PM GRADUATE TO A BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE EDUCATING TOMORROW’S LEADERS REQUIRES TODAY’S BEST TECHNOLOGY. With Common Core State Standards helping to spark a digital revolution in schools, your students need the right technology to prepare them for digital learning, online testing and the development they’ll need to get to the next educational stage. They need devices, applications, digital content and a reliable network to access it all quickly. 9/10 69% TEACHERS OF TEACHERS say that the Internet has a major say educational technology enables them to do impact on their ability to access “much more than ever before” for students.1 important teaching materials.2

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1PBS Learning Media Survey, pbs.org, Feb. 2013 2Pew Internet, How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in eir Classrooms, pewinternet.org, 2013 3Washington Post, Getting Schools Up To 21st Century Speed , washingtonpost.com, 2013 ©2014 CDW Government LLC. CDW®, CDW•G® and PEOPLE WHO GET IT™ are trademarks of CDW LLC. Intel, the Intel logo, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Untitled-10 1 2/6/15 3:31 PM thejournal.com APRIL/MAY 2015 | Volume 42, No. 3

20 9 DEPARTMENTS 4 Editor’s Note Personalization vs. Privacy 6 Legal Policy Ed Tech Must Embrace Stronger Student Privacy Laws 10 Strategic Planning Is There a Moore’s Law of Network Capacity Growth? 18 Mobile Learning WiFi on Wheels 20 Networking and Wireless Should You Upgrade to 802.11ac? 22 Mobile Computing Why Chromebooks Are Shining 24 21st Century Learning Extending Tablets Beyond the Screen shutterstock.com 22 27 AV and Display 12 COVER STORY Mobile Screensharing The Power of Small Data 28 Tech Update Security and privacy concerns have made some parents reflexively New Chromebooks, apps and more opposed to any collection of their children’s information, but in order to deliver personalized education, districts have to gather and share 32 Index students’ statistics. Here’s how the strategic use of data can boost 33 Innovators teaching and learning. By Greg Thompson Mark Hammons and Kirsten Wright

APRIL/MAY 2015 | 3

0415cam_composite.indb 3 3/24/15 12:02 PM Editor’sNote Christopher Piehler, Editor-in-Chief

thejournal.com April/May 2015 : Volume 42, No. 3 Balancing Personalization and Privacy Editorial Advisory Board Geoffrey H. Fletcher Deputy Executive Director, State IF THERE’S ONE goal that educators of Representatives has just introduced the Educational Technology Directors across the country can agree on, it’s striving Student Digital Privacy and Parental#296e92 Rights r: 41 Association to deliver personalized education to their Act of 2015, a bipartisan bill writteng: in col-110 b: 146 Ann Flynn laboration with President Obama. Almost students. How to reach that destination is Director of Education Technology & State another question, though. immediately after the bill be- Association Services, National School To my mind, with class sizes came public, though, privacy Boards Association and technology what they advocates spoke out against Phil Hardin are, the road to personalized it. Khaliah Barnes, director Director of Project IMPACT, education is paved with data. of the Electronic Privacy In- Iredell-Statesville School System (NC) To give each student the best formation Center’s student Christopher Harris Ipossible chance to reach his privacy project, said, “This Coordinator, School Library System, or her full potential, teachers bill doesn’t fulfill President Genesee Valley Educational Partnership (NY) have to collect, store, analyze Obama’s stated commitment and share educational data. to ensure that data collected Cathy Hutchins And that’s where the trouble starts. In in the educational context is used only for Principal, South Woods Elementary School, St. John’s County School a world where corporate and government educational purposes.” District (FL) databases are constantly being hacked, Who knows how the bill will fare, but for Thomas C. Murray parents are rightfully concerned about an informed argument why districts and State and District Digital Learning any repository of any information about ed tech vendors should embrace stronger Director, Alliance for Excellent Education their children being vulnerable to hack- privacy protection for students, check out Alice E. Owen ers. An even bigger worry, though, might legal expert Bradley Shear’s column on Educational Consultant be how students’ private data can be used page 6. And if you’re looking for tech tools Mark Stevens General Manager, NEA Academy Parents fear that their kids’ data may be stolen by Donna Teuber hackers or used inappropriately by companies Team Leader for Technology Integration, Richland School District Two (SC) operating within the law. In short, Big Data is in danger of becoming the new Big Brother.

by companies operating within the law. that can help you personalize education (Think Google’s now-renounced scanning using strategically gathered and analyzed of students’ e-mails to deliver targeted ads educational data, “The Power of Small or Pearson’s recent monitoring of students’ Data” on page 12 is a treasure trove. social media accounts in an effort to spot Thanks for reading, and I’d love to hear cheating on the PARCC assessments.) about how your district deals with data. In short, Big Data is in danger of becom- ing the new Big Brother. The issue of how to guard against com-

mercial use of kids’ personal information To continue the conversation, e-mail me has reached Congress, where the House at [email protected].

4 | APRIL/MAY 2015

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Untitled-2 1 3/19/15 11:20 AM LEGAL POLICY Bradley Shear shutterstock.com

New Technology, New Privacy Concerns Ed Tech Must Embrace During the past five years, schools have deployed new digital learning tools such as Stronger Student apps and cloud-based computing services that have the ability to track and store every Privacy Laws single keystroke and activity performed on Our legal expert explains why districts (and vendors) would their platforms. Adoption of these technolo- gies has raised significant questions about benefit from more robust protection of educational data. student privacy because vendors are storing uring the past 50 years, the way that school records are created and stored personal student data on servers located has drastically changed. In the 1960s, student records were generally paper outside of a district’s physical jurisdiction. files created using a writing instrument or a typewriter, and they were Some vendor agreements state that stored in school administration offices or in a central district location. The student data may be processed and stored 1970s saw the adoption of mainframe computer systems. During the 1980s, in any location around the world where database management systems were deployed in K-12 schools. Then came the the vendor or any of its agents maintains a introduction of distributed applications and databases built on network operating facility. Being able to store data anywhere systems and client/server architectures. may offer price flexibility by enabling While each of these technologies created new privacy concerns, student data was a provider to build its data servers in a generally stored on servers owned by school districts and located within their physical low-cost area, but it may also enable some jurisdiction. This meant that access to student records was generally limited to teach - providers to process and archive personal ers, school administrators, parents, legal guardians and others who had a legal right student information in locations with to access the information. Schools didn’t have the technology to collect and archive weak student-privacy protections. every single student data point and all digital activity. Any state where a student’s e-mail or

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other digital data is processed may poten- students, and some of this information still allows third parties such as YouTube tially claim jurisdiction if a legal claim may be highly sensitive. Since most of and Google to insert cookies on students’ arises. For example, if a Maryland school this information isn’t inserted into an computers to target ads. district contracts with a California-based official school file, it isn’t considered an Also last year, Google acknowledged provider and student e-mails are pro- educational record under FERPA and that it was scanning student e-mails for cessed in servers located in Iowa and then is therefore not protected. As Kathleen advertising purposes. While the company stored in Georgia, multiple state laws may Styles, the U.S. Department of Educa- later agreed to stop this practice, neither it potentially govern access to the informa- tion’s chief privacy officer, has said, “I nor Khan Academy was punished for their tion. Since at least 47 states plus multiple don’t think it’s necessarily an easy deci- troubling student privacy practices — fur- U.S. territories have enacted data breach sion, what is and what is not the ‘educa- ther demonstrating that the current legal notification laws and each law is slightly tional record’…. It’s very contextual. A lot framework to protect students’ privacy is bro- different, some vendors may avoid pro- of metadata won’t fit as an educational ken. These misuses of student information, cessing and storing student data in states record.” This admission by the person combined with the now closed data-sharing with more robust legal requirements. charged with protecting our students’ program created by InBloom, have created privacy clearly demonstrates that more tremendous anger among many parents and Privacy Laws Lagging needs to be done to better protect the privacy advocates. Behind Technology personal information of students. The most comprehensive student privacy Government and Industry law is the federal Family Education Companies Using Student Response to Ed Tech Data Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which Data to Target Advertising Misuse was enacted in 1974 when educational Some companies have taken advantage of Weak privacy policies and non-educational records were generally physically static FERPA’s inadequacy and have provided use of student data have led state and and contained a limited number of data schools free learning tools that also federal lawmakers and President Obama points about students. While technology mine students’ data for non-educational to propose legislation to better protect has drastically changed during the past 40 purposes. For example, Politico found students’ information. According to the years, FERPA has not been amended to last year that Khan Academy was using Data Quality Campaign, last year 36 states account for these innovations. student data to deliver customized ad- introduced 110 bills directly addressing Many electronic learning tools collect vertising. While Khan Academy subse- student data privacy, and 21 of those states a tremendous amount of metadata about quently strengthened its privacy policy, it enacted 30 new laws. Congress has held multiple hearings on student privacy issues Your Source For during the past year. 5 Tips on How to Protect Industry response to student privacy concerns was at first lacking. However, Student Data after California enacted its groundbreak- Classroom 1) Review all vendor agreements. Read and fully understand the terms of service and privacy ing Student Online Personal Information policies of all third party-agreements that deal with student data. Contracts should not contain Protection Act (SOPIPA), a small group URL terms that may be unilaterally changed by the vendor. Agreements should not allow for of school technology providers spearhead- student data to be used for non-educational purposes. ed the industry-backed Student Privacy 2) Educate the staff. All staff members who negotiate with vendors and/or procure new digital Pledge, which generally follows SOPIPA’s Technology learning tools should have regular training on privacy best practices to help them fully under- ban on using student data for non- stand the privacy implications of these technologies. educational purposes. While the pledge 3) All digital learning tools must be approved. Every app and online digital learning tool must is a positive development and now has Low Prices, Huge Inventory On All be preapproved for classroom use. Teachers and schools should not be allowed to sign up over 100 signatories, it doesn’t replace The Best School Technology Products for new technologies until they have been properly reviewed, because some services may put stronger student privacy laws that hold student privacy at risk. vendors legally accountable for misusing 4) Give parents a choice. Parents should have the opportunity to consent to or opt out of their personal student information. children’s using new digital learning tools. The most successful technology deployments make parents part of the decision-making process. Transparency, Accountability PROJECTORS • PODIUMS • MIXERS • WHITEBOARDS • MICROPHONES • SPEAKERS • ASSISTIVE LISTENING 5) Understand relevant privacy laws. To avoid legal liability, it is essential that district leaders and the Future understand FERPA, COPPA and any pertinent state privacy laws. With all of the recent legisla- Parents want to know who has access Request tive activity, it is important to understand any new legal obligations that may be created. to their children’s information. Accord- your FREE Call 800-356-5844 or Shop fullcompass.com 540-page catalog

8 | APRIL/MAY 2015

0415cam_composite.indb 8 3/24/15 12:02 PM Untitled-12 1 3/16/15 3:22 PM ing to Rachael Strickland, co-founder digital learning tools. However, I need to coming, and the sooner that the industry of the advocacy group Student Privacy know that their personal information and acknowledges and embraces privacy by Matters, “Fundamentally, parents want digital data emissions will not be used to design, the faster these technologies will three things: transparency, notification discriminate against them when they ap- be deployed. Without parental support, and consent. Before any student data are ply to college or when they are interview - school districts will not spend the funds to disclosed, parents must be told what data ing for a new job. build the infrastructure they need for new are collected, the purpose and use of the While an industry-backed pledge is and innovative digital technologies. data, how the data will be secured, with a good first step toward building trust In conclusion, more robust privacy whom the data will be shared and if/ with parents, more must be done. Some protections will encourage parents to ask how the data will be repurposed. Once educational technology companies must their school districts to use new digital given this information, parents should be strengthen their privacy policies and learning tools that will help students allowed to decide whether the value of stop using student data for non-educa- compete in the 21st century. Supporting the disclosure is worth the risk of data tional purposes. These same vendors more comprehensive privacy protections misuse and breach.” must also cease opposing stronger for our children is not just right ethically, The best way to get parents to trust student privacy laws (either directly or it is also the right business decision. that their kids’ data is secure is through through trade associations). required transparency and legal limits on Educational technology companies Bradley Shear is a Mary- how student information may be utilized. should embrace and advocate for stronger land-based lawyer who coun- New federal legislation should be a floor student privacy laws because this will sels educational institutions and not a ceiling for student privacy pro- signal to parents that their services can be about technology law and tections. As a parent, I want my children trusted to protect children’s personal infor- policies. He blogs at “Shear on Social to be able to use the latest and greatest mation. Stronger student privacy laws are Media Law.”

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Untitled-120415cam_composite.indb 1 9 3/24/153/16/15 12:02 3:22 PMPM Marie Bjerede STRATEGIC PLANNING and Keith Krueger

Do Schools Really Need That Much Bandwidth? According to the CoSN Smart Education Networks by Design (SEND) initiative’s work with leading districts, the answer is: absolutely! School districts can get by for a long time with limited bandwidth and lack- luster network design if they are not shifting to the student-centered teaching and learn- ing enabled by personal devices. But once a district commits to digital transformation, new demands are placed on their technologi- cal infrastructure, and those demands begin to grow non-linearly. And will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The first phenomenon many districts encounter is that no matter how much bandwidth they provide, it’s simply not enough. It often takes years for districts to reach a minimal level of capacity where the network itself is no longer the bottleneck shutterstock.com for student access to the Internet and their cloud-based resources. Yet as the district adds capacity, student use of their devices Is There a Moore’s explodes to take advantage of the new digi- tal capacity and access to online resources. Law of Network Often, the district will then take a look at the usage and decide to double the capacity Capacity Growth? the following year — once again with the Digital transformations can tax networks to the breaking point. same result. Student usage immediately swamps the network capacity. Here’s how to make sure your infrastructure is ready for the During the planning process, it may demands of new devices and digital curriculum. often seem as though there is adequate network capacity, but this is an illusion. As students begin to increase their usage, ne megabit per second per student is the current “magic number” in school the network becomes slow and congested, network design. It is the long-term goal set by the Federal Communications which causes them to back off their usage at Commission (FCC) and originally established by the State Educational school. Students then wait until they get to Technology Directors Association (SETDA) as the 2017 goal for Internet ca- a place with more capacity, such as at home pacity in educational settings. It is about the same capacity per user offered in or a Starbucks, to fully use their devices. the most basic of consumer cable plans, and an order of magnitude less than what many Likewise, teachers back off on the kinds of families need for modern Internet use. This “modern use” includes streaming video, digital work they ask students to do in the interactive content and fast Web browsing by multiple family members simultaneously. classroom, since they don’t want to waste One megabit per second per student is also a number that only 15 percent of school instructional minutes on getting everyone districts can currently meet, according to CoSN’s 2014 E-Rate and Infrastructure Survey. logged on a creeping network. The network In fact, this modest broadband goal is so overwhelming to achieve that many districts cite is used less, and so the capacity levels seem the financial obstacle as the primary reason they don’t embark on a digital transformation acceptable. for their schools and their students. Successful districts monitor their net- Reaching this goal seems outrageously ambitious to many district IT and financial works carefully in order to determine when leaders, particularly those in large districts. they need more capacity. They look at the

10 | APRIL/MAY 2015

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“For the sake of security (as well as state and federal compliance regulations), network policies need to be applicable based on user roles, device type, location and application.”

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0415the_Aerohive_Insert.indd 3 3/16/15 3:00 PM Untitled-10415the_Aerohive_Insert.indd 1 4 2/17/153/16/15 12:373:01 PM PM STRATEGIC PLANNING

average bandwidth usage, but also look very least, a slowdown won’t be happen- Where will it end? Not within our current carefully at peak loads. There are certain ing within the timeframe of current and horizon. The digital tools and resources times of day — such as when classes start planned infrastructure investments. If that are available in support of transfor- or end and all students are told to log on or districts don’t plan for exponential growth, mative environments are still incredibly off their devices and digital content at the they run a significant risk of making invest- immature: We are barely at the beginning same time — when there is always a spike ments that will be obsolete well before they of what technology can eventually offer in demand on the network. can afford to invest again. This is true both education. Consider the impact on capacity A key question is this: How close does for school districts that are beginning their once content developers can securely offer the spike come to 100 percent of the digital transformation and for those that meaningful, continual formative assessment network’s capacity? Does it get so high that have mature implementations. To use North embedded in game-based learning and teachers and students are at risk for back- Carolina as an example again, districts in immersive activities. Consider the impact ing off their technology usage? In North their first years of 1-to-1 programs are see- once teachers (and especially students) Carolina, for example, the state education ing 60 percent annual growth, as is the well- have tools that allow them to not only network increases capacity to a district known Mooresville Graded School District, extract data about their performance but to when they find that it exceeds 60 percent which has provided laptops to every third- develop their own creative data visualiza- capacity more than 85 percent of the time. through 12th-grade student for eight years. tions. Consider the impact when students have the ability to learn collaboratively in Applying Moore’s Law What Is Driving This Growth? real time with other students anywhere in to Network Capacity In the early stages of digital transformation, the world. A second phenomenon becomes evident the growth comes mainly from expanding For now, and for the future as far as we can once districts have established sufficient the technology program. In 1-to-1 districts, plan for it, digital transformation requires that capacity for their existing needs and are new grade levels or more schools get districts plan carefully for exponential growth. ready to plan for future growth. When devices each year. In BYOD districts, more The best way to address that growth is to districts embark on a digital transformation, and more students bring their own devices, build networks that are readily scalable, then their capacity requirements grow exponen- with some districts now seeing three-plus carefully monitor usage in order to stay ahead tially. This growth varies from district to devices per student. of capacity demand. Many districts now have district, but it is common to see growth of There are also changes in the content agreements with their service providers to 60 percent every year. This translates to that students are accessing. Digital cur- be able to ratchet up Internet bandwidth at a doubling of network capacity every 18 riculum is becoming larger than ever, re- a moment’s notice with only a phone call. months! It is as if there were a Moore’s Law quiring more bandwidth to transfer lessons Many have service-level agreements with third that applied to network capacity growth. to student devices. Many device operating parties that call for a periodic refresh of all The implications of this growth are stag- systems are becoming more “chatty,” send- hardware to meet capacity demands. gering. If a district develops a technology ing lots of data across the network to keep But for those who are just beginning the plan with the incredibly ambitious infra- the student devices synchronized with the transformation and who don’t yet have real structure refresh rate of three years, and cloud. Device management software adds data to use for their predictions, there is a they plan for a doubling of capacity over functionality that requires it to connect fre- simple rule of thumb: Start with the goal of that time, they are underestimating their quently with the device. And even simple 100 Mbps per student, then plan to double growth by 100 percent. This means that Web pages are becoming larger, with more capacity every year and a half. This will halfway through their technology initiative, content, which increases the bandwidth prepare you for the new normal: constant, they may have inadequate access points, required for simple Web browsing. accelerating change. cabling, routers, switches, firewalls, security As teaching and learning with technol- appliances, filtering appliances and any ogy become more mature in a district, there Marie Bjerede is the other hardware that was intended to meet is often a dramatic shift toward student- project director of the the district’s needs for at least three years. centered and personalized learning. This Consortium for School The district is then faced with either limit- shift, and the power it gives to students, Networking’s Leadership ing teaching and learning with technology families and teachers, is the highest good for Mobile Learning and or making new infrastructure investments that comes from digital transformation, but Smart Education Networks far sooner than anticipated. it entails changes that increase student us- by Design initiatives. Does this growth ever slow down? The age of the Internet, the need for rich digital current experience of districts involved in resources and use of online communities of Keith R. Krueger is the digital transformation suggests that at the learning for students and educators. CEO of CoSN.

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THE POWER OF SMALL DATA

Keeps Needs Reads at missing Can’t ELA 8th-grade “9x7” spell tutor level “effect”

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0415cam_composite.indb 12 3/24/15 12:03 PM FEATURE | 21st century learning

Security and privacy concerns have made some parents reflexively opposed to any collection of their children’s information, but in order to deliver personalized education, districts have to gather and share students’ statistics. Here’s how the strategic use of data can boost teaching and learning. BY GREG THOMPSON

WHEN IT SEEMS LIKE every week brings news of a theft or questionable use of private information, “data” is in danger of becoming a four-letter word. But if districts want to provide truly personalized education, gathering and sharing certain types of student data is absolutely necessary. According to Patricia Cotter, a veteran entrepreneur who recently completed her

doctorate in work-based learning at the University of Pennsylvania, “Recent shutterstock.com technologies like Big Data, the Internet of Things, mobile apps and improved storage have made it possible to acquire, combine, store, analyze, interpret and report findings during any phase of data management.”

Schedule Has Spent 5 Needs parent mastered minutes ELA on 1 meeting fractions tutor problem

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Taking a break from the business world, Students use the TenMarks online tool, get those every other problem, and if they Cotter has recently trained her keen eye on which is essentially an interactive work- don’t get the answer correct within a few education, where she sees a renaissance in book. Wilson, a 24-year teaching veteran seconds, the program will put the answer data collection. “The data repositories re- and technology lead teacher at her school, in gray scale so students have to type it in siding in disconnected, fragmented depart- explained, “I get percentages and scores on and learn it. The program provides instant ments with little sharing have now been the different standards they work on.” She feedback, and Wilson keeps a close eye on transformed into centralized, interrelated can see which students are not passing a the data, making a point to know where data systems to enable fast and efficient given standard, “then I pull those students her students are with math facts. retrieval of interrelated data for quick and for intervention that same day.” SpellingCity and MobyMax help Wilson informed decision-making,” she said. Here The crucial element of timeliness makes to track spelling and vocabulary, and are some examples of how getting the right it easier for Wilson to avoid the slow “fall to collect the most familiar bits of data: information to the right people at the right through the cracks” that affects so many grades. “My students take online spelling time can inspire teachers and students to students. “They work in the morning, and tests now on SpellingCity, and they wear do their best work. I check scores at recess,” she said. “After headphones,” said Wilson. “I can give stu- lunch I know who I need to work with in a dents different spelling lists, and they do Instant Feedback for Students small group. It used to be you would only it on Chromebooks. SpellingCity corrects and Parents know after you gave the test and you were the tests and sends me the scores.” Classrooms usually have a wide range of on to something else, and you would never School Loop helps tie it all together academic levels, and nowhere is that more catch those kids. Since I’ve been using by allowing Wilson to tell parents how true than combination classes such as TenMarks — only since January 2015 — their kids are doing in real time. Wilson the one headed by Lisa Wilson, a fourth- the number of my kids failing the math test explained, “It’s an electronic gradebook, and fifth-grade teacher atArroyo Seco has gone way down.” and parents can see the grades. They can Elementary School in Livermore, CA. With For intense practice in math facts, Wil- get a daily e-mail of how their child is two grade levels in the same room, Wilson son points her students toward XtraMath, doing. That cuts down a lot on questions, individualizes the mathematics curriculum a Web program that tracks proficiency in because it’s all listed.” And, she added, “It using TenMarks Math, which allows her to basic facts. For example, if students keep tells parents all the things their child did customize assignments for each student. missing “9 times 7” or “6 times 8,” they not do.” Wilson’s focus on using formative assess- ments to monitor students on an ongoing basis so that she can address problems immediately represents an ideal in many districts. Consistent use of formative methods has been difficult in the past, but districts around the country are eagerly scooping up new technological approaches in an effort to make it a reality.

Formative Assessments That “Help Students Grow” In forward-looking districts such as Rich- land County School District Two (SC), Su- perintendent Debra W. Hamm is working hard to promote skilled use of formative assessment and real-time data for decision- making. “We are also encouraging teachers to think beyond just assessment data,” said On a field trip to the State Capitol in Sacramento, CA, teacher Hamm, “and to think of various sources of Lisa Wilson discusses the state seal on the ground. In and out of evidence of student success.” the classroom, Wilson uses formative assessments to monitor Winners of THE Journal’s 10th annual her students’ progress on an ongoing basis. Sylvia Charp Award for district innovation in technology, Richland Two also uses the

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0415cam_composite.indb 14 3/24/15 12:03 PM traditional data-gathering tools, such as ALEKS math program, our Response to with teacher-led instruction — all designed the NWEA and Measures of Academic Intervention team was able to identify the around the charts of data and action plans Progress (MAP) assessments, at least lowest-achieving students, then provide that tell us what children need, when they twice a year. “This gives us a good idea of appropriately leveled instruction,” said need it and for how long…. We mandated student performance, as well as growth,” Spence, an intervention specialist in the that our teachers log into the data reports said Hamm. “The reports and resources Autism Unit at Reynoldsburg City Schools on a daily basis, not just to view what that come with it help teachers identify (OH). “The program also allows students lessons their students were on, but more students who need assistance, determine to track their progress, parents to monitor precisely, to look at the big picture and skills that are already mastered and iden- content and teachers to identify specific take a deep dive into every detail that the tify logical next skills to teach.” areas of weakness to design individualized program shares.” Hamm sets the tone for the positive use interventions.” of data through a commitment to continu- In the Las Cruces Public School System Using Data to Connect People ing education throughout the district. (NM), Arsenio Romero also boosted read- For Scott J. Iler, assistant principal at “We provide professional development for ing through a program called JUMP (Joint Monrovia High School (CA), mining for our teachers that combines knowledge of Ungraded Multiage Primary), a framework valuable data is a multipronged effort using formative assessment with knowledge of for personalized learning in daily instruc- School Loop, Illuminate and Aeries — all the digital tools,” she enthused. “We expect tion. “Because individualized and dif- of which help to form a complete picture teachers to use formative assessment to ferentiated instruction was to be the norm of student performance. monitor individual student progress.... for each student in JUMP, I purchased According to Iler, Illuminate provides Among the digital tools we recommend Lexia Reading,” said Romero, now as- a snapshot of what students have done are Google Forms with Flubaroo, Geddit, sistant superintendent for assessment and in their benchmark tests. “A teacher will Socrative and Kahoot.” turnaround at Roswell Independent School make an assessment, and it will have all According to Philip D. Lanoue, the District (NM). “This past year, the school the different Common Core strands,” superintendent of Clarke County School — as well as the entire district — migrated he explained. “Illuminate breaks down District in Athens, GA, the challenge when to Lexia Reading Core5.” successes and failures in each strand by it comes to student data “is how do you Lexia Reading provides what Romero student and by class. That helps teachers make sense of all this data when there is so called “the right balance of personalized pinpoint their teaching or reteaching. We much of it.” And, he added, “Data has to learning that is driven by a student’s ability use Aeries to store the demographics of constantly be formative, meaning it helps students to grow.” Using data for real-time progress monitoring and personalized learning is a major focus in Clarke County, and district officials use technology such as Waggle to help make it happen. “Waggle monitors performance based on practice,” said Lanoue. “Kids get asked questions in a whole bunch of ways, and if they start getting [answers] wrong in different ways, their proficiency monitor decreases.... Our new personalized learning model is mov- ing to this one. If we can create tools that monitor kids on an ongoing basis around proficiency, then I don’t have to worry about pre- and post-test. I’m just going to look at progress.” Lisa Wilson leads her class using a TV monitor to display the As a teacher who works with students information that students are looking at on their desks. Wilson with disabilities, Deborah L. Spence finds uses School Loop to keep parents informed about how their kids that data collection is most beneficial for are doing in real time. reading and math. “Through the use of the

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our students: contacts, discipline, counsel- about 45 minutes a day engaged in online Big Data and the Big Picture ing, interventions and their grades in a instruction delivered by the i-Ready Using one or more of these tools can gener- digital cumulative file.” system, and teachers meet once a week for ate plenty of data points for educators to Every student at Monrovia High School 45 minutes to look at data. They choose work with. But, as Patricia Cotter put it, is signed up in School Loop, and informa- key data points on students’ growth, and “Data is not the problem. The problem is tion uploaded to Aeries eventually rolls collectively decide which interventions are getting the data to the right people so it over to School Loop. Iler uses the program necessary. “It’s allowed us to create a real can be used…. Data only tells part of the to track student progress for purposes of set of professional learning communities story, and a lot of it is basic so it doesn’t identifying areas of need, but also in situa- around these common assessments,” said provide the insights that teachers and tions where things are going well. Rayburn. “We apply a team approach, and schools need to pinpoint teaching and Iler explained, “A feature I really like a really strong multitiered intervention pro- learning problems and identify the best identifies students who are trending up. gram that teachers deliver in small groups. ways to solve them.”

According to Cesar Chavez Elementary Principal Robert Rayburn, using a data-collection system to build partnerships among teachers “has been the most powerful thing I have seen in my career .... I have 100 percent buy-in from my staff.”

It’s a tracker that allows me to celebrate The groups are fluid based on data that is With so much raw information floating students on my campus every two weeks.... fresh and up-to-date.” around, data security is at least a passing Another project started with School Loop Rayburn’s assessment of the assessment concern — or much more than that, depend- is Project Elevate. Project Elevate is a system? “It has been the most powerful ing on whom you speak with. According to group of students in our leadership class thing I have seen in my career…. I have 100 Cotter, worries about data security include who are paired with students who School percent buy-in from my staff.” the following: search engines targeting and Loop identified as ‘at risk.’ For example, displaying ads based on the content of e- if a freshman was failing his core classes Getting Teachers on Board mails, social media targeting job applicants in the first six weeks of the school year, he When it comes to getting teacher buy-in based on online profiles, consumer products would be targeted by Project Elevate.” for new ways to collect and use data, Deb - targeting students based on buying patterns Robert Rayburn, principal at Cesar orah Spence believes that administrators and phishing websites duping students with Chavez Elementary School in Norwalk, must make teachers a part of the decision- dubious loans. CA, employs a data collection system making process. “Most teachers are Privacy is also an ongoing issue. When called i-Ready to help create partnerships lifelong learners and will eagerly accept it comes to parents’ fears that their among his teachers. Rayburn has been any challenge when given the opportunity children’s information could be stolen by using i-Ready, which he described as a to choose what is best for their students,” malicious hackers, though, Cesar Chavez computer adaptive online learning system said Spence. “If a data process gleans Principal Rayburn is resolute. “Data correlated to Common Core standards, for authentic results, teachers will more than breaches don’t keep me up at night,” the past four years. likely initiate new strategies and techno- he said. “In case of a big data breach at Rayburn, who has been in education for logical tools to meet the expectations.” i-Ready, there is no key ID for the stu - more than three decades and has been a Sito Narcisse, the associate superin- dents in there. There is no information principal for eight years, explained, “We’re tendent of Prince George’s County Public that connects the child to an address or able to get almost up-to-the-minute infor- Schools (MD), agreed: “Teachers love phone number. The good we can do by mation on how kids are doing based on the systems that can produce real-time data having this data far outweighs the dam - online instructions available through the sets. Programs such as Compass Learn - age that could be done if the data were to system, as well as the diagnostic assess- ing for Credit Recovery, Performance get loose.” ments and the progress monitoring assess- Matters and Edusoft help with this con - ments which are built in.” text. These programs help to drill down Greg Thompson is a freelance writer According to Rayburn, students spend to the indicator level.” based in Fort Collins, CO.

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Untitled-2 1 3/20/15 3:48 PM MOBILE LEARNING Bridget McCrea

Coachella Valley USD Superintendent Darryl Adams shows off the hardware that turns a school bus into a WiFi hotspot that can provide Internet connectivity where it’s needed most.

Limiting Access, WiFi on Wheels Maintaining Power Internet-enabled school buses keep students connected on the CVUSD kicked off its WiFi initiative by road, in school parking lots and in their own neighborhoods. equipping its three vehicles with Agility WiFi routers that relied on the buses’ bat- chool buses used to serve one purpose: getting students to and from school. But teries for power. Students have a specific driven by a mandate to provide Internet connectivity to all students, some creative protocol installed on their laptops or mobile districts have deployed mobile wireless technology to transform their buses into devices and have a username and password moving WiFi zones, stationary hotspots or both. to log in. “If the device doesn’t match the Among the students at Coachella Valley Unified School District (CA), 24/7 protocol, they can’t use it,” said Adams. Web access is not a given. According to Superintendent Darryl Adams, “Only “This ensures that only our students can ac- about 60 percent of the student population has Internet access at home.” To solve cess the school buses’ WiFi system.” the problem, he put his own spin on the concept of mobile learning. “They’re putting WiFi It didn’t take long for CVUSD to realize in cars now,” he said, “so I thought, ‘Why not put it on a school bus?’ ” that powering mobile WiFi with the buses’ CVUSD rolled out its WiFi-enabled school bus initiative in October, using three buses batteries was not a viable solution. “The bat- to provide WiFi to students on their way back and forth to school (and for field trips and teries lasted only about an hour and left the sporting events). The buses are also parked overnight in neighborhoods where Internet bus unable to start the next morning,” said access is not otherwise available. Adams said that trailer parks and tribal reservations were Adams. “We thought about installing toggle among the district’s first choices as locations to provide WiFi via its buses. switches or running extension cords out The district invested in its rolling hotspots not just to allow students to work on their of the buses, but that would have incurred way to and from school, but also to level the playing field with students from more affluent more costs.” The district found the solution homes. With nearly half of its student population unable to access the Internet while at it was looking for in solar panels. Installed home, Adams felt that CVUSD pupils were at a disadvantage in today’s tech-centric world. on the buses, the panels provide the juice “I went in and talked to the school board about this and about how we really needed a way needed to keep the routers running. to get everyone connected,” Adams said. “In the 21st century, if you don’t have access to When the buses are on “overnight duty,” information you’re going to be at a disadvantage. Access denied is education denied.” parked in neighborhoods and on reserva-

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0415cam_composite.indb 18 3/24/15 12:03 PM tions where Internet access is unavail- don’t have Internet connectivity,” she said. vehicles. “Don’t just take the first offer from able, the WiFi is available all night, only Despite these challenges, Salmon-Hosey the first vendor who claims to be able to accessible to student users who are located considered the STEM bus a success. “We’ve do this for you,” said Adams. “Make them within about a 100-yard radius of the seen high engagement,” she pointed out. bid on it; make them compete for your vehicle. “Some of the neighborhoods have a “The children and the community have business. You can get a lower price and/or clubhouse where we can park the bus, and embraced the initiative, which has been a better service if you just shop around.” where students can congregate to use the success since day one.” Ultimately, Adams said, the impetus service,” said Adams. behind the initiative should be the basic Adams said the pilot has gone so well How (and Why) to Make fact that, in order to be successful in school, that the district now plans to roll out WiFi It Happen students need connectivity — be it on a service to 97 more buses. And while all 100 Acknowledging the fact that getting WiFi moving bus, while at school or when they’re buses won’t be used every night, he said up and running on school buses required an at home. “You want your students to be the district will use a selective process of “out-of-the-box” approach, Adams recom- able to study, learn, collaborate and com- figuring out which locations will provide the mended that districts start, like CVUSD municate effectively outside of school,” said most access to the largest number of stu- did, with a small pilot project. “You want Adams. “The WiFi-enabled school buses dents. “So far we’ve identified three or four to make sure that it will actually work first,” are just one more way to ensure that actu- places where there is literally no Internet said Adams. He also advised districts to ally happens.” connectivity,” said Adams, “and we plan to do their homework before selecting an cover those areas.” Internet service provider, equipment, rout- Bridget McCrea is a freelance writer ers and power sources for the WiFi-enabled based in Clearwater, FL. Spreading the Seeds of STEM Rowan-Salisbury School System (NC) takes a different approach with its fleet of WiFi- enabled buses. Rather than setting out to provide Internet connectivity to students in transit, Rowan-Salisbury’s buses drive from school to school and function as pop-up classrooms at each stop. In 2012, using the same Aerohive wire- less network access points that it uses to provide WiFi in its buildings, Rowan- Salisbury set up six “activity buses.” These are not the same buses that are used to transport children to and from school daily, but they do include a STEM bus that teacher Amy Pruitt uses to help students embrace and understand science, technol- ogy, engineering and math. The bus is equipped with mobile connectivity, interac- tive whiteboards, iPads and other tech tools that allow students at schools all over the district to go from “module to module” learning about STEM. According to Candace Salmon-Hosey, executive director of technology and CTE services, maintaining mobile WiFi hasn’t always been easy. “We’ve been dealing with a loss of connectivity on the buses. As Students discover STEM on Rowan-Salisbury’s activity bus, a the vehicles made their way through our high-tech classroom that travels from school to school. very large, rural district, many areas just

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0415cam_composite.indb 19 3/24/15 12:03 PM NETWORKING AND WIRELESS Leila Meyer shutterstock.com

Helping Older Devices Should You Upgrade Run Better While 802.11ac-compatible devices are to 802.11ac? becoming more commonly available on the market, 802.11n devices are still prevalent The latest WiFi specification promises speed and capacity in schools. Quakertown Community School advantages, but the performance it delivers will depend on District (PA) has had districtwide wireless your district’s devices and infrastructure. infrastructure for six or seven years, but re- cently replaced its entire wireless set-up with s districts upgrade or expand their wireless networking infrastructure to support 1-to- 802.11ac technology from Aruba Networks. 1, online assessments and other digital learning initiatives, many are future-proofing According to director of technology Joe their investment by moving to 802.11ac technology, the latest WiFi specification. Kuzo, the existing equipment was due to be White Bear Lake Area Schools (MN) is one of those districts. According to director refreshed, and Quakertown made the decision of technology Mark Garrison, the district had a total of about 200 access points to make the jump to 802.11ac. Although a few (APs) and needed approximately 750 to support its new 1-to-1 initiative. Adding of the newer laptops in the district office sup- more than 500 new APs to the existing network would have cost as much as replacing the port the 802.11ac standard, Kuzo said, most entire wireless infrastructure, so they went the replacement route with Extreme Networks. They devices in the district still use 802.11n — but started implementing the new system last summer and planned to complete it in March. even those devices have seen some benefit Garrison said, “We could have kept with 802.11n and that would have been fine, but we from the new network. want this infrastructure to last five to eight years. We have to think about how much more “I won’t say it’s drastic by any means,” data students will be pushing through there and this certainly seemed like the way to go.” said Kuzo, “but in our high-concentration Part of Garrison’s planning was based on the lifecycle of today’s mobile devices. “We need areas we get slightly better connections that infrastructure to last through three generations of [client] devices, so we try to think even on an 802.11n client. As we start in terms of infrastructure that will be compatible with those devices. If schools can afford transitioning equipment over to supported it, they should go with the up-and-coming standard because it’s going to serve them better 802.11ac cards, that’s when we’re really go- in the long run.” ing to see more noticeable change.”

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0415cam_composite.indb 20 3/24/15 12:03 PM Erik Heinrich, the former director of IT speed to each iPad, which gives the student formance. According to Heinrich, additional for San Francisco Unified School District, unlimited possibilities as far as the apps streams require more energy, but the radios oversaw that district’s 802.11ac implementa- they use and online tools they access.” require less transmission time because they tion. Since then he has moved on to a new are operating at faster speeds. “Four spatial role as SLED (state and local government Is the Next WiFi Wave streams will really show its value with mesh, and education) engagement manager for Worth the Wait? 4x4:4 laptops and MU-MIMO,” he said. Ruckus Wireless. According to Heinrich, 802.11ac technology has been divided “However, the gains of 4x4:4 on the network 802.11n devices may experience a perfor- into two phases, called waves. Most, if not are not double of what you’d get with a mance boost when connected to 802.11ac all, currently available 802.11ac network- 2x2:2 access point because there are fewer infrastructure because the “newer access ing equipment is Wave 1, with Wave 2 4x4:4 clients and MU-MIMO isn’t nearly as points that support the 802.11ac standard expected to arrive some time this year. efficient as spatial multiplexing.” are built with newer engineering, and the According to Heinrich, 802.11ac Wave 2 Finally, Wave 2 will have a theoretical faster processors improve the performance will bring with it additional benefits, but throughput of around 1.7 Gbps, “but the for older clients because it’s processing the some of them may not be worth the wait access point is still connected to your wired data more quickly,” he said. “So even for the for districts considering an immediate network at 1 Gbps, so some might argue older 802.11n devices, they’re seeing better upgrade to 802.11ac. that the cabling can become a bottleneck,” range and performance, even if they’re not While the 802.11n standard provided 40- said Heinrich. “The reality is that it will be leveraging the 802.11ac protocol. It’s just bet- MHz channels and 802.11ac Wave 1 added so unlikely that a 4x4:4:4 access point will ter hardware inside the access point.” 80-MHz channels, Wave 2 will add the actually, in real life, exceed full duplex 1 Speed and Capacity Older 802.11n devices have better range and Benefits Districts that have upgraded to 802.11ac performance with new infrastructure, even if infrastructure, particularly those that have they’re not leveraging the 802.11ac protocol. at least some 802.11ac-capable devices, have reported increases in both speed and capac- 160-MHz channel for increased throughput. Gbps that it isn’t worth the effort of adding ity. Pulaski County Special School District in “As you get into these higher channels, cabling just in case the magic happens.” Little Rock, AR, recently expanded its wire- the challenge is that they’re only available less network to include a mix of 802.11n and when there isn’t a lot of interference,” said So Should You Upgrade? 802.11ac access points from Aerohive. Heinrich. “But the most significant reason For districts considering a wireless infra- Director of IT Jimmy Hogg explained that to not use 160-MHz channelization is chan- structure upgrade, 802.11ac is the way to go, Pulaski County has an iPad initiative, and nel reuse. Unless every wall has 30 dB of whether it’s Wave 1 or Wave 2 hardware. “If four of its schools currently have iPad Air loss (concrete) it won’t have any advantage you’re in a position to do a wireless refresh, tablets, which take advantage of the 802.11n over 80 MHz. 160 MHz was designed for a I think it would be unwise to not go with protocol. The district plans to add 6,000 home streaming environment, not enter- 802.11ac, and then just purchase clients more devices this summer and another 8,000 prise WLANs.” accordingly,” said Quakertown’s Kuzo. “But the following year. Those devices will be Another Wave 2 feature is multi-user mul- if you just recently acquired a wireless infra- 802.11ac-capable iPad Air 2s, which Hogg tiple input, multiple output (MU-MIMO), structure, I wouldn’t look to spend additional says will allow the district to reap the full which Heinrich describes as “the ability for money to get to 802.11ac.” benefits of 802.11ac. The newer standard, multiple client devices to receive multiple Pulaski County’s Reid also recommends according to Hogg, is “capable of giving streams at the same time rather than each 802.11ac. “If you’re spending all of the money them a lot more bandwidth per AP than we receiving a single stream” as they do in Wave on upgrading wireless infrastructure, you currently have.” 1 networks. “The caveat to this multi-user probably need to go to 802.11ac,” he said. That bandwidth increase will let teachers MIMO,” added Heinrich, “is that the chips “We’re in an era where bandwidth is the name and students use their iPads to stream more for the client devices, like your iPads, your of the game. The more bandwidth you have, content and participate in the Partnership Chromebooks and your smartphones are the more you can access, the more Web tools for Assessment of Readiness for College mostly scheduled for release in volume in you can access, the more content you can ac- and Careers (PARCC) online assessments. 2016, with few being available in 2015.” cess, the more content you can stream.” According to Will Reid, the district’s chief While Wave 1 can support up to three technology officer, “What we’re looking spatial streams, Wave 2 will be able to handle Leila Meyer is a technology writer at is more bandwidth to each iPad, more up to four streams to provide increased per- based in British Columbia, Canada.

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0415cam_composite.indb 21 3/24/15 12:03 PM MOBILE COMPUTING Dian Schaffhauser

No matter how the Chromebook is classi- fied, it’s definitely filling a gap that addresses specific educational needs.

The Price Is Right Charlotte-Mecklenburg began the evaluation for its latest device purchase (for 32,000 middle schoolers) by pulling together a dozen educa- tors to test drive laptops, iPads and Chrome- books from a myriad of companies. The choices were ranked, and Chromebooks won. The district’s middle schools were already using Samsung Chromebooks that it has purchased two years earlier to address a need in its science and social studies classes for supplementary digital materials to augment dated textbooks. For that purpose, the IT department had put at least two — and sometimes four — carts of 30 devices into each school. In the most recent buying round, teachers

shutterstock.com gravitated to HP-built Chromebooks for several reasons. First, they wanted to use Google Apps for Education, the free suite 3 Reasons of online applications for word process- ing, spreadsheet work and presentations. Chromebooks Are Chromebooks are almost purpose-built for those programs. Second, North Carolina Shining in Education was initially a Smarter Balanced consor- tium member (it has since withdrawn), and For districts looking to get the most bang for their ed tech buck, computing specifications for the Smarter devices that fall somewhere between tablets and traditional Balanced online assessment required a laptops can be just the right fit. non-touch keyboard and the ability to lock down the browser, which the Chromebook he iPad buying frenzy may be over. The late 2013 introduction of the low-cost handled masterfully. Third, it came down to Chromebook has given school districts an affordable alternative that they’re price. “HP came in with a bid that is about gravitating to with gusto. Official numbers from market research firm IDC $220 per device, which is significant,” said confirmed the news last December when the company announced that while Apple had Truesdale. “When you’re trying to provision shipped 702,000 iPads to educational buyers in the third quarter, Google partners 32,000, price is key.” had shipped 715,000 Chromebooks. Now 33 schools have received enough While some observers might refer to this changing of the guard as a “return of the laptop” Chromebooks for a 1-to-1 ratio. Another 14 or the “tailing off of the tablet,” to those doing the buying, that’s not quite the case. Valerie schools were scheduled to get their devices Truesdale, chief of technology, personalization and engagement for North Carolina’s by mid-March. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, said of the HP device in use at her district, “It’s the size of a tablet; it’s portable [like a laptop], but this Chromebook is another animal in between.” A Practical, Durable Vendors, too, are using different approaches to classifying the Google-inspired device Form Factor that includes a built-in keyboard, stores most of its files online and runs applications directly Before New Caney Independent School from the Internet. Acer and Samsung put Chromebooks into the “computer” menu on their District (TX) chose a device to lease for website, and give tablets their own pages. Dell and HP include laptops, tablets and Chrome- its 1-to-1 program, director of technology books all together; while Lenovo includes various members of its Chromebooks on both the Dustin Hardin asked high school students laptop and tablet pages. what mattered to them. “We met with each

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0415cam_composite.indb 22 3/24/15 12:03 PM District Device Count of latest lease/purchase Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools HP Chromebook 11 G3 32,000 New Caney Independent School District Dell Chromebook 11 10,700 Norwalk Public Schools Acer Chromebook C720 2,500

one of their leadership groups and I asked a little bit to find out which ones were the communication” among students while them, ‘If we were to give you a device to most durable.” Dell won the contest. giving them “access to whatever it is they improve your education, that would help That said, Hardin regrets not bringing need.” That meant the district needed to the learning process, what features would students in on the durability part of the come down on the side of either Google you want to have?’ ” Unanimously, he said, decision-making. “Whenever we did a Apps for Education or Microsoft Office they wanted to have a keyboard, which was 4-foot drop, it held up very well,” he said. 365. Since most of the teachers were “very surprising.” “Once you put it in a student’s hands, it’s already using Google “in their own little The district considered Windows devices a different story. They find unique ways to pockets,” Valenzisi said, “It was the easiest at $500 to $600 a pop, but since it was break it.” He’s hopeful for progress, though. tool to move forward with.” already heading down a “Google route,” “I think as the kids get more familiar with The IT department brought in multiple Chromebooks were on its radar as well. the devices and get more used to handling devices to evaluate, and one stood out in The district brought some in, showed the them, the breakage [rates] will go down.” several ways. “The best bang for our buck students how Google Docs worked and, was from Acer,” Valenzisi recalled. “They Hardin said, “They all said, ‘This is going Straightforward Device were one of the only ones at that price to be perfect.’ ” But the deal was sealed Management point that had an Intel processor instead of when the high schoolers learned that the State assessments drove Norwalk Public an ARM processor. We felt as though they lower price point of the Chromebooks Schools (CT) to expand its inventory of were a little more durable than some of the would enable the district to buy enough of student devices. Ralph Valenzisi, chief of other Chromebooks that we had seen. Their the devices to go all the way down to third technology, innovation and partnerships, battery life was great. And they were just grade. “They wanted to make sure the little needed to make sure every elementary and lightweight and seemed like they would be ones had access as well,” he noted. middle school had enough devices to cover a good fit. We’ve been— knock on wood — Choosing just the right Chromebook its largest grade level so that students could really, really happy with them.” took a bit more testing. The IT department take the Smarter Balanced online tests. Ease of management was the icing on the brought in two of every model available, set At the same time, Valenzisi said, the IT cake. “I don’t want to call it dummy-proof, them up side by side, and did speed tests team wanted to move to “more of a cloud- but the Google environment is not a diffi- to figure out which ones were the fastest. based computing platform” that would cult admin console to work with,” Valenzisi Once that was determined, says Hardin, the deliver applications and provide a “21st said. It’s integrated with the district’s Active machines were put through “a stress test, century learning environment that would Directory accounts so that as IT makes where we did drops and threw them around allow creative thinking, collaboration and changes in AD, such as with passwords, it passes through to Google and reflects the updates. “Once we went over that hurdle, 3 Best Practices for Device Rollouts things were pretty smooth sailing,” he said. Before moving ahead with their 1-to-1 initiative, educators and IT people from New Caney Ultimately, whether a district chooses visited a “ton of campuses,” said Hardin. For one of those trips, the group included the a tablet, Chromebook or laptop, a de- district’s CFO. That was a smart idea because it allowed her to “see what a 1-to-1 looked like and how it changed curriculum. It helped finance understand why this is important.” vice is just a small factor in the equation As Charlotte-Mecklenburg was handing out devices, each school library received a cart for increasing student engagement and of 30 Chromebooks. Truesdale recalled, “We said to them, ‘You’ve always been central to extending learning beyond the classroom. research in your school. You’ve always been critically important to connecting students to As Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Truesdale digital resources as well as print. Now we want you to be front and center on digital literacy.’” asserted, “We have tried to be deliberate: According to Norwalk’s Valenzisi, the “biggest mistake” his district made in its device Infrastructure first. Capacity of teachers rollout was equating easy device management with no management. As he explained, next. Then technology for learning.” “Don’t think that just because it’s completely managed in the cloud, you still don’t need support in your buildings. We scaled, adding an extra 5,000 devices in a year and a half with no additional staff. My staff has been able to do it; but in the long run, we still need to Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contribut- increase just because of the sheer number of devices.” ing editor based in Nevada City, CA.

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0415cam_composite.indb 23 3/24/15 12:03 PM 21ST CENTURY LEARNING David Raths

Osmo’s Tangram game is designed to help build students’ spatial skills by challenging them to arrange tangible puzzle pieces to match on-screen shapes.

already. You can start to work with that data 5 Ways to Extend without having to teach the students how to build a spreadsheet.”

Tablets Beyond the Discovery Learning With Robots Screen Fourth-grade students at Gideon Hausner Here’s how creative educators are using hardware and software use their iPads to program robot balls called to build a bridge between the digital and physical worlds. Spheros, which have several features that can be controlled through mobile apps. Op- s tablets move from novelty items to staples in the classroom, teachers are finding erating the Spheros at any speed they like, new ways to make them more than just another screen for students to look at. One the students play a bowling game, knocking way to make the devices more interactive and collaborative is to extend their reach over as many objects as they can. They then by connecting them with external sensors or robots. According to Sam Patterson, record their results on the iPad and are a technology integration specialist at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School, a K-8 asked to determine the mean, median and school in Palo Alto, CA, “What we are seeing is technology becoming more and mode of the results from the entire class. more transparent.” Years ago, if you had a computer for every student in the class it would Patterson said he recently had second- look like a computer lab. And then each student had a laptop, and it was a classroom full of graders working with Sphero exploring screens, he noted. “Now students have the ability to connect to other things in the room, so inclined planes. “That sounds fancy, but that when we are collecting data we can do it directly and do observations,” he said. “It is really they were running robots around amazing that in a seventh-grade science class, you can import data and it is in a spreadsheet on ramps,” he said. But giving them an

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0415cam_composite.indb 24 3/24/15 12:03 PM experimental protocol and asking them to a game, and yet they recall things they them together and gets communication stop and reflect on what they have noticed learned with the app.” going,” she said. “It is a very social activity. and share what they have learned helps They have to work collaboratively.” them to draw some conclusions about ramp Collaborating on force and energy that are appropriate for a Tangible Activities Collecting Data With second-grade level. “So instead of informa- In second-grade classrooms, teachers are Wireless Sensors tion being delivered in a lecture,” Patterson interested in having students combine tablets Another way to extend the reach of tablets added, “you can actually use the tablet and with three-dimensional objects to build is by connecting them to wireless sensors. robot together to create a discovery-based spatial and motor as well as interpersonal Teachers and students at Lenox Elemen- learning experience.” skills. That is the goal of a product called Osmo, which uses a specially designed Connecting Digital and mirror placed over the camera of an iPad Real Objects to translate students’ actions into the The potential for extending the reach of digital environment. Developed by former tablets begins on the first day of kinder- Google employee Pramod Sharma and his garten, because most 5-year-olds show up startup called Tangible Play, Osmo comes for the first day of school very familiar with three games: Tangram, which chal- with how an iPad works. Kristin Novara, a lenges students to arrange tangible puzzle kindergarten teacher at Woodland Elemen- pieces to match on-screen shapes; Newtown, tary School in Kingsford, MI, has recently which has students use objects around them begun experimenting with a learning toy to guide falling on-screen balls into targeted called Tiggly, which is designed to combine zones; and Words, a hangman-like game in the developmental benefits of physical play which students toss down real-life letters to with the learning potential of digital tools. spell out on-screen hidden words. In a math cooking game, her students ma- Angela McDonald, a second-grade nipulate three-dimensional plastic counting teacher at Union Valley Elementary School pieces of various shapes and sizes that are in Hutchinson, KS, recently started using powered by capacitive-touch technology. In Osmo with her students. “We have been the game “Tiggly Chef,” students respond working on shapes in math class, and to requests from the Chef of Tiggly Town to Tangram works perfectly for studying add certain numbers of objects to bowls in shapes and properties in our math center,” various combinations. she said. “I also have been using the Words The learning game has an option where game in reading centers to work on vocabu- you can use the screen and don’t have to lary.” And Newton definitely allows the use three-dimensional counters, “But the students to do all kinds of spatial reasoning, kids would much rather use the counters,” she added. “They can drop a ball from the Novara explained. “They can manipulate top of the screen and then set an object them and hold them in their hand and — such as a crayon, pencil or pipe cleaners count pieces — and they put them down — in front of it to guide it. It expands their and the iPad app recognizes it. If it is thinking about how to use different objects. wrong, they look through the other pieces It really brings that to life.” Top: The Einstein tablet has five to figure out which one actually goes with McDonald, who has six iPads for her 18 sensors built in. what they are looking for.” students, has access to four Osmo setups in Novara’s class has iPads at 10 different her school. The students are already inter- Center: Students can control centers of activity around the room. “Any ested in working with the iPads, she said, Sphero robots with a mobile app. time we start on the centers activities, they but Osmo makes it seem even cooler to Bottom: Tiggly’s counting pieces all fight for Center No. 7, because that is them. She also has noticed that sometimes connect physical play and digital the Tiggly Chef,” she said. “They all want students can become a little isolated work- tools. to start there. They think they are playing ing on an iPad by themselves. “This brings

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0415cam_composite.indb 25 3/24/15 12:03 PM 21ST CENTURY LEARNING

tary School in Hillsboro, OR, have been screen. They are fascinated by it. Some kids Ramig is currently the only teacher at St. experimenting with Vernier’s Go Wireless are enthralled with watching the tempera- Michael using the Einsteins, but approxi- temperature sensor. Sixth-grade teacher ture go up and down.” mately 160 out of the school’s 600 students Dale Rosenthal described a science fair are using them regularly. project in which students test which house- Exploring the Natural The activities and lab projects on the hold materials — including wool, cotton World With a Tablet Full Einstein website are easy to integrate with and rayon — do the best job of insulating a of Sensors her curriculum and textbooks, she added. flask of warm water. Students Will Richards Nancy Ramig, a middle school science “I have worked on the periodic table and and Peter Laycock said the wireless sensor teacher at St. Michael School in Orland acids and bases with eighth-graders, and helped them get more precise measure- Park, IL, has used iPads and sensors the Einstein has acid/base indicators in ments than using a thermometer, and they in her class before. But last year, while labs already designed.” For instance, Ein- liked actually watching the temperature loss attending the National Science Teachers stein has an activity in which students per- rate on the screen of their iPad. Association conference in Boston, she form an acid/base titration and measure Teacher Laurie Loescher uses the was intrigued by a new product called the temperature change that accompanies temperature probes in her sixth-grade class, Einstein that brings the sensors and tab- the reaction. too. “We have a tank with 500 trout eggs let together. Einstein has the traditional Ramig said that seventh-graders studying hatched, so we use the temperature probe to features of an Android tablet, as well as a Newton’s laws can use an accelerometer graph the rate of chemical change. We also heart rate monitor, UV detector, humid- to measure the speed of a car going down want to buy one of Vernier’s pH sensors” ity sensor, light sensor and temperature a ramp. “They analyze how the changing to investigate acids and bases and conduct monitor. Other sensors can be connected height of the ramp will affect the speed water quality studies, she said. as well. After experimenting with one for of the car,” she said. “They can change Third-grade teacher Lisa Cairns uses the about a month, St. Michael’s purchased different variables and see the impact. We temperature sensors with the school’s gar- 10 Einstein tablets last October for use in talk about isolating variables. They are able den club. “We planted tulip bulbs, and the its middle school science lab. to quickly change their experiments and students are marking the arrival of spring “Having it all brought together in one choose another variable to study.” by observing bulbs and taking the tempera- piece of hardware means the students can Ramig’s suggestion for teachers new to ture probes and iPads out into the garden to see the connection between the technology using sensors is to start small. “Just use the measure air and soil temperature,” she said. they are using and the content that they sensors a few times in class to get used to They are tracking temperatures and cor- are studying right away,” Ramig said. For them. Next year you will do more,” she said. relating them with when the tulips emerge. instance, if sixth-graders are studying heart “Then perhaps you will get more sensors The probes are very rugged, she added. rate, they can see how exercise affects their and equipment and have a complete go-to “We have 9-year-olds take iPads and probes heart rate, and different ways that informa- package. A lot of technology comes and outside to watch temperature change on the tion can be graphed.” goes over time, but I see the use of sensors and tablets expanding. It’s an area that I think is going to explode.” Sam Patterson, the technology integra- tion specialist at Gideon Hausner, said that the key in any tech project is to keep the focus on a learning outcome or goal beyond the technology. For instance, first- graders learning about the planets might be asked to navigate a robot to the planets in order. “It used to be that the teacher had to take the content they wanted to deal with and get it on the computer desk- top,” he said. “What is interesting with robots is you have to take the content you want to work with and put it on the floor.” Teachers at Lenox Elementary said that wireless sensors help students take precise measurements that instantly become data points. David Raths is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia.

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0415cam_composite.indb 26 3/24/15 12:03 PM AV AND DISPLAY Christopher Piehler Photo courtesy of Splashtop

Teachers Teaching With Tech Sharing Screens All Phil Harding, Val Verde’s tech integration specialist, said that when the district was Over the Classroom introducing Splashtop Classroom to teachers, “basic instruction took half an hour.” Val Verde Unified School District uses mobile hardware and As soon as teachers got up to speed with the software to keep students and teachers on the same page. technology, they found ways to take advan- tage of having a “recording” of an annotated n the midst of the digital transformation of Val Verde Unified School District (CA), presentation on their iPads. For example, said Michael McCormick faced a familiar problem. The assistant superintendent for Harding, a teacher can now send students education services wanted his district’s classrooms to have interactive displays, but he outside of class for peer mentoring, confident was “not a fan of the electronic whiteboard” because it “tethers a teacher to the front of in the fact that those students can then borrow the classroom.” His first step was to give teachers iPads, allowing them to roam the the teacher’s iPad to view the entire lesson that room. Then, to help Val Verde’s teachers connect with students and push content to they missed. Teachers have also given iPads to LCD projectors, the district chose the Splashtop Classroom system. special needs students who may have trouble The system is device-agnostic, so teachers armed with iPads can share screens with stu- following a lesson on the projector. dents working on both the Asus Transformers that the district has deployed in kindergarten Harding said that the district’s next step is and first grade and the Chromebooks that second- through 12th-graders use. Teachers use a pilot designed to see what happens when the system to annotate presentations, and can save their annotated versions as separate files. teachers turn control of the main display Splashtop also allow them to access students’ devices from their iPads. over to individual students. The plan is to use Students, in turn, can annotate over lesson content directly from their mobile devices. Mc- iPads and a Splashtop feature called Mirror- Cormick said students often use the system to complete worksheets in class. The pedagogi- ing360 “to turn PCs into Apple TVs.” cal goal for McCormick was to allow his teachers, who had been “rushing to independent No matter what the hardware or software, practice, to focus on guided practice.” though, Harding’s mission is to keep the tech According to Matthew Penner, Val Verde’s director of information and instructional tech- side of things as simple as possible so that nology and CCTO, an unintended positive consequence of rolling out Splashtop Classroom teachers can focus on their students. “The was that teachers now use the system to take electronic attendance. Another unexpected ben- technology,” he said, “should not be a distrac- efit, Penner said, was that the system also works with HoverCam document cameras. tion from the learning cycle.”

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0415cam_composite.indb 27 3/24/15 12:03 PM TechUpdate The latest hardware, software and services

BUILDING BLOCKS MATH PROGRAM The new version of McGraw-Hill Educa- tion’s supplemental math program Build- ing Blocks has 50 percent more games, iPad accessibility and increased support for Common Core and state standards through eighth grade. Featuring personal- ized lessons and adaptive learning tech- nology, Building Blocks guides students through a series of games based on their abilities or as assigned by the teacher. Stu- dents progress automatically through the program once they master each concept. MOBILE LEARNING HANDBOOK RGS EDUCATION SAS Curriculum Pathways has released CHROMEBOOK Mobile Learning: A Handbook for De- The RGS Education Chromebook is a velopers, Educators and Learners. The ruggedized device designed for use in handbook includes practical tips on the classroom. It is built with a plastic creating applications for education, and bumper, a water-resistant keyboard and highlights opportunities for collabora- anti-peel keyboard keys. The Chromebook tion between educational technology is designed to withstand a fall from a providers and educators. It also advises standard-height student desk (70 cm), parents and educators on how best to and offers a 9.5-hour battery life. RGS use mobile learning resources in class Education Chromebooks weigh less than SPARK ELEMENT TABLET and at home, and how mobile devices 3 pounds and are PARCC and Smarter Pasco Scientific’s Spark Element is a can help in educating students with Balanced compliant. handheld, science-learning device. The special needs. water-resistant, Android-based tablet offers a multi-touch display; a high-defi- nition camera and USB, WiFi, and Blue- tooth connectivity. The Spark Element also features a built-in accelerometer and a sound sensor, and it is capable of connecting to more than 80 all-digital Pa - sport sensors. A smart cover can protect the screen or device by elevating it off a laboratory surface.

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0415cam_composite.indb 28 3/24/15 12:03 PM STORTRENDS ALL-FLASH can transmit power, data and display over ARRAYS a single connector. The Chromebook StorTrends’s is offering two new, all- Pixel features two USB Type-C flash storage area network arrays. Both connectors, one on each units have a 3U form factor and feature side, to make it easier for write-specific and read-specific solid state people to plug the device drives. The 3600i has a capacity of 64 in to charge. terabytes; the 3610i can go up to 256 TB. The 3600i features two Intel quad-core SOLSTICE POD processors with one processor per con- STREAMING troller and 64 GB of memory. The 3610i DEVICE system has four Intel quad-core proces- The Solstice Pod from Mersive is a wire-- sors with two processors per controller less media-streaming device for video col-- and 192 GB of memory. laboration. The company has loaded its apps provide students with practice Solstice software onto a small Android problems in middle and high school GOOGLE CHROMEBOOK hardware platform, creating an all-in-one math and science subjects, including PIXEL collaboration tool that can be Google has released a new version of its moved from room to room. The high-end Chromebook Pixel. The updated Solstice Pod allows multiple us- Chromebook Pixel is one of the first prod- ers to connect, share and control ucts on the market to feature the USB content on any display. It can be Type-C connector, a new standard that integrated into an existing net- work or deployed as a “drop-in” solution using its built-in wireless access point capabilities.

FREE MATH AND SCIENCE APPS The CK-12 Foundation, a nonprofit arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigo- organization that develops open source nometry, calculus, biology, chemistry software for education, has introduced and physics. The apps adjust problems free math and science adaptive practice and suggest learning materials based on apps for iOS and Android devices. The individual performance.

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0415cam_composite.indb 29 3/24/15 12:03 PM TRANSFORMING EDUCATION THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

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30 | APRIL/MAY 2015

0415cam_composite.indb 30 3/24/15 12:03 PM Untitled-10 1 2/6/15 3:17 PM index

ADVERTISER/URL PAGE SCHOOL INDEX

Aerohive Networks ...... 10a-10d Arroyo Seco Elementary School (CA) ...... 14 www.aerohive.com/solutions/solutions-industry-0 Cesar Chavez Elementary School (CA) ...... 16 CDW-G ...... 2 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (NC) ...... 22-23 www.CDWG.com Clarke County School District (GA) ...... 15 DreamBox Learning ...... 36 Coachella Valley Unified School Dist (CA) .....18-19 www.dreambox.com/showme ...... Desert Sands Unified School District (CA) ...... 34 FETC 2016 ...... 5 Fresno County Office of Education (CA) ...... 33 www.fetc.org Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School (CA) ....24, 26 shutterstock.com Full Compass Systems...... 9 Iredell-Statesville School System (NC) ...... 4 www.fullcompass.com Las Cruces Public School System (NM)...... 15 TechMentor ...... 7 Lenox Elementary School (OR) ...... 25-26 www.techmentorevents.com/redmond Monrovia High School (CA) ...... 15-16 HP ...... 22 THE Journal Newsletters ...... 17 Mooresville Graded School District (NC) ...... 11 www.thejournal.com/newsletters New Caney Independent School Dist (TX) ....22-23 IDC ...... 22 Norwalk Public Schools (CT) ...... 23 Illuminate ...... 15 THE Journal Subscription ...... 31 Intel ...... 23, 28 www.thejournal.com Prince George’s County Public Schools (MD) ....16 Pulaski County Special School District (AR) ...... 21 Kahoot ...... 15 Visual Studios Live ...... 35 Lego ...... 33 www.vslive.com/austin Quakertown Community School Distr (PA)....20-21 Reynoldsburg City Schools (OH) ...... 15 Lenovo ...... 22 Richland County School District Two (SC) ..... 4, 14 Lexia ...... 15 Roswell Independent School District (NM) ...... 15 McGraw-Hill Education ...... 28 Rowan-Salisbury School System (NC) ...... 19 Mersive ...... 29 Microsoft ...... 23 San Francisco Unified School District (CA) ...... 21 Pandora ...... 33 South Woods Elementary School (FL) ...... 4 Pasco Scientific ...... 28 St. John’s County School District (FL) ...... 4 Pearson ...... 4 St. Michael School (IL) ...... 26 Performance Matters ...... 16 Union Valley Elementary School (KS) ...... 25 RGS ...... 28 Val Verde Unified School District (CA) ...... 27 Ruckus Wireless ...... 21 White Bear Lake Area Schools (MN) ...... 20 Samsung ...... 22, 34 Woodland Elementary School (MI) ...... 25 SAS ...... 28 COMPANY INDEX School Loop ...... 14-16 Sphero ...... 24-25, 33 Acer ...... 22-23 Splashtop ...... 27 Aerohive ...... 19 StorTrends ...... 29 Apple ...... 22, 27, 33 Swivl ...... 34 ARM ...... 23 Tangible Play ...... 25 Aruba Networks ...... 20 TenMarks ...... 14 Asus ...... 27 Vernier ...... 26 Compass Learning ...... 16 VocabularySpellingCity ...... 14 Dell ...... 22-23 YouTube ...... 8 Extreme Networks ...... 20

Geddit ...... 15 This index is provided as a service. The publisher

shutterstock.com Google ...... 4, 8, 15, 22-23, 25, 29, 33-34 assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

T/H/E JOURNAL (ISSN 0192-592x) is published 7 times POSTMASTER: Send address changes to T/H/E JOUR- The information in this magazine has not undergone any a year, monthly except for Feb, May, Jul, Sept and Dec NAL, 9201 Oakdale Avenue, Chatsworth, CA 91311. Cana- formal testing by 1105 Media, Inc. and is distributed by 1105 Media, Inc., 9201 Oakdale Avenue, Ste. 101, da Publications Mail Agreement No: 40612608. Return Un- without any warranty expressed or implied. Implementation Chatsworth, CA 91311. Complimentary subscriptions are deliverable Canadian Addresses to 9201 Oakdale Avenue, or use of any information contained herein is the reader’s sent to qualifying subscribers. Subscription inquiries, Chatsworth, CA 91311. © Copyright 2015 by 1105 Media, sole responsibility. While the information has been reviewed back issue requests, and address changes: Mail to: Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Reproductions for accuracy, there is no guarantee that the same or similar T/H/E JOURNAL, 9201 Oakdale Avenue, Chatsworth, CA in whole or part prohibited except by written permission. results may be achieved in all environments. Technical 91311, E-mail [email protected] or call 818 814- Mail requests to “Permissions Editor,” c/o T/H/E JOURNAL, inaccuracies may result from printing errors and/or new 5223, fax number 818 936-0267. 9201 Oakdale Ave., Ste. 101, Chatsworth, CA 91311. developments in the industry.

32 | APRIL/MAY 2015

0415the_mast-index.indd 32 3/24/15 12:48 PM BY DAN GORDON INNOVATOR MARK HAMMONS, EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR, FRESNO COUNTY OFFICE OF EDUCATION (CA)

An educational technology trainer, speaker THE Journal: What’s one strategy and former music teacher and percussion di- you’ve used to help students show MY TOP 3… rector, Mark Hammons devotes much of his their thinking process through tech? EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TOOLS professional time to coaching Fresno educa- Hammons: One way we’re doing this 1) Google Classroom: This great platform tors through hands-on learning sessions. An is through screencasting. For example, provides a quick and seamless opportunity Apple Distinguished Educator and Google students will have two minutes to use an for teachers to disseminate lessons and Certified Teacher, Hammons talks here online manipulative to explain their thought activities and not clutter day-to-day about the many ways that technology can process. This means that teachers don’t have operations with e-mails and questions. Quick, easy and effective. show what students are thinking. to take valuable class time having everyone give a miniature presentation, and it allows 2) Socrative: Hands down the easiest THE Journal: What’s the goal them to see the individual thought processes online tool for quick assessments of student learning. Being platform agnostic, this when you hold coaching sessions of students, particularly those who don’t helpful tool allows educators to create within Fresno schools and districts? typically raise their hands in front of class. quizzes, exit tickets and interactive games Mark Hammons: Our goal is to help I’ve had a lot of teachers say they now know to challenge student learning while receiving teachers, with whatever they have, to provide their students in a way they couldn’t before valuable data on individual progress. more opportunities and exposures for kids to when those kids were so closed off in the 3) Explain Everything: I love the freedom use technology to create something unique. more public setting. and flexibility that tablets provide teachers We want the technology to be used in ways for teaching and learning. With the iOS and Android app Explain Everything, mobile that allow students to show their thinking THE Journal: You’re a big propo- instruction is simple, easy and effective. processes throughout a project, as nent of Google Classroom. This app provides the opportunity to create opposed to just showing the end Why is that? interactive lessons as well as providing students with the ability to visualize their work. product. Hammons: The biggest In Fresno County, we have headache for a lot of also had a big upswing of teachers before Class- effect, where we expose ourselves to new and Google App schools com- room was when students exciting things in ed tech and, just like when ing on board, so this year would create a doc and you hear a cool song on Pandora, you give we’ve been getting teachers share it with you. If it a thumbs-up and that leads you down the familiar with how to design you’re a high school math road toward something else. lessons that utilize Google teacher that means you’re Classroom most efficiently, getting upwards of 200 e-mails THE Journal: What makes you which saves them time and energy a day with these docs. The ability most excited when you look ahead? in the long run. to create those little silos for each one of Hammons: The merging of the digital with We’re also modeling different learning your classes and have it automatically the physical world — for example, these spaces and trying to encourage changes manage, share and store that information Sphero balls that can be programmed from a in the class structure. A lot of teachers has been amazing. With just a couple of wireless device. I see my own kids physically are getting technology in the hands of clicks, teachers can use Classroom to pass manipulating things with Legos at home, their kids, but are still teaching in an old out information, set a deadline and have [an and then when they get to school they’re paradigm where it’s a bunch of rows and a assignment] automatically turned back in. going to be asked to create something lot of “watch me do this.” We want to create digital. But what’s coming is this merging of opportunities for kids to learn in a different THE Journal: Has your background the physical and digital worlds to create way, so we’ve been changing some of the set- in music colored your view of ed tech? something unique. ups in classrooms to make them conducive Hammons: Well, for one thing, I’m looking I think the disrupter will be these wear- to a more personal learning environment. for parallels to something like the Pandora able technologies for education.

APRIL/MAY 2015 | 33

0415cam_composite.indb 33 3/24/15 12:04 PM INNOVATOR KIRSTEN WRIGHT, EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TEACHER, DESERT SANDS UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, LA QUINTA, CA

For the last eight years, Wright has support- THE Journal: What do you hope MY TOP 3… ed staff and students across 20 elementary will be the outcome of these changes? WAYS TO CLOSE THE schools in the K-12 Desert Sands Unified Wright: We want to see students who are ACHIEVEMENT GAP WITH School District. After earning her master’s engaged and excited about learning, TECHNOLOGY degree in technology from the University becoming leaders in the classroom, taking 1) Immediate feedback: Give students of Oregon, she was an elementary school their knowledge beyond the classroom walls real-time results on their work and reteach teacher for seven years prior to taking her and continuing to learn when they get home. immediately to build a strong foundation. district position. The certified gTrainer is We’re already seeing that with this imple- 2) Resources: Provide students with a now in the midst of guiding Desert Sands mentation. I was just in a first-grade multitude of resources to self-teach and practice learning. Examples of these can be elementary schools through a technology- classroom and after an hour, one of the kids short videos teaching the standard, apps, driven redesign of their classrooms. said, “Wow, nobody had their behavior card online curriculum, hands-on activities and pulled this morning!” And that was because peer tutoring. THE Journal: You described this they were all engaged. 3) Student-centered learning: Revamp as a pivotal year of innovation. What’s yourself as a facilitator or coach and put the students in the driver’s seat by involved in the classroom redesign? THE Journal: What’s worked for you making learning relevant with project- Kirsten Wright: We started about a year in terms of professional development? based activities where technology plays an ago, through a partnership with Samsung, Wright: One of the most important things integral role in collaboration, research and presenting. Hearing the teacher talk just and we now have a couple of schools that I’m doing is getting into the schools and leads to boredom and the notion that there we’re using as pilots. Our idea was to modeling lessons with the teachers, is another test around the corner to fail. get rid of the LCD projector and some of whom are fearful of the bring in large-format display technology and don’t want to have a Student Interoperability Framework TVs: three in each class- be the first to expose the (SIF), where you have a centralized server room, one with a touch students to it. We do train- and, for any programs that you connect to overlay. We’re trying to ings here at our district it, information is replicated immediately. We change the entire office, and put videos have our own assessment tool, and now that furniture setup, breaking online for teachers to we have Chromebooks the students are tak- away from the old concept watch. We have an Appy ing assessments with that as well. That SIF of kids sitting in rows, and Hour Web page. We’re integration is something we’re really proud instead creating innovation also hosting our second of as a district. And I think having data back centers. The students have Google Summit, with more immediately has transformed the classroom Chromebooks that they use 1-to-1, than 400 teachers attending. as well. What you’re needing to reteach can the teacher has a tablet, and then we’re be done right there in that class session. bringing in furniture to enhance the THE Journal: How has the mobility. Examples would be those Kite approach to technology changed within THE Journal: Where is this tables that can be configured in all sorts of your district in the past eight years? headed? different ways, allowing a lot of movement; Wright: At the beginning, technology was Wright: I want to see more student-centered or the Swivl robot stands that you put your a tool that we would bring in, use and then learning, comfortable environments with device in, then you have a remote attached put away. Now it’s embedded in everything. couches, tables that can be shifted and to you and it follows you around the room About four years ago, we implemented moved around. I want to see the curriculum so that you can record yourself teaching. Google Apps for Education. We went from becoming less segregated and all flowing With that we’re trying to flip the classroom a district of 30 Chromebooks to now having together into one, with the kids creating the as well, encouraging student-centered, nearly 22,000. We have 10-gig connectiv- content and the teacher being the facilitator hands-on learning. ity for every school, and on top of that we to guide them.

Do you know a K-12 technology leader or tech-savvy administrator or teacher we should profile? Tell us! E-mail [email protected].

34 | APRIL/MAY 2015

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