Moving to 1to1

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Working in a small school district I get to actually work with our superintendent! After starting my career in the Los Angeles Unified School District this is just awesome. I’m part of our district technology committee so that’s one way I get to work with our superintendent. So what do you do when your superintendent mentions that there’s interest in putting an iPad in the hands of all the students in your district? Well, speaking only for myself, I get behind that idea! Knowing full well the limitations of the iPad I’d rather have a 1:1 mobile device in every kid’s hands no matter what it is. Why the iPad over say a Chromebook? Apple’s iPad leasing program. Now I don’t know anything about that, nor do I know if there are other leasing programs out there for netbooks or other laptops, but at least the conversation is starting that may lead to our district becoming a 1:1 district. Right now the idea is to get iPads, and there’s a lot we can do with iPads so we can make it work, but even if we decide on something else, the 1:1 model is what really appeals to me.

But now we have the task of not just doing something but trying our best to do it right. That means we need a plan that includes getting the technology into teacher’s and student’s hands while providing the training to help ensure that teachers and students will use the opportunity for learning using 21st century skills.

To that end I’m compiling any resources I’ve collected regarding 1 to 1 schools and iPads in schools. It’s a start and if anyone has links please share them here. We could use all the help we can get.

Miguel Guhlin shared this link with me EC3 – ECISD Technology. It has links to that district’s iPad 1:1 deployment. This is a great resource. Here’s a cool classroom rubric from EC3 to determine the ways technology is being used using SAMR:
Classroom Learning Activity Rubric (ECISD)