What a Difference a Year Makes

I can’t believe that a year has passed since my district began rolling out devices for our 1:1 student computing initiative. One year down the road with around 17,000 student devices, and we’re now planning the third phase which will complete our 1:1 initiative for grades 3-12.

A recent topic of conversation on a webinar with other 1:1 districts was “what keeps you awake at night?” I’m happy to say that I’m sleeping again, and it’s because of all the great teamwork that’s gone into our implementation. In my October post I talked about scaling up and next steps. I’m happy to report that our technology leadership series has given administrators the tools that they need to begin taking 1:1 computing to the next level at their schools.

It’s exciting to go into schools and see students engaged in learning that is designed to incorporate technology tools and best instructional practices. Focusing on the Project RED key implementation factors has taken the spotlight off of devices and placed the spotlight on technology integration.

If you’re a teacher in a 1:1 classroom or an administrator in a school with 1:1 computing, visit the Project RED website and read Revolutionizing Education Through Technology. I think you’ll find that you sleep better at night.

Technology Leadership Series: Principal Training

In this Project RED blog series, I'm going to describe how the leaders in my district are moving forward to fully embrace technology and model the effective use of technology with faculty and staff. After becoming a Project RED Signature District, I realized that the most important factor in having a successful 1-to-1 implementation is getting the leadership on board.

To that end, I created a Technology Leadership Series which I'm using with principals and assistant principals in the district. In each monthly session, my team models the key implementation factors throughout the lesson.

The first session that I held focused on principal training.  School administrators must be trained in teacher buy-in, best practices, and technology transformed learning. Our technology integration team was on hand at the first session to assist principals with successfully navigating the online content. In the short session, we were able to have the principals sign-in using a Google form, login to Edmodo and join the Edmodo group, complete a self-assessment, and access the Project RED online materials.  In that one session, principals participated in online collaboration and formative assessment while also learning about their technology leadership role. We covered three of the key factors in one session!

Administrators have been happy to attend the sessions and are also attending hands-on followup sessions on a variety of topics (Edmodo in the Classroom, Google Drive for Administrators, Blogging). The formative assessment that I used in the first session has helped to inform me on the additional training that administrators need to move forward with implementing the key factors in their schools.

Stay tuned!