Flexible iPad management -OR- ISTE learns all about my job

A big reason for my going to ISTE was to support my Castilleja School colleagues during their presentation. Gabriel Lucas, director of technology, and Rachel Tennant, academic technology specialist, presented our approach to our iPad program in a presentation called Flexible learning and responsible oversight with a hybrid 1:1 iPad model.

The two of them basically built our iPad program over two years, and now it's my job to keep it running. We have about 400 iPads in circulation. We are one-to-one in grades six through nine, with a few "islands" and "peninsulas" of iPad groups in grades 10 through 12. And most faculty have an iPad.

The program -- and their presentation -- center on the ideas that a one-to-one iPad program can be scalable from 100 to 1000 (and more) devices and customizable to meet the developmental needs of each grade from K-12.

The presentation highlighted the differences between grades and how developmentally appropriate each step is. This is key, as there is a world of difference between how we manage the sixth graders from how we manage the ninth grades, and that is very intentional. They played recordings of our deans talking about the iPads in their grades.

• 6th grade: more restricted; can’t install or uninstall apps; students are new to the school, so don’t overwhelm them; teach students how to use it as a school tool
• 7th grade: not all in; inherited the program because the students as sixth graders last year had iPads; could not get the dean to do the interview; student can install apps themselves, but IT has  whitelist of apps that students can install.
• 8th grade: more responsibility, less control; transition to high school, mid-year, all students turn 13 = Apple IDs that they control
• 9th grade: less uniform; no team, like in the other grades; full control for students, more choice of when/whether to use the iPads; let students make mistakes

Four non-negotiables

1. Don’t muck it up - stick to a solid management system, a schedule for updating devices and apps, and beware of the one-offs. And, most importantly, don't let the parents manage it, especially in managing Apple IDs. This may sound counter to the way some schools work, but we knew that many of our parents, if tasked with any oversight or day-to-day management of the device or the account, would just let the student do all that herself. 
2. Maximize labor efficiency - it is not efficient to collect every iPad and touch INSTALL on each one in order to install apps or updates, which is what our school did in 2012-2013. In our case, using Apple's Configurator and giving each student an Apple ID saved us the hassle of tap, tap, tapping every device. 
3. Be cost effective - we're getting a better handle on this now by having a common core of apps that all devices will have, and we can buy those apps in bulk. We hope it will serve us and serve the students better by having some uniformity, rather than each grade or each class having a different note-taking app. 
4. Prepare for the unexpected - iCloud backup and restore have been our saviors. Students break iPads and students lose iPads. Using iCloud, we can restore the last backup onto a new device in about 15 minutes, which means the student has no disruption to their learning. 

Questions to ask yourself for your school

• How much control do you want?
• How much parental oversight do you want?
• What do you want the summer cycle to look like? Do you want to wipe out each device every summer, or carry student data year to year?
• What level of backup does the school want to provide for each student?
• How compliant with Apple do you want to be?
• What level of uniformity does the school want at each grade?

(My apologies to the readers and the Gabe and Rachel for the sub-par pictures.)

First round of sessions: SAMR, student tech support, and classic literature

The first session of the day for me was about the SAMR model. I was looking forward to this session, as my colleagues on the Academic Technology side of my department use this model often when helping teachers design lessons. And, according to the presenter's blog, he seems to be quite the expert on this topic.

Unfortunately, the sound quality for the large room was poor. There were probably 200-300 people in a very large ballroom-style space, and the speakers could not carry his voice clearly enough for me to follow the presentation. I left, and so did many other people.

I went upstairs to check out the poster presentations, and so did any other people. Wow. It was mobbed. The posters were engaging, and many of them were about student projects. Better yet, the students were the presenters.

The two posters that I investigated were The Tech.B@r is open: Students at your service, an example of starting and maintaining a student tech support service from Westwood High School in Blythewood, SC;  and Youth film fest of language arts, a cross-discipline, semester-long film recreation of classic literature from Centro Escolar Los Altos in Jalisco, Mexico.

The student tech support team is interesting, as we've mulled the idea for our school. We'd like to have some students help us with things like laptop upgrades, software training for teachers, app support. Perhaps I can get some ideas from Westwood.

The film fest is a cool project. I would like to think that it's the kind of project that I would design if I were a classroom teacher. The student that gave me the explanation was really excited to explain the project. When a student is that excited to share her schoolwork, I think the lesson was a success.

Read more:
Tech.B@r of Westwood High School

Youth film fest of Centro Escolar Los Altos

A disappointing keynote, but a good lesson

The cynic in me struggled mightily to see the relevance of Ashley Judd's keynote address. She shared her story, her history of depression, her family relationships, past and present, her experience in independent school, her humanitarian work. She has a powerful story, but there was zero connection to ed tech. This really could have been anybody.

A browsing of Twitter helped. I can't find the tweet, but it said that she spoke to us as a student. In a keynote, we're used to someone speaking to us as an expert, as a teacher. This speech was a changing of the lens and we should value that.

My takeaway, and the takeaway from many on Twitter: "The most important thing you can do is believe the child who comes to you." Honor what the student in front of you is saying, is revealing, is bringing to you. Take that seriously.

She spoke of the teacher that took time to notice her, and, in turn, how she wanted to work hard not to disappoint that teacher.

I am not a teacher, but I do see that as I walk the school where I work. What child is looking for someone to notice her as she battles her demons? What student may be revealing a little bit of her struggle, hoping someone will pick up on it and ask her, "How are you, really?"