• Observations - Somers Middle School Visit
     
    Ronnie Konner, Board Member
     

    • Microsoft Showcase District
    • 2nd year
    • Microsoft in Education
    • Students as producers
    • Home to IBM
    • Google for Education School before going to Microsoft
    • 2 campus -- Intermediate and Middle school on this campus
    • iPads and assistive tech
    • clusters of 5 iPads in each K-3 classroom
    • personal devices permitted
    • support byod although not officially BYOD
    • Smartboards in all classes
    • Mac.PC dual boot labs
    • iMac lap in Middle school
    • Cloud only file storage -- going to onedrive only
    • Gradebooks are open to students and parents
    • Infinte campus ( eSchool Plus before)
    • 21st Century Learning Spaces sway,com,GpIW
    • declining enrollments -- K classes 100 less students
    • No increase in budget funding -- using existing funds - reallocated
    • Somers support greater for technology than arts and athletics
    • BYOD -- register devices with school
    • Support for BYOD when they were used.
    • Assured experiences in BYOD -- accomodate BYOD but clearly indicated limitations if inking required.
    • Tech used to enhance learning --
    • phones are also registered if used as device
    • Spec Ed students iPads then to tablet , unless App -- read to go - needed than they may have 2 --iPad and tablet
    • some students bring in own devices and tablet when need to ink.
    • 1:1 since 2012
    • BYOD is 1-2%
    • OneNote class notebook
    • No longer need handouts
    • OneNote supports printing -- can print to OneNote
    • scan into OneNote -- textbooks, as well
    • Used Blackboard. Moodle earlier now Office 365 is classroom Management Software LMS
    • Identified cohort of grade 9 teachers -- surface 3s -connected with grade 8 teachers
    • Saw students swap tablets to cooperate together
    History
    • Keep tablet for 3 years, don’t hand in
    • Personalized Learning device
    • Can install own software, light on filtering
    • Can remote into tablet, see software, identify where tablet is.
    • clear -- camera is for learning -- no pictures without right to do so
    • Refresh - every three years
    • Dell Lattitude 10 for Juniors and Seniors -- as part of refresh this year
    • Distribute 2013 -- grades 8-10
    • 2014 -- grade 7-8
    • 2015 Grade 6-7
    • 2015 all grades 6-12 will have
    • Loaners if turn in
    • Extended warranty initially -- pushback from families
    • Incorporate into distribute budget -- spend $450 per tablet-- loaner not a tablet
    • Price includes -- tablet, stylus, extended warranty, cover
    • Lease purchase -- buy $500,000 equipment yearly and lease it
    • iPads proposed as 1:1 before Windows 8 came out --
    • How will we transform learning
    • Serious paper addiction - how to get the teachers away from that
    • Assumed every kid wanted a tablet, teachers wanted to move forward, parents supported - not so.
    • Changes -- online textbooks -- Glencoe Math -- textbook vendors not ready for this to create online learning.
    • Language Arts used OneNote notebook
    • Help for 504 students -- everything there for them
    • Resistence mostly from older students who had established productivity patterns.
    • Students resistant to change -- used to using paper. Game change for Jr and Sr. students.
    • Upper grade teachers still using what had been used.
    • As move forward -- cohort group will move to gr 10
    District Vision
    • Professional Learning Communities
    • Personalized Learning Communities
    • 21st Century Knowledge & Skills
    • Global Citizenship
    • Social Emotional Physical Wellness
    • Whole Child- Personalized Learning
    • Had classroom sets of carts -- one per floor before 1:1
    • signed out -- took too long to pass out
    • 1 per 5-6 classrooms
    • need for teachable moment -- did not personalize the experience
    • 200 iPads deployed -- students were engaged in learning
    • great for consumption, weak production devices
    • Charging batteries -- gear shack -- come prepared -- student run gear shack- teachers have Help Desk
    • Teachers have Surface 3 -- Battery life - not a problem 10 hour life can use 7-8 hours
    • Charging stations at Media Center -- kiosks need to be supervised-- charging stations -- cart
    • Gym time could be charging time
    • Phys ed prefer iPads because of apps
    • Lock in lockers during gym
    • Morocky? mobile device management $12,device
    • lojack component
    • Consider a pilot program
    • PTA -- parent buy in
    • Train families
    • Provide for staff -- training
    • Student deployment
    • Handed out in June to teachers
    • December deployment to students due to delay from Dell
    • Had to come in - log in - acclimate to mobile first and cloud based
    • Imaging issue - Dell -- initial problem
    • Seasonal helpers -- college students to take out of boxes and preparing
    • Microsoft store people helped get set up
    • Help Desk for teachers - web request - building K-5
    • 6-8 all handled thru Gear Shack -- building a database
    • 60 requests a day -- tech aides - more outsourcing
    • courstar-- 1 tech support specialist --
    • Building computer aides - 3-HS; 2 MS; 1 each elementary school
    • Teacher PD -- surveys twice a year - students, teachers, parents
    • Classroom use of 4 Cs - access, skills, environment - PD offerings
    • 4 PLC days
    • Team meetings
    • 1-1 30-40 minute experience when get tablets
    • Need Coaching model -- Eduscape
    • Webinars
    • Outsource
    • Learning Coaches - 1- HS, 1 MS, 2 elementary -- do not focus on tech
    • 4cs - Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical thinking
    • ISTE as part of lens for evaluation
    • OneNote
    • Snow days -- target in future - flipped classrooms
    • Sway and Office Mix
    • Get time back using digital learning -- right there, follows you around
    • Administrators use OneNote -- Notebook
    • Gave access - individuals had ability to save/back up own work if wanted it.
    • Danielson rubric -- notebook - professional readiness -- creating own textbooks on OneNote
    • Office 365 -- moving away from Google
    • Administrators started with new ideas -- Office 365 first -- then other staff
    • Office 2016 cloud based storage
    • Online assessments -- Office 365
    • Mastery Manager - can create bubble sheets or online component
    • Renaissance learning -- elementary, middle
    • Castle Learning for online tests in HS -- science, social studies, old Regents questions
    • Glencoe Math
    • RAZ Kids K-5
    • Dreambox learning
    • ALEKS -- McGraw-Hill -- self-directed Math -- need to have answer correct 3 times -- moves learning ahead
    • Security for students better in Office 365.
    • NearPod -- flipped blended tool -- common sense media - digital passport to get tablet for gr 6 students

    Needs
    • Whole Child report card
    • Discipline referrals --
    • Share production of student work
    • Still worksheet based
    • Office 365 best way to share publically safely
    • Can post digital productions on 365 instead of YouTube
    • Writing -- can annotate writing - can use pen to do
    • Digital Citizenship - netsmarts tool -- anti-plagiarism thru Media Center curriculum -- grade 5 digital passport
    • Dr Raymond Blach - supt
    • easier at MS then HS to integrate
    • Staff support - survey bright bites
    • Microsoft training - Danielson rubric - tech use in classroom
    • Lighthouse training -- lead teacher -- train the trainers
    • Inking is thinking
    • 3 year warranty
    • Expense -- reduction in tech support position
    • theft -- computrade -- lojack
    • Set up perimeter if go outside of Somers
    • Screen breaks - hard cases better than slip cases used
    • Bumpers to protect corners
    • PLD Handbook - 15 page document - accountable if damaged or stolen
    • Rarely collect -- loaners are older netbooks
    • Elementary Smartboards
    • Displays better with 1-1
    • Wireless classroom connectivity
    • Change in furniture that moves to create group space -- Steelcase furniture
    • Tech Lounge -- create spaces that teachers would want in classrooms - charging areas like Starbucks
    • 5 LCDs around -IB Program coming

    Elementary
    • Mini pods 5 devices per class - centers K-5
    • Gr 5 1-1 -- stay in school not go home
    • Project Red 1:1 -- Re-Envisioning Education

    • Did not connect to standardized test scores
    • Digital Inking
    • Sharon Obion
    • Stylus impact on learning factual recall, conceptual thinking
    Family Interactions
    • Online webinars - every other week
    • Families more aware of students work
    • Web site with parent resources
    • Help Desk for families -- staff
    • Email support
    • ConnectED - handouts - inform parents
    • Can sign up for time slots for students to get devices
    • Parent University
    • Office 365
    • OneNote
    • Supporting PLDs at Home
    • Infinite Campus -- parents can follow along what HW is
    • Feb Webinar -- Digital Citizenship -- Parents to push forward
    • Parent concerns - why aren’t teachers using tablets
    • Cohort program/PTA to promote use of tablets
    • Blog entries -- Webinars most effective
    • Filters at home provided -- can I track student usage
    • Microsoft store - parent security training
    • Somers Moms
    • Give parents more info that they need - multiple forums -- email, blog, sites
    • Charging -- not in bedroom -- impact on sleep


    • Licenses extend thru August -- updates are forced and restart
    • Gear Shack
    • Kids who are tech savvy -- show kids how to do updates.
    • Educate users on how to do updates
    • Summer tech support available
    • App store enabled -- not many apps available
    • Could build own store - branded -- our apps could be there
    • Portal with Apps
    • OnePass
    • Can enforce policies remotely
    • Instagram 2nd biggest bandwidth user
    • Twitter
    • Yammer (like Edmodo) part of Office 365
    • Social Media -- learning it in protective environment
    • All Company feed -- students can create own groups
    • Manga
    • Announcements
    • Have ability to see private groups and conversations
    • Certain words monitored -- ‘kill”
    • No School App - Use Yammer
    • Assignments posted in Gradebook


    K-5
    • Dreambox math -- Everyday Math
    • RAZ Kids K-3
    • same text different reading levels --
    • Can record read back by students
    • Math --online textbook
    • Social studies
    • Filtering -- progressive