Initial Steps: The Student Help Desk

It has been coming increasingly important to get students involved in the planning and carrying out of the technology plan. One of the aspects of that plan is how to anticipate and problem solve situations that don’t exist. One person and even one department will have a difficult time keeping up with the task.

Our solution: recruit and train students to help as a first line of defense. We saw this in action at the Hong Kong International School. Myron Buck, the high school technology facilitator shared his ideas with us. Rarely is there a unique problem that a student will incur. For the most part it is a repeat performance.

Time to call in the first line of defense. Starting next week we will begin the training of 6^th and 7^th grade students in the care and trouble shooting of Mac problems. Our plan it to introduce them to our computer system at school, how the Mac will integrate with the system, and what we would anticipate as common problems. These may include creating shortcuts, printing, losing work, etc.

We’ll start with giving them an identity. We will ask them to give themselves a name. It’s their club so we’ll let them decide … within reason J . Once they have a name it’s time to design t-shirts. This will help them be identified in the fall so others will know whom to look for to help them.

Once school starts in the fall, we will roll out the 300 laptops in the middle school. Their task is two-fold. First, they will need to help teachers and students in classes. The second commitment we ask of them is to man the student help desk located outside the technology repair center. They will be the first stop for students with problems. Hopefully we will have trained them in the basics of Mac and they will be able to thwart a lot of minor problems. What they can’t handle is passed on to the tech department.

Initial Steps: Professional Development

Initial Steps: Professional Development

Ever see someone use a screwdriver like a hammer? Or how about using a pair of pliers to get a screw out of a piece of metal? Do you have a smart phone and use it only as a phone? Too often we put computers in the hands of teachers who know how to use it in a very limited manner. Professional development (PD) is all about helping teachers see the potential of the tool and beginning to move in a direction that takes advantage of this valuable tool.

Recent university graduates that have gone into teaching are really good at using the computer for personal enhancement. However, I have observed that so many of them have not received training as to how to use this tool to enhance and bring the curriculum to life. PD will help bridge the gap that exists from personal to professional use. Each school culture and professional demand a program tailored to his or her ability.

When planning PD, it is important to look at the long-term development of the overall program. We started early planning our PD. We made contact with SUNY of Buffalo N.Y. They allowed us to prepare and tailor a program for our school culture and provided university credit for the participants. We focused on our use of Web 2.0 tools and Moodle. More than 32% of our staff participated in the class; we were quite surprised at their eagerness to learn. The sessions were taught by three of our technology facilitators.

The class was very successful for spurring on the use of technology. An example of this was one of our teachers, David Giles, who has used Etherpad in his IB classes.

We have also looked to other venues for professional development. We sent out grade 5 teachers and technology facilitator to Shanghai to participate in the Learning 2.010 conference. Most recently we sent the middle school core teachers and technology facilitators on schools tours in Hong Kong. They visited Hong Kong International School, Canadian International School, and King George V School. Attending the 21st Century Learning Conference followed the visits. Next year we are planning to send more teachers to these conferences as well as the Un-Plugged conference at the American School of Bombay (India).

Never will the learning stop. Technology continually changes. Keeping current is always important so that the main thing, learning, remains the main thing.

Initial Steps: Who’s on First?, the Software and the Platform, and Adjustments

AISG has historically been a PC school. Previously As we began the process of going 1:1, we needed the approval of the school board. This was an easy sell, we had done our homework. We organized a technology committee with representatives from each of the schools; elementary, middle school and high school. The task of the committee was to decide what the needs of the school would be. This included the grades that would begin 1:1, the type of technology software that would best be used, and then to evaluate which platform and vendor to chose.

Who’s on First?
It was determined we would go 1:1 grades 5 – 12. Our research showed that most schools started with either grade 5 or 6 as the place to begin. Much to the chagrin of the MS and HS, the administration chose to start our 1:1 program with the Grade 5 classes. We have four classes of 22 students in each. Their choice was a good one. The school would purchase and own the laptops used in grade 5. It was determined that we wanted to create a controlled experiment when we started. By starting in grade 5, we are able to test our implementation with our already established infrastructure, keep the laptops at school at all times, and have total control over their use with a smaller group.

Initially we determined to add two grade levels per year, one middle school and one high school. This decision changed however, due to other factors mentioned below.

The Software:
The technology committee was asked how teachers would use the computers. The administration wanted to avoid the $1000 pencil at all costs. How would the technology, laptops in particular, be integrated into the curriculum? We didn’t want to have the computers drive the curriculum, rather, how would they enhance the curriculum. The committee, through research, identified best practices for the integration of computers. They didn’t identify the names of software, rather, the type of software that would be needed. Among those identified were multimedia, presentation, and word processing abilities.

The Platform:
The technology committee put out bids to vendors, both PC and Mac. It should be noted the committee had varied backgrounds; about 35% were Mac users. The Director of Technology as well as the elementary and high school technology facilitators were all PC users. The school presently uses Dell and HP laptop and desktop computers.

Among the different types of software identified they also determined they wanted an on-site repair technician as well as on-going professional development for staff. We invited bids from Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Apple. HP decided to drop out of the bidding. They did not want to provide an on-site technician. Dell and Lenovo gave very good presentations but it was also noted that they had no experience with on-site technicians and on-going professional development. They did put this into their bid.

The committee after listening to all four presentations decided unanimously to go with Apple computer. Their presentation showed us a plethora of integrated software that was created by Apple, for Apple. The integration of the software would be seamless. They are working with more than 24 international schools in China and Hong Kong. They would provide four free sessions of professional development for staff, more if we are willing to pay for it. They would also provide an on-site technician once we had 300+ computers on site.

Adjustments to the Plan:
Once it was decided to go with Apple, we wanted to be sure to have the technician on site. It was then decided to change our roll out timeline. Grade 5 is presently 1:1 using HP computers. Second semester we would purchase 90 Macbook computers for grade 5 students and 20 MacBook Pro computers for grade 5 teachers, middle school core teachers, and our tech staff. This change was made so we could have a technician on staff as well as getting the Mac’s into the hands of our middle school staff for six months before the students get theirs. Hopefully the grade 5 teachers will be able to grow with their students.