10 questions parents should ask about their children's 1:1 program

I have two grandchildren who attend the Shawnee Mission School district in the southern part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The area looks generally wealthy and the schools well-maintained. The grands are doing well academically. But technology has never seemed to be the district's strength based on my visits with the boys and their schools.

So when my son-in-law and daughter both send me information about an ambitious 1:1 initiative that the board has adopted, I was excited. At the cost of $20 million dollars, all high schoolers will get Macbook Air laptops and all middle school and elementary students will get iPads. (Some details are given in the superintendent's letter and a local newspaper article below.

While I am very much in favor of students using and accessing technology (I am a tech director after all), I am also aware that 1:1 programs can be very effective - or they can be money down a rat hole. The devil, as they say, is in the details.

On first glance and with only two sources of information, this Shawnee Mission program looks pretty good. To quote the superintendent, "This technology offers tremendous opportunities to personalize learning for students and encourage collaboration with a project-based focus.  It is clear that today’s students need to know how to access information and also understand and apply the information." All educational goals near and dear to my heart.

There is a very ambitious timeline with the devices going to students in August. Training for staff does not start until this March. While I suspect a great deal of planning has gone into this already that has not been shared publicly, as a concerned parent, I would still ask:

1. What are the teaching/learning goals of the initiative? How will those goals be measured?
2. What specific training is in place for the teaching staff and what are its goals?
3. Is there a digital citizenship curriculum in place?
4. How will these devices be managed and maintained - and do you have tech staff to do this?
5. What e-resources will accompany the hardware - e-books, course management system, software?
6. Why was the particular brand and model of hardware chosen?
7. Is there the network infrastructure in place to support the use of these devices, both internally and to the cloud?
8. How will you get buy-in by all staff for the plan?
9. What will happen in 5 years when all these devices are obsolete? (Any mechanism for continued funding?)
10. Will there be budget cuts to find the full $20 million?

For the sake of my grandsons and 27,416 other children of Shawnee Mission Schools, I hope this goes well.

_______________________________________

Message from Superintendent Hinson Regarding Technology 

January 28, 2014

Dear Parents of Students in the Shawnee Mission School District,

 As many of you know, I am committed to working with the board of education, staff, parents, students, and the community to create an intentional plan to ensure the Shawnee Mission School District is great by design – a place families choose for education in the Kansas City metro area.  At last night’s meeting, the board of education approved recommendations related to technology that will have an exciting impact on our students and classrooms districtwide.  During my initial months in the district, I heard from many about the need to step up the district’s technology and embed technology in instruction in a way that will transform teaching and learning in the classroom.

Last night’s decision by the board takes a major leap forward to meet this goal.  The board has approved a recommendation that will place a device in the hand of each child in Shawnee Mission over the course of the next two years.  This exciting plan will put more resources in the classroom and open up far more options for students to learn.  Teachers will continue to lead instruction, however, we are updating and changing the tools available.  Students and teachers will be actively learning together.  This technology offers tremendous opportunities to personalize learning for students and encourage collaboration with a project-based focus.  It is clear that today’s students need to know how to access information and also understand and apply the information.

An exciting first step begins in March when all administrators and teachers will receive a Macbook Air and an iPad Air to prepare them for the process of integrating technology within their instructional plans.  Board members approved a plan to provide professional development to assist in the transition and transformation of instruction using these technology tools.  We know that providing intentional professional development is essential to the success of this project, so we have engaged our partners at Apple in creating a plan to support the initiative.  As part of the technology integration, Apple TVs will be installed during the summer to enable mirroring of the display on these new devices for instructional purposes in classrooms beginning next school year.

In August, when students return to school, each high school student will receive a Macbook Air laptop computer, which he/she will be able to take home with them to support their learning both in and out of the classroom.  Each middle school student will receive an iPad Air that he/she will be able to take home as well.  The implementation of fully integrated technology will be phased in at the elementary schools, with 10 schools identified to implement in the first phase in 2014-2015.  At these 10 schools, each student in grades three through six will receive an iPad Air that he/she will be able to take home, and each student in kindergarten through second grade will have access to an iPad for daily classroom use, but will not be taken home.  The 10 phase one elementary schools, which have not been identified, will be announced in the coming weeks.  The remaining 23 elementary schools will receive iPad carts for the 2014-2015 school year to ensure students will have access to this technology on a more limited basis until the full implementation of those schools scheduled for the 2015-2016 school year.  

The Shawnee Mission School District is built on a strong tradition of excellence.  This important investment in technology that the board has approved will ensure our classrooms remain at the forefront of educational excellence and our students will be able to excel and compete globally.  This $20 million investment in technology will be funded through capital outlay funds.  The capital outlay budget is distinctly separate from the general operating budget and cannot be used to fund operating expenses.

We are excited at the possibilities this project has for transforming our practice and our classrooms to offer greater opportunities for exploration and learning for the students of Shawnee Mission.  I look forward to sharing additional information with you as we progress with this exciting initiative.

Sincerely,

Jim Hinson

Superintendent

From the Prairie Village Post "Every Shawnee Mission high school student to get MacBook; iPads for middle school and elementary starting in fall" January 28, 2014.

Article from Kansas City Star

Comments

[Jennie]

I would also ask about privacy controls. Remember that school that "accidentally" had the cameras on all the time and were filming everything their students did at home? http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20013976-83.html

[Russ Goerens]

Buy-in from *all* staff for the plan? In a district of 24,000 students? I'm curious about that one, Doug. Can you say more about waiting until every last person is on-board before moving forward?

[Russ Goerend]

Doug,

I re-read the post and I think I added the before part of my comment to your post. I want to correct that.

I am still interested in what you would say getting all staff to buy-in on a project like this looks like in a district this size.

[Kathi Knop]

I am one of 5 high school librarians in the Shawnee Mission School District. I am also very interested in your point #3 about the digital citizenship curriculum. I feel this is something that will be important to the success of this initiative. (Well, all of your points, actually!) I was surprised to see this post and excited too. Thanks.

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Jennie,

Very good question and I will add it. Thanks for the suggestion!

Doug

Hi Russ,

Yeah, maybe buy in is not the best term. Should I rephrase the question as "How will you assure all teacher use the devices in to improve teaching and learning?" I do have to say, we work hard on buy-in our district by having had teachers help design our 1:1 initiative.

Oh, and I agree that we may NEVER get to 100% buy-in or use!

Thanks for comments,

Doug

Hi Kathi,

Thanks for the note. My sense is that Shawnee Mission does things right. Both my grandsons enjoy school (my number one criteria for any district) and I've appreciate the G&T program and music programs they've been involved in. I've never made a big deal out of the tech stuff since grandpa helps with that at home ;-) and their dad has a tech management background.

Keep me posted on your initiative and create a role for libraries in it!

Doug

[Russ Goerend]

Hey Doug,

I do think that's a better -- more practical -- question to ask. Thanks for the reply.

Russ

[Jason Brand]

Hi Doug-

I am the author of "1 to 1 at Home: A Parents Guide to School Issued Laptops and Tablets" and I like the list the you have put together for parents to be asking the district and school administration. I also think that it is important that parents be asking a number of questions about the home side of the program. After all, at the end of each school day the laptops in Shawnee Mission will go home and it is ultimately the parents responsibility to manage these boundary blurring devices.

Questions such as these need be asked:
- Who Takes Responsibility for the 1-to-1 Device?
- What Do Families Need to Understand about the 1-to-1 Environment?
- How Do Families Set Limits on a Boundary-Blurring Device?
- What’s the Right Amount of Privacy?
- How Much Screen Time Is the Right Amount?

If 1-to-1 programs are going to live up to their promise of revolutionizing education, parents need to be involved. I believe that once this happens, parents will have increasing opportunities to become supportive, informative resources as schools educate their children.

Take care,
Jason Brand, LCSW

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Jason,

Great points! Good to see your guide got a positive review from Anne Collier!

http://www.connectedstar.com/#!books/c1w1

Thanks,

Doug

[malcolm cook]

Hi - I submitted your questions about curriculum (1,3,5) to the SMSD request for FAQ

http://www.smsd.org/digitallearning/Pages/faq.aspx

(along with attribution to this blog)

Thanks for questioning.....

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Malcolm,

Glad the list was useful. From the correspondence that my daughter forwards me from SMSD, it looks like a lot of planning and thought has gone into their initiative.

All the best,

Doug