The What, How and Why of the Bolton Digital High School Project.

Rapides Parish School Board

Today’s Session

Ideas to communicate Process Technical infrastructure and instructional

resources Why digital curricula Must-haves and challenges

is not a technology program. is the establishment of a 21st century learning environment

where students: learn to access, evaluate, communicate and make decisions with

information using 21st century skills and tools. learn to think and problem solve

provides most curriculum content via digital resources. is not necessarily designed to improve test scores, but rather to

develop a deeper understanding of content. This is a critical idea to communicate!

provides faculty, staff, and students with 1-1, 24x7 access to technology tools and curriculum resources.

is a focused effort to create a world-class educational environment.

Communication Connect school to students, staff, community, and the

world Collaboration

Students work with each other, their teachers, their community and their world

Content Provide information, resources, and experiences students

need to be successful Creativity

The school as a center for critical thinking, exploration, and innovation

Assessment Authentic 21st century that measures how well students

think

Students are working individually or in small teams to solve engaging problems or answer compelling questions. They are synthesizing their own experience, ideas from the [teacher], and sources that they can find on the Web.

  The teacher has come down from the lectern and is moving

throughout the room, watching what students are doing, asking questions, posing challenges …       

Periodically the action is stopped. The teacher instructs the class to close their laptops,… They talk. They share their insights, their solutions, and their obstacles. The Socratic exchange is fueled by the insights developed through electronic inquiry. The powerful face-to-face questioning isn't competing with the laptops; instead, it depends on it.

(John Overmyer, “Laptops in the classroom: Mend it, don’t end it., www.csmonitor.com/2007/0515/p09s01-coop.html)

Juniors, seniors, and GT classes in fall 9th and 10th grades in January

Core courses are all digital New teaching strategies All-digital content Community hotspots Internet cafe Campus-wide wireless On-site repair center 600+ laptops

Asset recovery device Assignments posted and graded in digital environment Full parental involvement with content and

assignments

Meeting in New Orleans - Summer 2006 Bolton uniquely qualified for two grants -

Virtue Foundation grant of 160 Mac iBook notebook computers

Award of a $ 220,000 LADOE HiTech grant Meeting with staff and faculty Visit to Empire High School, Az

Visited with superintendent, faculty, and students

Observed classes

Beginnings

Process

Faculty meetings to share vision, process, and timeline

Teachers received laptops Early spring - placed wireless carts at school

with two instructional technology facilitators Teachers taught with labs Staff development

Met with parents Spring/summer curriculum development

Process - continued

Wireless/server infrastructure Built on-site repair center Ordered all materials/equipment Developed Board-approved laptop agreement Met with community representatives regarding

community hotspots Purchased Lojack Imaged 300 comp uters the week before school

started Distributed laptops with student/parent training Continuing teacher PD with on-site instructional

facilitator to support instruction

Planning for 9th and 10th Grades

All remaining teachers receive notebooks and basic Mac PD

Facilitators work with 9th and 10th grade teachers with two new wireless carts during fall semester

9th and 10th grade students receive laptops and training

Facilitators continue to work with all teachers and students through the spring semester

Technical Infrastructure

Managed 3Com wireless network 55 access points - campus -wide Redundant management switches

Intel-based MacBook computers Apple xServe with Remote Desktop

RAID 1 Students’ computers locked down except for

document and desktop space Student data is backed up to server on login and

logout Mobile content filter Full-time on-site repair center with spares

Not simply textbooks on disk Subscription-based curriculum content

ABC-CLIO for social studies Gizmos for science

Non-subscription Internet resources Content software

Geometer’s Sketchpad and Fathom for math and statistics Debate master Office, Inspiration

Management Blackboard TurnItIn.com Gaggle filtered student email Mobile content filtering

Projectors in all rooms Whiteboards growing in number

Bolton Portal

Relevant 21st century content and environment Textbooks and technology support only incremental change - things may improve, but stay basically the

same (recent articles on pulling the plug on laptop programs) Technology and a total digital environment facilitate a transformation of the teaching process and

students’ thinking processes. Efficient and effective

Students have access to totally up-to-date and relevant content Teachers can choose the best resources available for a given topic

• Today, State Standards are the curriculum.

• High stakes tests demand the standards be taught.

• Traditional resources have a hard time keeping up with the information explosion.

• Digital resources are much more responsive to change.

Must-Haves Superintendent support Board support (critical to financing project) School support - particularly administrative Committed teachers Community support Clear vision that gets communicated Superintendent support Instructional technology support Technical support (on-site a must) Vendor support - particularly hardware/wireless Solid technical infrastructure Clear expectations and consequences for misuse Safeguards and monitoring against misuse Superintendent support

Challenges

Tuning wireless and other technical challenges

Challenges

The prevalent initial concern of loss, theft, or damage probably won’t happen

Time Funds for sustainability Laptop safety, repair, damage responsibility New discipline challenges Teacher change Curriculum development A new paradigm for everyone

Items Purchased

Laptops Apple xServ Wireless networking 512 usb sticks Computrace 8e6 mobile filter Projectors Printers Miscellaneous power strips,

screens, etc Avermedia document

cameras Whiteboards (3 and

growing)

ABC-CLIO subscription Geometer’s Sketchpad Gaggle email Gizmos Debate Master Algebra and Calculus in

Motion Fathom TurnIt In Office Inspiration Printers

What would we do differently?

???

Portions of this PowerPoint courtesy of Calvin Baker, Superintendent of Vail School District, AZ.