Digital School Districts Survey Identifies Innovative Uses of Technology

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The 2014 Digital School Districts Survey by the Center for Digital Education (CDE) and the National School Boards Association (NSBA) recognized school districts for their expanding use of innovative technologies district-wide as well as in the classroom. The survey showcases exemplary school boards’ and districts’ use of technology to govern the district, communicate with students, parents and the community, and improve district operations.

Common Sense Media E-rate Toolkit

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The toolkit provides free tools to help meet the educational requirements outlined in the Children’s internet Protection Act and contains a selection of engaging, practical, and effective lessons from their K-12 Digital Literacy and Citizenship curriculum.

Communication

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Communication

Rollout can significantly impact the success of a program. Critical to any rollout is clear communication to all stakeholders including administrators, teachers, parents, students, funders and community leaders. Communications should be tailored to each audience and provided in a variety of ways such as press releases, workshops, email campaigns, community bulletins and webinars. When possible, meetings should be recorded and archived. Communications should include details regarding:
  • Program rationale and goals
  • Policies
  • Schedule and phases of deployment
  • Support services
  • Measures of success

Focus on Teachers

Most programs that have made the successful move to the use of digital content have given their teachers a school year’s worth of preparation or a summer full of information and activities prior to transition to digital. That seems to be an optimal amount of time to get educators comfortable using the computing devices themselves, learn how to integrate digital content into their lessons, and work with cohorts to begin restructuring lesson plans and teaching materials. Within the individual classroom teachers need to feel comfortable and encouraged to try out even a single lesson using digital content rather than traditional printed curriculum and then to share the results with their colleagues. Sometimes these efforts will not have the outcomes expected; sometimes they will fail; other times they will spark additional experimentation and re-energized teachers. The newest generation of teachers can help drive the adoption of digital content in the classroom. Some colleges of education are putting much greater emphasis in their programs on helping preservice teachers understand how to integrate subject content and teaching practices with the use of technology. While these teachers who are in their first teaching jobs are gaining valuable insights from more experienced teachers on how to manage a classroom and interact with parents, for example, they can help invigorate learning with their experiences in using digital resources.
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From the Field

Indiana developed a Communications Launch Protocol that provides districts with communication tools so that they can broadcast information about a new initiative, upcoming PD opportunity, grant or resource. The protocol includes links to the state’s social media tools, websites, newsfeeds and education membership organizations.

Devices

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Choosing the correct device is critical to the success of a digital learning environment. As with any planning process, it is crucial to understand the baseline implementation to effectively prepare for the future, and this is especially true when planning for digital devices. During the planning process, districts typically look at the demographics, achievement and technology skills of the students and teachers, the teachers’ professional learning history and their general comfort with using technology to meet individual needs. Clearly defined district needs from the planning process can help to identify the best devices to access the content and applications required to meet program goals. A district may be focusing on a variety of needs ranging from increasing student achievement to decreasing discipline issues to shifting learning to a project-based approach and each of these areas may impact device-purchasing decisions.
Schools and districts vary in their approach to deployment of devices depending on budget considerations and needs assessments. Identifying the most appropriate new devices can be challenging, but it is a critical element of the planning process. There are multiple options available including tablets, laptops, cloud based devices, eReaders and smartphones. Because technology is continually evolving, it is important for leaders to keep abreast of the field. Key considerations leaders should consider include:
  • Assessing the professional learning needs for teachers and students for implementation of digital learning instruction.
  • Analyzing the impact of the various device options and the number of planned devices on the networks, broadband and Wi-Fi systems.
  • Comparing the direct device costs and costs for digital applications and resources, as well as the cost for tech support plan options.

BYOD Considerations

Some schools allow students to bring personal technology devices to school for educational purposes under the direction of teachers and administrators. These Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) or Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) programs provide district-owned devices to students who do not have access to a personal device. While BYOD can ease budget pressures by relying to some degree on not having to purchase devices for every student, each school will still need to plan to purchase devices for the students who cannot afford them. In addition, BYOD programs with various devices from home can raise concerns regarding network security and classroom management of a variety of devices with different operating systems. Tech support can also become more complicated. If a student-owned device has technical problems, the tech support staff may not have the necessary background knowledge of the device and operating system to easily solve the problem. Policies for tech support should clearly spell out whether or not the district will support student-owned devices. Some districts define what types of devices they will support, and parents rely on those policies to inform purchasing decisions for their children.
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From the Field

Macdonald_1201 “Decisions about student device selection should stem first from the academic learning goals and include considerations related to educator effectiveness, budget and technology support. It is not about the device, it is about how the device will support the learning.” – Alex Macdonald, Idaho Department of Education

About This Project

Written by Steve Elliott on . Posted in

Founded in 2001, the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) is the principal non-profit membership association representing U.S. state and territorial educational technology leaders. Our mission is to build and increase the capacity of state and national leaders to improve education through technology policy and practice. For more information, please visit: setda.org.

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