District Administration - July/August 2012 - (Page 35)

SponSored caSe Study Large S.C. district rolls out 1:1 computing initiative Richland School District Two administrators choose Google Chromebooks for thousands of students books, upload them to Google dministrators in the Drive, and then use collaborative Richland School District tools such as Google Chat to disTwo in Columbia, S.C., cuss projects in real time, for exmade the decision to pursue ample. “We find students thrive a 1:1 computing environment on this sort of collaboration, and in 2011. But with a target of become more engaged,” says Teuover 19,000 district students ber. “We want our learning to be in grades 3-12, and a wide vapersonalized, authentic and colriety of devices on the market laborative, and Chromebooks ento choose from, putting a comable this type of learning.” puting device in the hands of It isn’t only students who are every student was no easy task. “Chromebooks made a lot of sense benefiting, however; technol“We created a 1:1 planning committee,” says Donna Teuber, because they work so well with all of ogy administrators have found technology integration coordithe other tools that we already use.” Chromebooks easy to maintain, a crucial feature for such a large nator for the district. “The com1:1 implementation. “Right out mittee created a three-phase timeline for 1:1 implementation, gradually adding grades of the box, the Chromebooks are ready to go; they don’t until all students in third grade through high school have a need imaging or additional antivirus software, users simply open it and log in with their Google account,” Teuber says. device by August 2013.” Selecting the right technology was a crucial early step. “Software updates are automatic, and through the manage“As part of the process, we asked our teachers, principals ment console, administrators can deliver applications or filand technology specialists what was most important to ter Internet content, even when students take their devices them instructionally in a device, and demonstrated a num- home.” Teuber has learned a lot already from the beginning of ber of options,” says Teuber. “We came out of that process the initiative, and is quick to share advice for other districts. deciding on the Google Chromebook.” A new type of laptop computer from Google, Chrome- “Ask yourself what you want students to do, and what you books offer thousands of apps, integrate seamlessly with want to see in the classroom. Ultimately, it’s not about the Google Apps, include built-in virus protection, automati- device, it’s about teaching and learning. For us, the secucally update and back up data in the cloud, and boot up in rity, speed and ease of use of Chromebooks meant we did not have to focus on the device. When you walk into our just eight seconds. “We use Google Apps for Education in our district; all of classrooms, no one is struggling with a device, trying to fix our students and staff have Gmail accounts, and we use something or troubleshoot, or waiting for a laptop to boot applications like Google Drive for document sharing and up or update. Instead, students are working and learning, storage and Google Sites for website hosting,” says Teuber. using their Chromebooks. And that’s what you want to see.” “Chromebooks made a lot of sense because they work so well with all of the other tools from Google that we already For more information, visit http://goo.gl/AVq74 use. Other devices we looked at, such as tablets, didn’t lend themselves to the full features of these tools.” Richland’s students can write papers on their Chrome- A http://www.goo.gl/AVq74 http://www.goo.gl/AVq74

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July/August 2012

District Administration - July/August 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Research Center
Professional Opinion
Supervisor's Opinion
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Gaming Gains Respect
A Running Start for ELLs
Paul Vallas for Sale
Unsung Heroes
CIO News
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Virtual Schooling
Noteworthy Books
New Products
Product Focus
Problem Solution

District Administration - July/August 2012