Features
The Infrastructure
11/4/2011 By:
Forget about the acronyms (BYOT) and the catchphrases (oneto-
one). Today’s school CIO has to manage every device and
platform, whether student or school owned, while ensuring
online access both on campus and off.
[The scenario]
Mr. Smith’s seventh-grade classroom is abuzz with activity. He stands hunched
over one group that is huddled with their district-provided Linux-based netbooks,
researching the Library of Congress online archives. Several students fire off backchannel
texts with their personal iPhones and Droids to friends from another
district whose work they found while surfing the Web. Their research is then
posted to the class Facebook page (with full attribution, of course!). Later that day
the group is at the local coffee shop with iPad 2s, recording podcasts that will be
uploaded wirelessly via the school network to YouTube. All this occurs under the
purview and discretion of district bandwidth and acceptable-use policies.
[Executive Summary]
 |
| Kyle Berger, Executive Director of Technology, Alvarado ISD, Texas |
One of the most essential things any
school CIO must do is ensure that students
have the tools to improve their digital
literacy and control their digital lives.
This is easier said than done. Besides the
technical complexities, district executives
have to manage students’ behavior
and the greater school community’s
acceptance of these new realities, which
include providing access throughout the
entire district’s geography.
How to do that? Participants in the
summit’s one-to-one working group
shared strategies they are already
employing in their districts. These
included making sure the adoption of new
technologies is gradual and ubiquitous;
engaging the public—this includes
parents, board, faculty, and students—in
the process; and providing continuous professional learning along the
way. Jim Klein at Saugus Union Schools in California uses open-source
code to manage multiple platforms. Debbie Rice at Alabama’s Auburn
City Schools detailed how the district distributed laptops to teachers
and began professional development six to eight months before they
gave them to students. Six years later, teachers still meet regularly.
The Alvarado, Texas, school district began its device program with
intermediate grades. Executive Director of Technology Kyle Berger
explained that it improved administrators’ ability to track results, which
can affect future testing and learning. Even more radical: Alvarado hosts
a wide-area network using Wi-Fi kiosks that are spread throughout the
district. However a district approaches the issue, all agreed that it is no
longer a question of if but a question of when. And the answer? Now.
What
They
Said
“We let them bring the technology they
are comfortable with. Let them have a
sense of ownership. They have them in
their pockets anyway.”
—Kyle Berger, executive director of
technology, Alvarado (Texas) ISD
“We use the 80–20 rule: We spend
80 percent of the time planning
the implementation, 20 percent
actually doing it.”
—Debbie Rice, director of technology,
Auburn City Schools, AL
“We’ve been asking the wrong
questions. I think we should be
asking questions such as ‘What does
it mean to be well educated in the
21st century?’ How many people
have sat down and actually had that
conversation in their district?”
—Jim Klein, director information
services and technology, Saugus Union
Schools, CA
 |
Jim Klein Director IS & IT,
Saugus Union School District, CA
Carl Hooker, Director of Instructional Technology, Eanes Independent School District, Texas
|
“We focused on four questions: What is
our pedagogy? What is our expectation
of students? What are the methods for
delivering resources? And finally, what
tool do we use to tie these all together?”
—Rick Cave, director of technology,
West Windsor–Plainsboro School
District, NJ
“How do we make ourselves more
relevant as a school district? Make sure
kids have a flexible learning style where
each has their own individual learning
path. Without technology, they wouldn’t
be able to do that.”
—Carl Hooker, director of instructional
technology,, Eanes ISD, Texas
Working
Group
Take-Aways
Realizing
the BYO
Vision
Key Concepts:
• The tech department no longer owns services for
consumer devices that come into the school.
• Students/teachers must take responsibility for the
role tech plays in their work.
Responsible/Acceptable Use
Procedure Changes for BYO
• Students are permitted to connect to the district
network via the secure wireless connection provided
by the school system, but all access must be in
accordance with this Acceptable Use Policy.
• Students are NOT permitted to use their own
computing devices to access the Internet via
personal Wi-Fi accounts or by any manner other than
connecting through the secure wireless connection
provided by the school system.
SOURCE: Bailey Mitchell, Forsyth County Schools
Find more take-aways from the School CIO
summit in the program vault under schoolcio.com
(click on “Events”).
[Participants]
Guy Ballard
CTO
Niles Township High School District 219, IL
Cristen Herring
Assistant Superintendent
Auburn City Schools, AL
Thuan Nguyen
CIO
Kent School District, WA
Jean Tower
Director of Technology
Northborough-Southborough, MA
Kyle Berger
Executive Director of Technology
Alvarado ISD, Texas
Rick Cave
Director of Technology
West Windsor-Plainsboro School District, NJ
Carl Hooker
Director of Instructional Technology
Eanes Independent School District, Texas
Jim Klein
Director IS & TS
Saugus Union School District, CA
Jeff Mao
Learning Technology Policy Director
State of Maine, Department of Education
Debbie Rice
Director of Technology
Auburn City Schools, AL