Embedding a 1:1 programme

The school year is well underway and all our Year 5 to 13 classes in the seven Manaiakalani schools are now using netbooks as the basic learning tool for every child.  It has been useful to stop and reflect on our progress in the last week. To those in the know, that means we have just completed our mid year milestone document for the Ministry of Education!

We are only in our second year of going 1:1, but it is already becoming increasingly difficult to write a blanket report about our progress.  We need to differentiate in our reporting, and this graphic below is our attempt to show the complexities developing within our schools.

Each X represents a teacher in one of our Manaiakalani schools

We have some students who are in their first year of net booking (1:1) and some who are in their second year. Then we have teachers who are in first year of 1:1 and teachers who are in their second year.

And just to make it a little more interesting we have about 60 kids in Year 9 this year who are in their third year as they were in the two pilot classes back in Year 7.

It probably is no surprise to you that the teachers reporting the easiest start to the year are those who are in their second year of 1:1 teaching with second year kids.

The most challenging?  Teachers in their first year with second year kids.

This is going to get increasingly challenging in 2013 when our schools hire in new teachers for students in their third year of 1:1 learning! 

Student Reflections

Student Netbook Reflections: December 2011
After one year of owning Netbooks the Manaiakalani students were invited to publish a reflection on their personal blogs about their first year of having their own digital device.
90 children from Years 5-8 chose to respond publicly.

Kingston's reflection began:

Without A Netbook I Am Nothing!Do you know how much my Netbook has changed my learning?
Well last year (2010) I had to write in a book with a pencil and there was no point, because nobody could see it. Now that I have a Netbook I am able to write faster and my writing is much neater, but most importantly, I have an audience that can see my writing on my blog....

There were some repetitive themes coming through these reflections:
Positives

1. A huge positive was around the mechanics of writing.  They seem to dislike the physical act of writing and most comment on how much easier it is to type - even when they are poor typists.  They also mention frequently how much they appreciate the ability to edit errors (back space, delete etc) without their work looking messy.
2. Concepts around self-directed learning.  Consistent examples were; looking things up on the internet, finding out on YouTube, using the class Google Site or using specific sites like Maths Whizz.
3. How having their own netbook enabled them to post on their blog more frequently.  This was often expressed in sentences like, “Now it is worth writing because people read my work.  When I wrote in a book, no-one read it”.
4. Games were mentioned quite a bit, but definitely fourth on the list

Negatives

1. Issues with the speed of the internet frustrated almost every child who wrote a reflection.
2. Quite a number mentioned their dissatisfaction with the paint app on the Netbook.  This was a cohort used to using Kid Pix, Hyperstudio and Photoshop on iMacs, so Tux Paint did not rate at all well!
3. A few children mentioned issues around repairs, breakages and battery life.

These reflections were all posted publicly, so I have collated the ones I could locate on this Google Doc.  At the bottom of this document is a list of links to each individual student's post about this.

The unanimous consensus was that they would not like to go back to a life of pencil and paper!

1:1 Programmes: Here, There and Beyond

The panel presentation I was part of at ISTE was pulled together entirely online, with all the participants living Here (Pennsylvania), There (California), and Beyond (New Zealand).  the differences in the schools represented went far beyond geography; there was huge variation in the approaches to setting up 1:1, school expectations, pedagogy, student socio-economic levels, teacher expectations, preparedness for 1:1 etc.


Bonnie Marks chaired the panel and we each presented an overview of how our schools were implementing 1:1 and the impact it has made on learning and teaching so far.


This Google presentation (below) was worked on in our own time zones and is what we each spoke to when it was our turn to present.

The panel responses to a question about some of best things that've come out of moving to 1:1...

• Stakeholder involvement, in particular parents
• Huge kid engagement across the board. Working at more times of day.
• Where teachers used it well there was significant lift in outcomes (but not all used it well).
• Secondary kids are feeling much more self directed. Completing course work more quickly.
• Need buy in from students. In some schools students only wanted laptops if everyone was doing it (didn't want to be a 'geek' group!)

1:1 Reflections from the Chalkface

A lot has been written on this blog from a facilitator's perspective about moving into a 1:1 environment, but I expect there are a few of you wanting to know what it is really like if you are a teacher, thrown in at the deep end. 30+ eager kids looking to you to make the dream work....

This week we had our first after school meet up of the teachers from the 17 pilot classes in our cluster of schools. They teach kids ranging from 8 - 15 years of age and all have one thing in common; this is the first year their students have ever owned a netbook to use at school. I wasn't sure who would even turn up because I have been in and out of their classes and seen how hard they are working for it - and another after school meeting could be a bridge too far. They have been using the netbooks for 3 weeks at the most. So I was quite blown away when 24 turned up; including extra teachers who don't want to be left behind and came to learn from the pioneers.

Once we got the most important item, food, out of the way, we followed the agenda we copied from the Maine schools;

• What is working?
• What is not working?
• How have we problem solved?

I created a Google form for people to fill in online and we had some lively and honest conversation for about an hour and a half.

What I am going to do is this; give you a link to all the feedback we collated, paste the positive stuff below and embed a movie from the youngest class in the cluster as we filmed their "Go Live" moment.

Hope something in this is useful to you.

What is working in my netbook class? (submitted through online form)

Year 5/6

• Children's engagement with learning. All they want to do is go on the netbooks. They love to do anything and everything.
• Commitment to writing. The kids are getting a buzz out of seeing their writing on their blog. They no longer have to wait for the multimedia machines to post, so I think their commitment to writing will continuously grow.
• Kids helping each other out with problem solving and trouble shooting. Nice to hear great convos about what to do or how to possibly tackle issues.
• Certain kids are becoming experts with the netbooks and Google, and are really showing their abilities to help others and become leaders.
• FINALLY I have enough machines so that kids have unrestricted access to blogging, docs, research - whatever! Has been everything I hoped for in this regard.
• I am so happy with the netbooks. I use the LEARNZ virtual field trips a lot with my class and it is just so much easier now each student has individual access to the on-line information and can listen to the audio conferences and watch the videos as often as they need to.
• Use G-edit as default to go on to when docs or internet down. Means time not wasted and students' work can go on
• Enthusiasm for writing etc from kids
• Finally after 4 weeks of repetition most kids are becoming competent logging on and off Google Doc/ blog/ mail etc
• Have now got set time for typing practice which I have made structured and monitored so children are actually practising correctly and working through the levels of the Tux typing programme on their netbooks rather than playing the typing games. Working much better.
• This week I've have started to introduce some online reading activities -Google forms related to journal activities and the kids are enjoying using those.
• "Key Things to focus on"
  
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Logging on and off Google Docs/Blogger till confident
  • Copying and pasting from Google docs to blogger
  • Uploading photo to blogger
  • Command T to open new tab so have docs/blogger/mail open
  • Commenting on others blogs and leaving footprint.
  These are pretty much the main things we have worked on in 4 weeks and some are still just getting their heads around it.

Year 7/8

• Having child experts/technicians to help trouble shoot

What is working? (Notes from discussion)

• The kids want to work.
• 4 weeks in, everyone can now log on and get working.
• Head down, tail up. Group work is working well.
• Finding new things to share. Getting the students to create forms themselves rather than just fill them out.
• Getting over the log on practice has taken time, so tasks have been minimal in first 4 weeks. Reading activities, using Google forms.
• Having visual keys to help through problem solving.
• Troubleshooting - the students do a lot of figuring it out themselves.
• Netbooks mean there is always something to do for early finishers.
• Having a virtual teacher online was a new thing (using a maths video from Khan Academy) , and released the class teacher for support.
• Willingness of students to help each other. Commitment to improving their keyboarding skills.
• Communications from students who would not normally do things like that. ie student emailing teachers who would not normally speak up
• Typing practice. Lots of teachers trying to enforce faster typing habits
• Personal challenges for each student as they are no longer sharing machines.
• Take screenshots of work as they go to give a record of what they have achieved in a lesson. eg in a Maths challenge

Go Live in Room 13 from KPE TV on Vimeo.

Netbooks - The pencil NOT the book

As we prepare for the unprecedented (in New Zealand) rollout of 1:1 computing for a community of Decile 1 students, one of our recurring discussions has been about the misunderstandings the terms 'notebook' or 'netbook' lead to.

In our planning and preparations we see the device the students use as the pencil or pen. This provides lots of flexibility in terms of what we choose or even what the students bring from home.

The "book" for the Manaiakalani schools is definitely the Cloud solution we have set up. In our case this is Google Apps for Education.

We expect our students to be writing on documents in the cloud, using spreadsheets, creating presentations and even drawing and recording sound via their "books" in the cloud. The Google Apps are supplemented by a wide variety of Web 2 tools teachers and students can select from.

When our educators get their heads around this concept, it answers the questions which arise time and again; what software will be on their devices? what happens when they break or leave them at home? how much storage space will be on their hard drives? etc?

The device is simply the pencil - if it breaks, just like a pencil, get another one (or sharpen it!) and carry on working because your "book" is in the cloud.

This simplicity in thinking and working depends of course on a very reliable supply of fast internet to every school and home. And we are working on that too.

Thanks very much Lepa from Room 18 for drawing the graphics I wanted :)

Preparing for a Netbook Rollout

As we make plans for the Manaiakalani netbook rollout to the Year 5-13 students in our cluster, one of the priorities for learning at the ISTE conference was what schools, districts and states in the USA who began similar projects several years ago have learned from the experience. We were particularly interested in state schools and anyone who had implemented a project like this with lower decile students. If you don't think this distinction is important, let me tell you that whenever we talk to people outside our cluster about the Manaiakalani Project vision, the first thing more than 50% say back is, "But what about theft and damage?" A response to that question is a post on its own!

We attended a presentation titled "How to Design a Successful 1-to-1 Program".

The brief included:

"The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) is the largest and only statewide 1:1 initiative in the USA. Encompassing every public school 7th and 8th grade student and every educator teaching grades 7 through 12, MLTI has 70,000 laptop computers deployed across the State.... Maine has deployed over 155,000 laptops and 800 wireless networks in the last 8 years. If there are mistakes to be made, we've made them. Learn from Maine's successes and failures to help ensure a successful 1:1 program in your school."

This session provided a wealth of information and I have noted down practical ideas here which we think will be very useful to the Manaiakalani Project netbook roll out. So, in no particular order, here goes.....

Teaching and Learning thoughts:

• Teacher Preparation is essential
• One year before students have the devices the teachers need a laptop and a data projector of their own
• BUT don't wait until staff are fully trained to give the kids their netbook - they will never be fully trained for what is around the corner!
• Use online communication tools with teachers to support their learning, to collaborate and co-ordinate eg Google Apps
• Hold regular teacher meetings where these questions are asked; "What are you doing that's working?" and "What are you doing that you are having challenges with". And record the answers in an online space.
• Get teachers out of school to state and district (cluster) meetings to share their learning and needs
• Every staff meeting book 10 minutes to have a teacher show something that is working
• Don’t teach software - teaching learning, using the software
  Principals need to be attending the professional development alongside the teachers
• It won’t make a bad teacher better, but once you have taught a 1:1 class you will never want to teach in another way again
• The pedagogy must be different. Putting a device in the hands of every student and continuing to teach in the same way we were taught is not going to work.
• In the US they found that 60-70% of the text books they used were available online or as pdfs or podcasts

Parent and Community (Whanau) thoughts:

• Insist that parents come in to school for training before the individual student is allowed to take a netbook home
• Newsletters in a variety of forms are essential for communication
• Ongoing training of parents (at school) should be done by children - but always mix it up. Don't have kids train their own parent!
• By product of this is that PARENTS use technology more at home
• Send the netbooks home. Research shows that sending the netbooks home results in improved test scores.

Technical Support issues:

• Less breakage occurs in netbooks that are being used all the time than those that are stored a lot!
• Breakage is inversely related to HOW the technology is being used
  What they are being used for makes a huge difference. If the kids see classes/learning as boring.... breakage and theft goes up
• More breakage occurs with laptops than netbooks
• Need a regular weekly meeting to review challenges and highlight those that need to be urgently fixed
• Infrastructure - always double the bandwidth you think is necessary.... and double it every year. You will never have too much
• Every classroom needs its own managed access point for wireless
• Students MUST be used as technicians. You will never be able to employ enough adults.
• After trial and error, student technicians fell into two layers; kids who enjoy 'fixing' and problem solving, and kids who organise and administer the requests for repairs
• All netbook issues are logged with the kids who organise the repair scheduling - they cope with the stress being generated by kids with dysfunctional netbooks
• The hands-on techie kids liaise with the adult technicians and work through the job schedules. This way they are not having to interface with aggrieved peers
• Have two old desktop computers in the back of the room as fall backs for kids who left netbook at home or have it in for repairs. Don't replace with another netbook!
• It is not worth insuring netbooks. Cheaper to replace them.
• Use old laptops (especially those with dead batteries) as desktops in back of classroom - for when a kid has one out for repairs OR when kid has been inappropriate - give them one of those :)
• Filtering/Firewalls solution: The best solution they have found is the one they call the GOYA solution (Get Off Your A***) “Teach your teachers to get up and walk around the room” to actively monitor what students are looking at on their screens!

We would appreciate any other useful and practical tips from folk who are further down the track than us.

NB: This post clearly does not address the huge pedagogical shifts we are having to make to prepare for a netbook roll out. There are many other posts in this blog which reflect our thinking in that area.

***Update: Russell Burt has shared his notes after attending several 1:1 sessions at ISTE on a .pdf which can be downloaded from this link