We’ve received the chromebooks and carts for the Middle and Intermediate schools now. There’s still quite a bit of work involved in unpacking, getting them into our systems, and wiring up the carts, but they’ll be ready to go for the end of Spring Break as promised.
The other half of this equation is our wireless network. We’ve worked on making sure it’s campus-wide, but now we need to increase it’s density or capacity. We’re moving towards situations where we can have 3 or more carts in adjacent rooms, all trying to connect to the same access point in the hallway, which is more clients than they are designed to support. To that end, we’re pursuing new cabling to put access points in classrooms, as well as more of the actual access points themselves. We’re fortunate that Federal Erate contributions will cover a substantial portion of the cost of this for us, at least for this next round. Contractors have been in for building walkthroughs and we should have bids in by the end of the month, the plan being to do the actual work done over the summer.
And with the ever-increasing use of technology in the buildings we’re also trying to support those teachers that help their colleagues. While we don’t have official technology coaches in the buildings, there are individuals that others often look to for help and advice. Three of these teachers are currently taking part in an online Digital Coaching course and meeting weekly to collaborate and discuss. Asha and I are also taking part as we continue to refine our own vision of technology use in the District, and how best to support and promote its alignment with our broader district goals. Still a work in progress, but some interesting conversations are taking place.