District talks tech as new Chromebook laptops roll out

Staff show board new uses for technology

LANSDALE » North Penn School Board members received an in-depth look this week at the new forms of technology being rolled out across the district this school year.

Kristen Landis, the district’s Director of Technology, led a presentation showing how new Google-based software and Chromebook laptops are combining to transform the learning environment in every classroom across the district.

“Instead of having every student just look at one screen, the interactive piece and the data collection behind these tools can be really powerful for teachers, when they’re doing assessment in the classroom,” said Landis.

Landis and district eLearning coaches Brett Baker and Mike Botti described the goals accomplished so far in the second year of a threeyear “Digital Age Learning” technology plan adopted last year, and showed the school board demonstrations of Google programs available

“Instead of having every student just look at one screen, the interactive piece and the data collection behind these tools can be really powerful for teachers, when they’re doing assessment in the classroom.” — Kristen Landis, the district’s Director of Technology

to each student. Last year, Landis said, the district’s focus was on implementing one-to-one technology in grades six through nine, and so far this year that effort has been expanded to include all students in second through ninth grade. Heading into the current school year, North Penn’s school board approved the purchase of roughly 3,600 Chromebook laptop computers for students in sixth, 11th and 12th grades, using a one-time windfall from increased property assessment settlements during the 2016-17 budget year.

“This year, we have just about completed distribution of all of our Chromebooks in grades six, 11 and 12, which completes our initiatives, now in year two, to be fully one-to-one in grades two through 12,”

Landis said.

“That’s a big undertaking. The rollout went really well, our high school team did a great job of getting all of those Chromebooks in the hands of students, and we are at only 15 percent of our parents who are still working on getting their fees paid, for over 7,000 devices,” she said.

Nearly 9,400 students are now enrolled in the Google Classroom technology suite, which lets teachers deliver interactive presentations to students, and the district has roughly 1,200 wireless access points for student and staff use throughout every district school. Each student laptop has filtered internet access to let them work from home on school projects but not access unapproved sites, and planning is underway to determine how best to expand technology use into kindergarten and first and second grades.

“Second grade currently

has iPads, but a lot of teachers want Chromebooks, because they’re using Google Classroom and Google tools, so we are going to be doing some pilots in second grade to look at that technology, and see if it fits in second grade,” Landis said.

For kindergarten and first grade, “we know that literacy is such a critical component for those years, so we want to make sure we select a tool that supports what they are doing in those grade levels as well,” she said.

North Penn has been named a Google for Education Reference District, one of only seven in Pennsylvania and roughly 160 worldwide, which Landis said gives the district opportunities to pilot different technologies and programs. At least two teachers at every district school have been trained as technology ambassadors to help other staff learn new tactics and techniques, and Landis showed

how each teacher can now create interactive lessons that students can view individually, answer poll questions, modify group documents — and be monitored as they do so.

“Every single day I get an email, when my session has ended, and it will tell me a couple of things about what was going on in my classroom,” Landis said.

Networked software allows a teacher to see which sites students visited during their lessons, and for how long, and teachers can close out or redirect students who are doing their own browsing during a lesson, while interactive surveys and spreadsheets let students interact with each other, and with teachers, in real time.

“We’re moving from using smart boards for direct teaching in front of a classroom, to making a more personalized learning environment. We’re taking the screen up front and really moving it in front of the students, and that’s a huge paradigm shift for our teachers,” Baker said.

“For years, we said ‘Hey, bring the students up and they can participate in that lesson.’ Now we’re saying that’s not the best practice, because you could have every one of those students involved in your lesson, and not just the one coming to the board,” he said.

Parents can also get reports

on students’ online activity using the district Chromebooks, a feature Landis said “parents were really excited about...kids, not so much.”

During the presentation, each board member followed along on a Chromebook, and answered surveys prompted by Landis:

about half the board members guessed correctly that roughly 858,000 Google documents were created within the district last year, and that 66 percent of staff reported that they’ve gotten individual technology planning assistance within a week of requesting it.

Another survey prompt asked the board members to each add a word to a shared document describing, in Landis’s words, “one word that comes to mind” to describe the technology model; responses were kept anonymous but included “collaborative,” “transformational,”

“exciting,” “interactive,” “amazing” and “innovative.”

Board member Suzan Leonard asked how long, and how often, the new technology programs and the Chromebooks are used on a typical day. Baker said that answer varies depending on how comfortable the teacher is with using the technology. Landis said district surveys have shown an increase over the past year from 25 percent to 75 percent

of district teachers who understand and are proficient with the tools.

“They’re definitely not being used from sunup to sundown. Right now there’s a good mix: there’s teachers that are proficient, teachers that are advanced, and certainly teachers that are basic,” Baker said.

Assistant Superintendent Diane Holben agreed, saying the use of new technology is meant to supplement,

not replace, teaching that already occurs.

“The goal is not to have kids on computers all day, every day. Its use has to make sense in the classroom,” Holben said.

Resident Bill Patchell said he was wary of the expanding uses of technology, and said he thought students would become overly reliant on their devices without learning critical thinking or getting individual

attention.

“I don’t like Google, I don’t like Facebook, I don’t like any of these things, because it’s creating the homogenization of our society,” he said.

“I don’t like where you’re going, and I certainly don’t want to pay for it.”

Board president Vince Sherpinsky said he has used similar tools as a teacher, and now a technology specialist, in another district, and has

seen the benefits firsthand.

“I can monitor every kid in my classroom, at all times, with this kind of software and this kind of power. It’s a great tool. It is not a mistake,” he said.

North Penn School Board next meets at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 14 at the district Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock St. For more information or meeting agendas and materials visit www.NPenn.org.