Technology Coordinator Meeting The Conference and Training Center at IU 13 November 15, :30 AM 11:00 AM MINUTES

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1 Technology Coordinator Meeting The Conference and Training Center at IU 13 November 15, :30 AM 11:00 AM MINUTES Districts in Attendance: Annville-Cleona, Berks County IU 14, Cocalico, Columbia Borough, Conestoga Christian, Conestoga Valley, Cornwall-Lebanon, Donegal, Eastern Lancaster County, Elizabethtown Area, Ephrata Area, The Janus School, Lampeter-Strasburg, Lancaster Catholic High, Lancaster County Christian, Lancaster Country Day, Lancaster-Lebanon IU 13, Lebanon, Lititz Christian, Manheim Central, Manheim Township, Northern Lebanon, Penn Manor, Pequea Valley, Solanco, Twin Valley, and Warwick. Attending virtually: Seneca Highlands IU 9, Lincoln IU 12, Capital IU 15, Luzerne IU 18, Northeastern Educational IU 19, Carbon-Lehigh IU 21, and Bucks County IU 22 Technology Updates (Local to IU 13) PA Statewide K-12 Lync User Group Update Paul Billy Last month we hosted the first PA Statewide K-12 Lync User Group. We had 26 attendees onsite and 29 attendees connected remotely. We sent out a survey and received feedback. This feedback is being used to make changes and enhance future user group meetings. The next meeting will be held March 21, 2013 at Montgomery County IU 23, 1605 W. Main Street, Norristown, PA It will also be available remotely. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Network Access Control (NAC) Solutions Presentations 12:30-4:00 PM Paul Billy We will have four vendors who will be presenting their NAC solutions this afternoon. Each presentation will be about 45 minutes. You may join us onsite or connect remotely for the live stream. Ruckus User Group Paul Billy We have been asked to host a Ruckus User Group. We have contacted Ruckus and will be planning a user group in the spring. More details will be coming soon. Tech Talk Live! May 6 & 7, 2013 Nancy Morris Our keynote for this year s conference is Tony Chapek. He is an engaging speaker. Our call for presenters is currently open. Please use this link, to submit your proposals. This year we will have an evening keynote after Monday s dinner at the Cork & Cap Restaurant. Open Enrollment Microsoft Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) Karen Oberly We are adding a February enrollment for the Microsoft EES. This will be a 3 ½ year enrollment. There is a webinar on Thursday, November 29, from 2:00-3:00 PM to explain the program. If you want to participate in the webinar, please send your address to Karen. For more information, please call Karen at or karen_oberly@iu13.org. In addition, we are in talks with Adobe regarding a Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Volume Licensing program for Adobe software. We will provide more information when it is available.

2 Computer Fair Update Lancaster-Lebanon IU 13 will be hosting the regional Computer Fair on April 19 at the Conference and Training Center at IU 13. Any middle school or high school student in Lancaster or Lebanon Counties may participate. An informational handout is posted on the Technology Coordinator SharePoint site. The information will also go out to Technology Integrators and should you wish it to go to someone else at your school, please contact Karen. Karen is available to answer any questions. You may call her at or her at Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Mini Presentations: Charlie Reisinger Penn Manor School District (Presenting from IU 13) Penn Manor School District is located in Lancaster, PA. The district hugs the Conestoga River. They have 10 buildings and 5,200 students. They use a total of 3,800 technology devices. Why even talk about BYOD? Penn Manor s BYOD policy is very intertwined with their guest user policy. They are about two years into their BYOD program. They wanted to address three objectives: 1) would they allow their students unfettered access to their network? 2) if they implement BYOD, would this be a fast lane to a quasi one-to-one initiative, and 3) would BYOD allow their students to personalize their own learning? Their BYOD philosophy was fashioned after the Starbucks philosophy. They truly wanted to open their network for anyone to have access. Any device can join their network. Devices are not pre-registered. The question asked was, why would we not want to offer this access openly. Schools should be a hub for learning and access. Their BYOD/Guest Policies are permitted at all age levels, although they do not see use at the kindergarten level, it is a possibility. They use WordPress, GoogleDrive, and Moodle because they needed a common denominator - something that everyone could access. Student devices go to the edge of the security; they cannot override any security to go to off-limit sites. They do not allow access to printers. Currently 10% of their bandwidth is allocated to student/guest access. Since September 1, they have had 1,853 unique devices/people that have signed in and joined their network. If you have questions or would like additional information, you can contact Charlie at charlie@pennmanor.net or visit his blog at David Fry Hanover Public School District (Joining Remotely from Lincoln IU 12) Hanover Public School District occupies 3.7 square miles in Hanover, PA (South central PA). They have 1,614 students and 50% of those students qualify for the free/reduced lunch program. They started a BYOD initiative during the school year with all staff and with high school students. What is the purpose of BYOD? It is easy to set up a BYOD program from the technical side, however if no one uses it, it is pointless. A district needs to approach it from an instructional standpoint. The district believes that equitable access to technology will aid their students in becoming information producers rather than information consumers, self-directed learners, and collaborative team players. A BYOD program is not going to solve budget problems. Most of the users on their network are using mobile devices. To prepare for implementation, your district should consider the following: move to Web Apps, making sure that every student has some kind of a web browser on their device; build a team; start a pilot, beginning with your staff; and evaluate your polices, especially in light of 3G data. A pilot is valuable because it will show where weaknesses and issues are. They had some log in issues during their pilot program that they were able to work through and resolve. As they evaluated their policies, they included information regarding 3G data. In their district, the teachers control this policy and how it is used in the classroom. For technology directors, the

3 biggest issue is having a large enough wireless network. Hanover does allow printing. They use a program called, PaperCut. It is not the easiest program, but it does work. Students are also able to a teacher and request the teacher print items. They have had to increase their bandwidth. They have an automated registration process that requires a log in. All outbound traffic is being snagged and evaluated. They have 5-20% student participation. Most student devices are tablets or smaller. Very few students use a laptop. Those laptops being used are faculty bringing in their own devices. The district has seen very few technical problems. After the pilot program, they have had no student technical issues. There have been a few issues where they needed to show the teachers how to use the mobile network. The BYOD initiative has increased student engagement. Students look up information on the fly. It really has provided for anytime, anywhere learning. Because individual teachers decide when to use the devices, it is important that teachers have classroom rules in place to govern their use. Hanover Public school district feels that they must offer BYOD. It is another tool for students and teachers. For additional information please access, or contact David Fry at dfry@hanoverpublic.org. Al Harding & Mark Painter Derry Township School District (Joining Remotely from Capital Area IU 15) Derry Township School District is located in Hershey, PA. They have a total student population of 3,600. They have five buildings on one campus. They started one-to-one classrooms in the middle school in They have expanded the program and during the school year, they had 30 one-to-one high school classrooms, one-to-one classrooms in grade 8, and nine additional one-to-one middle school classrooms. Financially, they could not sustain these efforts for the school year, so they switched to a BYOD program. They hope to go back to a one-to-one model in the future. They believe it is important to use devices, because this is how people work and it is how we should teach our children. The district s vision is to seize the potential of digital resources to transform teaching and learning to prepare students for success in the 21 st Century. How did they prepare for BYOD? The district began a BYOD pilot during the school year. They completed professional development in February and March 2012 and did some Apple/iPod training. They allowed teachers to take these to the classroom on a pilot basis. They sent a letter to parents and students in March 2012 and began running a BYOD pilot during the fourth quarter of the school year. During the summer, they received calls from parents regarding the types of devices that would be supported at school and are currently running a BYOD program. A letter was sent to students/parents in August of 2012 and they continue to receive feedback from students, parents, and teachers. Although these devices are wonderful, for this program to be effective, schools/teachers need to be realistic about what these devices can and cannot do in the classroom. The district expects to change and evolve the program as they move forward. Their network, like Penn Manor s, is based on the Starbucks concept. If your device has a web-browser you may bring it in. They currently have approximately a 65% student adoption rate. They have 325 district laptops distributed by departments. They have 275 ipods and ipads that are on loan from the library. This allows for a one-to-one environment. They provided ipods to teachers during the pilot and allowed them to use them over the summer, so that the teachers could begin to get comfortable with them. Fourth grade is the lowest grade that currently has an active BYOD program. Their Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) was not changed as mobile devices were previously allowed. They did create BYOD guidelines. These guidelines are posted on the CAIU s wiki ( Students are not allowed to use 3G devices in the school. They must use the school s network. The guidelines have been added to the Student Handbook. They continue to provide ongoing support and training in pursuit of this initiative. They provide opening day activities, in-service days, and have created Instructional Technology

4 Coaches (ITC) and student technology assistants. ITCs facilitate technology integration, initiate interaction/consultation with teachers, research and share ideas for faculty meetings (Tech Minute), in addition to various other instructional roles. ITCs are not a help desk resource. The school has a separate help desk. The school wants the BYOD initiative to be a teacher-driven program. They are also working through understanding what reasonable expectations are for using these devices in the classroom. Initially the thought was that these devices would replace the classroom laptops, but this is not true, as the devices coming in are small mobile devices. The Derry Township Administrative Team and Board believe that they must teach students responsible use of technology. Students are already using the devices, so they want to have the control, so it is not done underground. They believe that they are preparing students for their future and not our past. They have a team of educators driving the initiative. They are capitalizing on the technology resources available. Currently, 95% of students have mobile devices. Initially NO charging of mobile devices was allowed, however, charging is now allowed if the method is deemed safe. IPods are available to teachers/students for a three week loan. Students are responsible for the devices; no special arrangements are made. The district has changed very little to accommodate this initiative. They feel that they have legalized what was already happening. It has reduced teacher on teacher complaints. There is no registration of devices. They have two wireless LANs a public internet and an authenticated one. They currently face the following challenges. Time for professional learning is needed, so that teachers are comfortable with the devices being brought. Additional infrastructure/ connectivity - ios bandwidth is needed. They have doubled the bandwidth for several years and they continue to max out their bandwidth. This is a departure from the norm for teachers and they don t know all the answers. They need teachers to understand and adopt the program in their classrooms. Not all students are tech savvy, so they have developed the Student Technology Assistance program to help. Saving/printing files are a teacher not a student issue. Students understand GoogleDocs; the teachers get stuck on Microsoft Office. Lastly, typing longer blocks of text is a challenge, as mobile devices are not made to replace a laptop. They do not have the keyboards or power capabilities to meet the needs in the classroom. District staff continues to work through these issues. They provided a listing of the 1,343 devices on their network: android, ipods/iphones/ipads, Macintosh OSX, Windows laptops, cell phones, Linux, and other. Resources are posted on Capital Area IU 15 s BYOD wiki: or you may contact Al Harding at aharding@hershey.k12.pa.us. Ken Gibson Twin Valley School District (Presenting from IU 13) Twin Valley School District is located in Elverson, PA (Southeastern PA). They have 5 school buildings and a student population of 3,400 students. There are 280 teachers and 4 technology staff. Their technology is located in classrooms with very few labs. They have several laptop carts per building. They currently have 2,100 devices: desktop/laptops, PC/Mac. Officially they are in their third year of their BYOD program. Students are always able to bring in standalone devices for approved educational purposes. Students are allowed to have cell phones in school. Their BYOD initiative currently involves grades 7-12, although the network is in place for others to use. The Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) has been adjusted to accommodate the program. Permission is required by parents prior to approval. They want to know that the parent knows there is a device from home on-site at the school and that the student is not bringing a parent s device without their knowledge. Students are responsible for their devices. The district provides the connection. Any issues are the student s responsibility to handle.

5 Students sign up online through the district intranet. A student device must be able to authenticate intranet, content filter, etc. They need to be able to report on Internet content. Some devices do pose an issue. Smartphones must meet the same criteria, unless they use their own network. Reporting is not needed. They use SharePoint as their main intranet. They must have authentication from SharePoint and Active Directory. Currently, they use a Cisco Wireless Control System district-wide (200 APs). They are beginning to move away from having Media Access Control (MAC) addresses registered. They are now using TV-Public. A user only needs a directory account to pass through the content filter. The following lessons were learned as they implemented their BYOD program. Be prepared to communicate with stakeholders: school board, parents, students, and teachers. BYOD brings more interaction with parents. You will not see major dollars saved in the short term. The mission is not a budget saving scheme, but laying the groundwork for the inevitable evolution of technology use in the school system. You will gain instructional time and user engagement. If we are going to support our students, we must go in this direction. These questions must be addressed: What web services (cloud, intranet, etc.) are needed to support BYOD? What is the best infrastructure? Do we use open source, DropBox, etc.? Do we use web platforms? Portals are important for teachers and students. Faculty development is critical. It is extremely important to create confidence in teachers. Do they know how to access their documents, understand how different devices work, and how they can be used in the classroom. Do they understand that they will not have to fix computers? The technology infrastructure is behind the scenes supporting the work in the classroom. If you have questions, please contact Ken Gibson at kgibson@tvsd.org. Roundtable Question & Answer (Panelists David Fry, Ken Gibson, Al Harding and Mark Painter, and Charlie Reisinger) Q: We didn t hear BYOD being using as a one-to-one teaching tool, today. How do you deal with only half of your students having devices? A: Charlie: We see BYOD as an organic overlay for our system. In journalism students bring their devices and use them in collecting their stories and composing them. In creative writing some write long hand, while those with a device can use the WordPress blog site. They take advantage of opportunities that allow those who have the resource to use it. Al/Mark: We encourage teachers to develop projects that can be used on any device and provide devices that can be loaned out. We have 300 devices that can be loaned from the library and we have never had them all out at one time. The library will also loan devices to teachers for their classroom, so that everyone has a device for a particular project. We encourage teachers to not be app specific, but to give the end project goals, so that students can choose how it is best for them to finish the project. Dave: We focus on what the deliverable should be. Ken: We have not attempted a one-to-one program. Therefore we have not had a need for every student to have a device all of the time. Q: We participated in the Classroom of the Future Program. We have started to replace some of those devices. However the carts do not always have enough devices for the number of students in a particular class. How did you get your teachers to go to small group instruction? A: Ken: That is the philosophy of our district, so they did not face that issue; as a result BYOD really fit our teaching methods. Al/Mark: We have enough for about 50% of our students, so teachers will have the students work in pairs or small groups. Some teachers put the information on the board and expect students to access it at a separate time, holding students accountable to show that they accessed the information. Dave: It depends on the focus. If it is group work, someone not having a device is not an issue, as they can share. If it something that the teacher wants everyone to do, that can be an issue. We encourage teachers to have the students collaborate and work in groups. Charlie: This is at its essence an instructional issue. We have always had this issue, not

6 enough encyclopedias, calculators, etc. The question becomes how do you shape your class to be more teamwork-based. Q: What kind of framework did you use for professional development? A: Charlie: Penn Manor uses three directions for professional development. We use Classroom for the Future Foundation (CFF) technology coaches. We combine this with elements of my internal technology team. Lastly, we use organic technology professional development by using teachers that are using technology well, i.e. Master Teachers. Ken: We have tried to do it on a more informal manner. Here is technology and here is how it can be used in your classroom. Librarians are also very helpful in showing how technology can be used. Dave: If you try to roll this out as, Here is this new program and you must use it. You will get a lot of push back. It is better to say here is technology. Here are some ways you can use it. This moves the teachers in the right direction. Al/Mark: Initially, you present what you are doing and the direction you are moving, and then begin to use Master Teachers to share how the technology can be used. You will never get 100% buy in, but providing real time support makes it more effective. Staff development is not one size fits all, but must be flexible to meet the needs of your teachers/schools. We have also used the IU to help with professional development. We have also found that we want teachers teaching teachers, not the technology staff teaching teachers. Teachers tend to think that tech people already have the technology skills; therefore, it is easier for them. Work with those teachers who are not tech savvy and help them to be successful. This shows other teachers that anyone can do it, keeping in mind that there will always be teachers who will not buy in to this initiative. The PowerPoint presentations for today s presentations are posted on the Technology Coordinator SharePoint site. They will also be posted on Next Technology Coordinator Meeting: December 20, 2012