Laptop Program Visit to Peck School - 4/20/2007

Notes from Visit to Peck School
Friday, April 20, 2007

Purpose
Observe a functioning student laptop program in a small independent school.

Attendees
Hench Murray, Sally Brodie, Adam Kupersmith, Jaci Mongiello, Bob Rowan

Background
Peck's Technology Director, Pamela Livingston, wrote a book entitled 1-to-1 Learning: Laptop Programs That Work. She did not work at Peck when the laptop program began, but chose to work there to be part of their laptop program. Pamela also teaches a distance learning class for Chestnut Hill College, and worked at Chestnut Hill Academy in the past.

http://www.peckschool.org/

General School Info

• Peck has approximately 310 students in grades K-8.
• The Peck technology department has five people:
  - Technology Director
  - Technology Support Specialist
  - Network Administrator
  - Lower School Technology Coordinator
  - Upper School Technology Coordinator (note: their Upper School is the equivalent of our Middle School)
• The school does not charge a separate "technology fee"

Benefits of Laptops

• Helps reach students we didn't "get" before
• Facilitates independent learning
• Saves time over using laptop carts
  - Students are more familiar with the computers they use (less likely to encounter different mice, etc) + the use becomes routine (don't have to remind to shut down or put away properly)
  - Don't have to take the time to retrieve laptop carts at beginning or end of classes
• Allows sharing of information while working on assignments (with teacher and/or with other students)
• Technology is A tool that teachers should be prepared to use. It is not THE ONLY tool they should use

Class / Usage Ideas

• Students check course information (assignments, agendas, course descriptions, etc.) using the school's First Class information system
  - See the First Class web site for more about this product: http://www.firstclass.com/FC81/
  - We will be looking at the use of Moodle or our existing web sites to accomplish these objectives next year
• Ideas for uses of laptops:
  - E-mail assignments to students
  --> Provide those who need to type with an electronic copy of their work
  --> Can include links to web sites with background information and/or reading material
  - Web Sites for review/practice
  - Send class notes to students
  - Post class notes so students can refer to them outside of class
  - Post handouts so students can retrieve them if they miss a class
• Create structure to keep files organized
  - The same way we encourage "tabs" in our students' binders, we should have students create a logical structure for storing files on their laptops
• There will need to be some process for transferring files back and forth between student laptops and their network storage space
• One Science teacher recommended the Interactive Science Encyclopedia, but this book appears to be out of print
• One class used Dartmouth's Periodic Puzzle web site:
  - http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chemlab/info/resources/p_table/Periodic.html
• Some teachers required students to type notes, while others offered them that option, but still allowed traditional "paper" notes
  - one teacher created PowerPoint presentations and shared them with his students, but replaced key information with red XXXs, which students were expected to fill in while they were participating in class
• Peck does not have a separate computer class in grades 6, 7, or 8
  - They do have a class in 5th Grade
  - It sounds like most of their students stay from year to year, so it is less likely that someone would come in without having taken the 5th Grade class
• Web sites that teachers have identified as being useful to students are stored in the school's Library catalog

Hardware Info

• Peck uses a hard case for the laptops
  - they acknowledge that these are heavy
• Peck currently purchases a 4 Year no-fault warranty with their laptops
  - The school owns the laptops + they are not offered for sale to parents
  - This 4 year warranty fits with the 4 year lifecycle of the laptops
  - In the past, they only purchased a 3 year warranty, but many of the laptops this year have failed in the 4th (non-warranty) year
• Peck owns (does not lease) their laptops
  - They have used many (but not all) of those older machines for other applications
  --> Including, as "emergency backups" for some of the older laptops with display problems
• Laptops are used in grades 5-8
  - Grades 5 and 6 use laptops that are stored in their classrooms
  - Students in Grades 7 and 8 take the laptops home during the school year
  - The 5th Graders always use the oldest laptops (which are returned when the 8th Graders graduate)
  - Each student is still assigned a specific laptop to use during the school year
• Students return the laptops before they leave for the summer
• Students are issued the same laptops when they return the following year
  - This ensures those who take good care of their laptops are rewarded by using the same machine during the next year
• The technology department creates new images of the laptops during the end of the previous school year (so they can re-image the machines during the summer of the following year)
• Some teachers recommend requiring students to have USB storage device to transfer files (as a backup if their network connection fails)
• Faculty laptops are kept for 5 years
• Classrooms may need additional AC outlets
  - one classroom we saw had power cords attached to coils that hung from the ceiling
• There were ample "spare" power supplies available, including multiple extras in each classrooms
• Desks were large enough to accommodate the laptops at still leave students room on the side of the desk for papers, books, etc.
  - We liked one older design from the Irwin Seating Company, however, I don't see any reference to that desk on the company web site (http://www.irwinseating.com/)

Infrastructure Info

• Each student has a custom-built cubby with a chain/padlock to lock the laptop case into place
  - Each padlock can be opened by a master key
  - We would need extra padlocks if we used this system
  - We would have to find locations for these cubbies + notify Maintenance if we wanted this done before next school year.

Policies and Procedures Info

• Students send e-mail to request support
  - We would need to create a new form to use our Help Desk software
• Students can request equipment for their classes (projectors, digital cameras, etc) by sending e-mail to the same address they use for support requests
• We will need a policy for how to handle student support requests
• There seems to be an expectation that students will retrieve assignments (without being reminded) from the First Class system if they miss class
  - We have systems in place for students to do this, but would need to create and enforce the expectation that teachers post ALL of their assignments and handouts from class
• 5th and 6th Grade students are required to have Microsoft Office installed on their home computers
  - We can offer academic pricing for this, but may not be able to use the same version we are running in school (ours would be older)
• Installing or playing games on the school laptop is prohibited.o Students found with games installed with have their computers re-imaged (without the chance to save files) immediately
• Students must maintain 30% of their hard drive as free space
  - If they are found with a computer with videos, images, music, games, over that % then their computer will be immediately re-imaged
• Teachers should setup e-mail groups for their students
  - This will allow them to quickly and easily contact their students and send documents, links, etc. to the entire class
  - Most teachers will need help setting these groups up
• Peck has a "Committee on Excellent Teaching"
  - this helps encourage uses of laptops in the classroom (along with other important teaching tools)
  - This group determines what skills teachers should have

Classroom Management

• They described the behavior of playing games or being otherwise distracted during class as "negative multitasking"
• Teachers will need to watch students taking tests and quizzes closely (if they are not allowed to use Internet resources)
  - May need some tips on what to look for (minimized windows, etc)
• In the future, we may need to consider remote control software, that would allow the teacher to view student desktops

Training

• Launching the program included a series of technology training sessions
• Teachers were paid stipends for achieving specific skill goals
• Peck offers their "TechAcademy for Teachers"
  - this includes classes during the school day, which are scheduled in their "Multimedia Room" when schedules permit, usually in the afternoon

Conferences

• Summer Technology Conference from Connecticut Association of Independent Schools: June 18 - 22
  - http://www.caisct.org/cais/Quickforms/viewform.aspx?PostingID=82
• Laptop Institute: July 15 - 17
  - http://www.laptopinstitute.com/
• edACCESS: June 18 - 21
  - http://www.edaccess.org/conference.html