Mobile Devices in the Classroom Nassau County BOCES May 6, 2011

Agenda TopicPresenter Planning, Assessment & Methodology Tom Franson Assessment of Infrastructure & Security Ken Wygand SupportTom & Ken Professional DevelopmentLisa Nielsen Note: Our discussion assumes the District has a strategy to address whether devices will be supplied to the student population or students will be permitted to use personal devices.

More Pressure Than Ever 2% Staying Ahead 49% Falling behind 41% Barely Keeping Pace 8% Not addressing mobile devices Team Skillsets becoming obsolete Communicating with “screenagers” Educators adopting new tools/technologies Accelerated rate of technological change “Cloud” computing and virtualization Maintaining control/security Lack of clear direction for the future *April 2011, HDI SupportWorld

Planning and Assessment Planning will be the single most important task you will undertake in deploying mobile devices to the classroom Key Considerations Begin with the end in mind What do you want to use mobile devices for? Consider the content and your use patterns Compare and evaluate devices Device White Board MS Office Google Apps Student Info. Sys. Instruction Apps iPadBBAABB DroidCBBACC Cell phone DDCBCD TabletBAAABB KindleTest NookTest

Planning and Assessment Once you have established the instructional objectives and narrowed down the devices, the assessment task becomes one of determining integration into your existing infrastructure An infrastructure integration assessment includes: – security – data transfer – content filtering – virus protection

Methodology Conducting the Assessment Define Instructional Goals Evaluate Devices & Align With Instruction Evaluate Infrastructure; Change & Prepare As Needed Develop Support & Professional Development Plans

Foundation – Infrastructure & Security

Infrastructure – Coverage Predictive Site Surveys – “Best Guess” approach Relies on building construction information you provide (Concrete, brick, steel, wood, glass, drywall, etc) Hard to consider things that may move around (i.e. bookshelves in library) – Predictive survey is helpful but will not guarantee levels of coverage Actual Site Surveys – Guaranteed coverage areas – Locate sources of interference

Infrastructure – Bandwidth What does your wireless network need to support? – How many client devices in each area? – Traffic Behavior Basic video (pre-recorded) Streaming video (real-time) Multipoint video (interactive) Stream 5 Mbps 10 Mbps n802.11g Source: Number of Streams Supported per AP

Security – Plan First step is to develop a wireless access policy – Who should be able to use the wireless network and for what purposes? – Should users be allowed to connect with their own devices? How do we ensure those devices are “clean”? – Should you (or can you) enforce a restriction on what applications and data is accessed via the wireless network? Freedom of Information Lines are blurred between what is “good” and “bad” – Facebook, Blogs, YouTube

Security – Enforcement Once security policy is defined, you can use technology to enforce the policy – Secured communications channels (e.g. WPA2) – “Guest” wireless access Best effort level of service? Enforce your wireless use policy – Consider end-user “ease of use” Smartphones will tell you when within range, provided the SSID is broadcast – If you are not “broadcasting,” how will end users find the wireless network?

Support

Establish a support strategy (before deployment!): – Mobile Device Management (MDM) should be a central feature – Clearly define your scope of support – publish what will and will not be supported – Establish a knowledge base to allow users to self-resolve common issues – Establish escalation paths into service providers

Professional Development

PD Methodology Engage teachers in creation of learning plan to meet PD goals Customize curriculum and pd materials Create opportunities to understand how to innovate learning Coach/ Model how to innovate learning with technology Apply knowledge with expert guidance and support Reflect/Evaluate effectiveness in innovating learning

PD - Assessment Administrative buy in — Incorporated in teacher observations Assessment – Student – Teacher Student and Teacher Assessment Rubric – Assess self – Conversation tool (coaches & advisers) Where they are Where they want to be How to get there – Students and teachers usually not at the same level

PD - Students Students as partners – Professional development Participate Lead Student support teams – Students in each class – Meeting Elective or after school – Special privileges

PD - Develop Your Personal Learning Network Twitter – Tagging – Mentioning – Collaborating on projects using g-docs Collaborating on projects using g-docs – Sample Sample Facebook – Locate experts – Pages – Tagging – Links – Conversations Classroom 2.0 / Future of Ed / Ed PLN Your own network – Ning, Group.ly, Wordpress Blogging – Read, Comment, Launch

PD - Showcase Success Share work of school — Innovation Field TripsInnovation Field Trips Share work of classes — Innovate My ClassInnovate My Class

Key Takeaways Planning is key to a successful implementation If you already have wireless today – Perform an assessment of it’s capabilities – Determine its current utilization Leverage new technologies (e.g n) Invest today for what’s coming tomorrow – Post-PC era - Learning happens with people, not places Devices are mobile and cannot be tied down to a cable Establish a Support Strategy prior to deployment – Clearly define what is and is not supported – Publish FAQ’s and support phone numbers for vendors Professional development makes it happen – Administration must provide opportunities and assessment – Teachers must own goals – Partner with students – Develop a PLN – Showcase work

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