Lessons Learned: 1-1 iPad Rollout for Kindergarten, 1st and 4th Grades

What is possible is changing.....

Last week was an exciting time for our Kindergarteners, 1st Graders and 4th Graders. They all received their personal iPads!
Now Valley View is completely 1-1, meaning each student has a personal digital learning device.

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It took a team of people, some very focused planning, and a lot of flexibility to get to this point.
Our Tech Services Team has been working tirelessly since August to get iPads for the district purchased, etched, configured, inventoried, and distributed to High Schoolers, 8th Graders and all elementary students. Next in line will be 6th and 7th Graders.

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The best way to frame this ambitious experience is through a retrospective view. When we first rolled out iPads in October to two pilot grade levels at each elementary, we had only a beginning of an idea of how to do this. Thank goodness that Jolie Jennings (@joliejennings) at CCE ( http://cceipet.weebly.com )  had done something similar at her previous district and that she was the first campus to roll out. She provided us all with the most important focal points and great ways to manage the iPads, classes and schedules.

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Lessons Learned

1. Have a plan and meet with the teachers get their input on the plan
I met with each grade level prior to their deployment to discuss important things like:
*The best place to put their charging station
*How to label the charging station
*Notes to parents about earbuds, and gmail for upper grades
*iPad care and behavior contracts
*Planning the iPad Orientation sessions
*Scheduling the iPad Orientation sessions

2.  Work closely with Tech Services on naming and
numbering iPads; and on distribution of  iPads

We discovered, as our campus Tech Services Specialists worked with the iPads, that is important to have the number that they put on the iPad correspond with the slot in the charging station and with the student number.

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One of our Tech Services Specialist sets up the iPads for deployment.

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Teachers used a variety of ways to number their iPads. Some used stickers and some used a paint pen on the back of the cover.

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It took a lot of communication to be sure the numbers that were  needed were reflected accurately on the spreadsheets that the Schools, Tech Services, and the Bond Allotment Financial Managers worked from.

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3. Get help
For the rollout here at VVE, we were fortunate to have several of our Eanes Ed Techs (aka, iVengers) here to help.

Having breakfast bagels and/or providing lunch for the team makes the day a lot nicer.
We all worked together at all the campuses that needed us to make the rollouts at every campus a success
Having a well organized system for the helpers contributes to a successful rollout. We created a folder for each Ed Tech with :
    a map of the school and their rooms highlighted
    a schedule of the day
    a script for each grade level
    a  name tag for each Ed Tech 

4. Check Kindergarten and First Grade iPads ahead of time for any adjustments 
 
                                                                   

We turned off the  Auto-Correction and Check Speling on all of their iPads
because Kindergarteners and Frist graders are encouraged to spell according to
how it sounds to them. (General>Keyboard)

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We also moved the apps from the launch bar up and moved down the 2 Primary folders that were created for grades K,1 and 2.

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5. Follow up and be there consistently to help, clarify, and extend teacher's ideas

I informally went by each teacher's classrooms daily to see how things were going, and if they had questions or needed help. We also scheduled time for me to be there to teach a lesson, or be a warm body helping during an activity, or to plan for lessons.

Be sure to check out my iPad Lessons and Ideas Section on my website for a montly collection of learning activities happening throughout our school.  http://vveedtech.weebly.com/ipad-lessons-and-ideas.html