5 steps to successfully run a student-led tech team

One-to-one device initiatives have exploded in popularity and have dramatically changed the classroom environment. Dedicated device access doesn’t just benefit students through improved educational outcomes, but also benefits districts by enabling innovation and providing a clear return on educational investment. IT teams, however, can struggle with the greatly increased burdens of managing fragmented device platforms, and the increased staffing that 1:1 initiatives often demand can limit funding for other important initiatives.

In 2016, Lafayette (IN) Catholic School System was preparing to make our entire system 1:1 by adding grades pre-K through six to the middle and high school program already in place. We’re a relatively small system, with 1,100 students across four school buildings. Our technology department manages those buildings, as well as two parish offices and one central office, containing a mix of MacBooks, iPads, and other desktop devices.

Streamlining device management
With a rollout set to double the number of devices we managed to 1,300 across five campuses, we knew we had to find a way to control costs. To optimize our endpoint management with remote capabilities, we turned to FileWave. It was when we began to dive deeper into its user-based permissions and other key functionalities that an innovative solution began to take shape.…Read More

One-to-one motivations: It’s not about the device

Administrators should place goals above devices when it comes to one-to-one

mobile-deviceIn the world of education, it is rare to not hear discussion about providing a device for every student. We read research articles about it and we read newspaper articles about the latest school to move to a one-to-one environment.

As a superintendent, I receive weekly eMails about marketing devices, protective cases, learning management systems, mobile device management systems, and professional development. In a world so inundated with information about moving to one-to-one, one can quickly get drawn into the most important question that needs to be asked: Why go one-to-one?

Our school district made the leap to one-to-one this year at the high school level. Yes, we purchased mobile device management, cases, devices, professional development, a learning management system, and insurance—but before we did all of that we spent time wrestling with tough questions.…Read More