School Infrastructure upgrades
In 2014-15, 澳门开奖网 upgraded bandwidth for all 澳门开奖网 schools. 听Bandwidth describes the 鈥渃onnectivity to the doorstep鈥 of our sites. 听This was a necessary first step to address much broader concerns about equity and technology access. 听More recently, 澳门开奖网 set aside facilities and other funding to retrofit all schools' technology infrastructure. 听The scope of the upgrades includes replacing and augmenting network cabling, network equipment and wireless access points. 听This project combines long-term comprehensive upgrades with incremental efforts to provide immediate relief to our schools. 听When this project is complete, 澳门开奖网 schools will have connectivity that supports 1:1 (one device per child) access anywhere on our campuses.听
Incremental Upgrades:听 Over 1,400 wireless access points have been replaced or added since the project began in 2015. The incremental upgrades also included replacing network switch听equipment at many 澳门开奖网 sites, including all of our high schools. "Spot fixes" continue as we work to complete comprehensive upgrades at all 澳门开奖网 sites.听
Comprehensive Upgrades: 听Late in 2016, 澳门开奖网 awarded bids to complete the comprehensive (cabling, wireless access and network equipment) upgrades for nearly all sites.* 听The work is moving forward rapidly. 听As of August 2017, half of 澳门开奖网听schools have been cutover to newly upgraded technology infrastructure. 听The remaining schools are expected to be complete听by June 2018. 听
*Sites scheduled for modernization through Measure E will receive upgrades as part of those projects.听
1:1 INNOVATION pILOT听PROGRAM
During the 2015-2016 school year we launched the 鈥1:1 Innovation Pilot鈥 program, 听approved as part of the district's . 听澳门开奖网 set aside funding for approximately sixty 1:1 (one device, per student) pilot programs awarded through a competitive application process. 听Each selected teacher (or team of teachers) received: a class set of devices (primarily Chromebooks), charging/storage cart, wireless upgrades for the selected classroom(s) if necessary, and professional learning for best practices and curriculum integration. 听The district approved funding for an additional fifty 1:1 classrooms in the 2017-18 LCAP. 听The new awardees will receive their devices early in the 2017-18 school year. 听
The program aimed to听pilot the effectiveness of 1:1 in the classroom by assisting teachers in using technology to redefine the learning environment consistent with the District鈥檚 Continuous Improvement Efforts (CIE) and redesign their curricula in order to provide project-based, collaborative opportunities for students to apply and interact with instructional content (Hanover, Dec. 2015). It also allowed for students to extend classroom instruction through online learning, meaningful connections and differentiated, student-curated content.
As a result, teachers were able to empower students to be the architects of their own learning by regularly providing them with the tools that allowed them to set personal educational goals, create knowledge and assess progress. These incubators of innovation, have clearly made an impact on the learning in our district, as leadership has made a push to provide more devices for students at every school site; growing our Chromebook count from 2500, in 2016, to 15,000 in 2017.
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Background
The听澳门开奖网听website project was funded during the 2015-16听LCAP听Process. 听The core team, including听澳门开奖网's听Communications Office听and听EdTech听started a formal selection process (Request for Proposals) a little over a year ago. 听During that process, school site, parent and district stakeholders reviewed fifteen proposals. The committee unanimously selected听KWALL听as a partner to redesign the听澳门开奖网听site. 听The selection of a developer,听KWALL, with an open-source (Drupal) platform provided听澳门开奖网听with optimal support and long-term flexibility on the project. 听As shared previously,听KWALL听is a local company that specialized in post-secondary education websites. 听Some of their past clients included University of Arizona,听Millikin听University, Arizona State University and Long Beach State University.
Development Process
Throughout the design and development process, the core project team met with stakeholders to create and refine our new design. 听Cabinet, PTA, school site and district staff saw mockups of the new website and participated in discussions about design, accessibility, navigation and content. 听The final design reflects feedback received during dozens of stakeholder and contributor meetings.
School Websites
The EdTech team will begin moving our school websites onto the new website platform.听 School sites will have a choice of several flexible templates as a starting point. The new templates share a modern look and technology foundation.听 Each school will be able to brand its site to reflect the school鈥檚 values and identity.听 The Drupal platform will allow schools to easily incorporate images, social media, video and other content into their pages.听听 At the same time, all websites will remain connected to the 澳门开奖网.org page through integrated news, events and accessibility features.听