Visit to LLHS

I had the opportunity to visit LLHS and Ted Klug to see how the first month of their 1-1 Chromebook initiative was working out. It was good to see a school with students and Chromebooks in reality and not just on paper.

Ted indicated that things were going well.Everyone was getting use to the idea and implementing the use of Chromebooks at different levels. English and history departments were going full implementation while math was lagging behind. Matt Doering was the model for history and government class. He was the pilot teacher for last year, and is now in full implementation mode. I was able to visit his classroom and see him teach,using all the skills and techniques he has learned. He words of wisdom were to only tackle one prep at a time as one transitioned into Chromebooks.

Lakeside does use Moodle and Hapara. We are researching both of those for need at LPS. The strong argument for Moodle as a classroom management system was that it was used by both MLC and WLC for course management. Using Moodle at the classroom level would help prepare the students for that college transition. Most of the faculty preparation for the 1-1 initiative dealt with Moodle - a full workshop taught by Jim Grundwald from MLC last June. We will experiment with Google Classroom and see how it meets our needs first.

The faculty was trained and has received short 2-3 min video recaps  to help them along the way. These were produced by Ted and deal mostly with Moodle. The faculty departments are also working together to discover the best way to proceed in each subject area.

Lakeside is down to one computer lab of about 20 computers. Each one has two monitors. the lad is used for high-end computing tasks, such as: video-editing, document publishing, and computer programming. The library still has a few computers, but there are not being used now. The study hall has tables with power outlets and extra power supplies. Students do work quietly with ear-buds when they listen to online content.

Ted has 10 loaner Chromebooks on hand. The first loan is free, each additional is $2/ day until the sixth loaner and then it is $10/day. Replacing the screen costs the students $70. (Plus the loaner fee). The screens can be replaced in about 5 minutes by the trained computer essentials class of about 8 students. They do the work and the logging of the repair during their regularly scheduled period. In the first four weeks - seven screens have been replaced. Ted keeps ten screens of each model on hand.

Their implementation model was to have the seniors use the Chromebooks that were in the pilot classrooms from last year. They will be able to purchase them for aound $180 at the end of the year. Juniors will be able to purchase their new Chromebooks for $80 at the end of their senior year. Both Sophomores and Freshmen will be able to purchase theirs for $1 at the end of their senior year. Each class will pay a yearly technology fee of $150/year. Every two years the model of Chromebook would be re-evaluated since they have a life expectancy of five years.  As far as cases fr the Chromebooks, the students were to buy their own, or purchase one from the suggested offerings that Lakeside would order.

I will go back to Lakeside later in the year and do a little more observation of classes. I also want to visit Shoreland to get a feel for their implementation.