School Boards Lead the Way with
1 to 1 Learning
Profiles in Success: Association of Alaska School Boards
Once Funding is Allocated, Schools Move Quickly
Alaska’s legislature allocated the funds to AASB at the end of the 2005-2006 school year. That set in motion a rapid series of events: AASB put out the call to school districts in the state, asking for their participation that fall. Eighteen districts responded. All players realized there was much to be done in a very short timeframe.
“We all knew we had to respond very fast,” confirms Steve Nelson, project coordinator of AASB’s Consortium for Digital Learning. “Early on, AASB had set a tone of acceptance for digital learning, and we’d had speakers from Apple at our annual conference. That really ignited school board members, and got them interested in 1 to 1 learning. So when the funding came through, everyone was in a position to move quickly.”
Apple Selected As Best Option for 1 to 1 Learning
Once the participating schools were identified, AASB began evaluating technology vendors. Initially, the group considered a dual-platform solution. But Rose says the results achieved in the Denali district demonstrated that Apple was the best choice.
“We have seen the rate of high school absenteeism more than cut in half, and the tardiness rate cut lowered by three times.”
— Tim Shumway,
Teacher,
Johnnie John Sr. School
“We found that it would have been very difficult to come up with both PC and Apple solutions simultaneously,” Rose notes. “Clearly, Apple was the vendor that was most ready and willing to work with us. They were really thinking out of the box. Also, it was helpful to see how Denali had dealt with some of the issues surrounding 1 to 1 learning. The challenges they had faced were the challenges that we would encounter in every one of our projects.”
Nelson adds that the use of Apple and third-party software also held the promise of getting the pilot schools and teachers up to speed quickly. “We saw that Apple Remote Desktop and AquaMinds NoteTaker would play major roles in jump-starting our initiative, and helping many of our project schools more easily make the transition to a digital learning environment,” Nelson says. “Plus, we believed that the use of products like iLife, iWork, and the Microsoft Office suite would help our teachers and students create compelling digital content.”
Next Page: Apple Professional Development Initiates Teacher Training
