Apple 1 to 1 Learning Prompts PC District’s Switch to Mac
Profiles in Success: Cambridge Public School District
Cambridge, NE — When the Cambridge Public School District decided to implement a 1 to 1 learning program, several PC manufacturers came in to bid on the project. Cambridge was, after all, an all-PC district. But when Apple made their presentation, community leaders and school administrators — who had been pressuring the district to continue using PCs — voted unanimously to buy Macintosh notebooks. Now, teachers and students are reaping the rewards of wireless, anytime, anywhere learning. And the Cambridge district has an ever-increasing number of dedicated PC to Mac “switchers.”
It’s All About Education
“Apple’s presentation was very compelling; it was directed towards using their technology to improve education, and it was thorough,” Streit says. “Their whole package was so much broader than anything we saw on the PC side. Apple Professional Development offered full in-service training, whereas we’d only get little bits and pieces from the other vendors. Plus, the iLife suite was really exciting. When we saw that students wouldn’t have to use a bunch of different programs to work with digital media, everyone realized that going with Apple was the right thing to do.”
Apple Professional Development Introduces Teachers to their Notebooks
Knowing that teachers would need some time to feel comfortable with their new technology tools, the district distributed Apple notebooks to the teachers just before school ended in the spring of 2005. Apple Professional Development held two full days of classes, introducing teachers to their hardware and software tools. Then the teachers were encouraged to experiment over the summer.
“[Apple’s] whole package was so much broader than anything we saw on the PC side. Apple Professional Development offered full in-service training … plus, the iLife suite was really exciting. Everyone realized that going with Apple was the right thing to do.”
—Ron Streit, Superintendent, Cambridge Public School District
“Teachers were sent home with the notebooks, and invited to just ‘play,’” says Doug Nibbe, a math and technology teacher at Cambridge High School. “They used their vacation photos — which they organized in iPhoto — to make videos with iMovie, and added some music with GarageBand. Then in the fall, Apple Professional Development hosted two more sessions. So by the time school started, the teachers were much more comfortable with their notebooks.”
New Apple Infrastructure Supports 1 to 1 Learning
While teachers were preparing for the 1 to 1 learning program, Nibbe was charged with overseeing the upgrade and transformation of the district’s back-end systems. He credits Apple with making the transition virtually trouble-free.
“Apple came in and set up an Xserve for us, followed by some training for the system administrators,” Nibbe explains. “By the fall, we had a wonderful, full-blown infrastructure going, which included 40 AirPort Extreme Base Stations throughout the school buildings. Using NetRestore, we were able to image all 115 of the notebooks we bought for our students in about a day and a half.
“Soon,” adds Nibbe, “we’ll be adding an Intel-based Xserve, which will handle all of our file transfers, and our first Xserve will become our PowerSchool server. Apple’s follow-up support has been tremendous: They’ve really helped us, every step along this path.”
Next Page: Notebooks Pervasive Throughout Curriculum
