Sustainable 1 to 1 Learning Transforms District’s Culture

Profiles in Success: Denali Borough School District

Professional Development Ensures Smooth Transition

To ensure that Denali’s teachers made a smooth transition to 1 to 1 learning, Apple Professional Development offered comprehensive faculty training sessions. Swett also organized five-day technology integration workshops during the summer prior to the laptop distribution. Currently, teachers at all three schools have an early-release arrangement on Wednesdays, freeing up their afternoons for further professional development and collaboration with peers.

“During our Wednesday sessions, a principal might identify a specific need related to technology, and ask us to provide training on that,” explains Swett. “For example, our MIS director joined Pete in showing us how to use PowerSchool. That eventually led to evening classes, in which we taught parents how to use the program to access information about their child. We’ve since opened up PowerSchool to all parents.”

Help Desk Reduces Support Costs, Provides Real-World Experience

Ensuring uninterrupted usage for 400 laptops in three schools is a considerable challenge. But the Denali district has some special muscle: each school has a Help Desk operated almost exclusively by students. Combined with the district’s use of Global Service Exchange, AppleCare’s online repair management tool, the model provides not only world-class support for Denali’s technology infrastructure, it offers invaluable training opportunities for students.

“We like to think of our Help Desk positions as internships,” says Vraspir. “Our kids are becoming fully certified for repairs on the Apple laptops, which means they can go straight into the business world, or into any college technology program.”

Adds Swett, “Since our kids who are Apple Certified Technicians can replace any part of a computer that breaks, and do it under warranty, we only charge for parts. Not having to charge for labor saves the district a huge amount of money. Also, our local service provider tells us that last year they received zero tech support calls from people who couldn’t access the Internet. She believes this is because our students are so well trained, they’re solving problems for their families. How cool is that?”

1 to 1 Learning Increases Student Achievement