NIS+Technology


 * Ever wonder how the NIS technology program got started and what has happened in the last 3 years? Our tech program has grown by leaps and bounds and a little bit of history might help the reader.**

**Background:** NIS envisaged a 1:1 laptop programme after initial investigations in October 2006. Supported by the School Board, various infrastructural changes were made to support a trial of 100 Dell laptops, provided to teachers in March 2007. Despite tremendous efforts in improving tech support, wireless and server systems, the platforms were not able to support student learning to the degree expected. Consequently, the deployment of laptops to students was put on hold, the platform changed to Apple, a private company hired to provide the logistical support, and with some guidance from Apple itself, students (Grades 6 - 8) were expected to begin the new school year (SY2009-10) with Macbooks., with the programme expanded in 2009-10 to Grade 12.



**Technology Overview** NIS made an early decision to support a single platform due primarily to educational reasons rather than technical issues. This decision has borne fruit in the way in which a single platform supports students - from simple things such as all laptops taking the same time to boot, or acquire networks, to more complex issues addressed by having common software platforms across the school. This has empowered teachers to do what they do best - teach - rather than providing a range of multi-platform solutions to problems that are technical rather than educational. Although some PC machines continue to be used in school office areas, all student PCs have been removed. In addition, traditional IT labs have been scrapped, even in the Primary school section - IT is driven into the educational programmes, rather than running parallel to these. To meet expected usage, NIS upgraded its wireless capacity through the introduction of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. In addition, server capacity was increased by XXXXXXXX, particularly with a view to supporting wireless technology, increased use by students of storage space (allocated at XXX per student and XXX per teacher), the use of wikis, blogs and iCal by various parts of the school.

A strong program of professional development has aided the successful transition to digital learning. NIS has a rolling 3-Year plan of school-wide improvement, providing focus for professional development, department budgets, and promoting the K-12 nature of the school. Thus the introduction of the laptop programme was supported by a year-long focus on technology, with 5 in-service training days set aside for training, as well becoming part of the regular weekly meeting cycle through the year. Additional after-school classes were held after surveys or requests from teachers identified particular tech needs. Concurrent with this was the introduction of Smartboards in all classroom, K-12, and the need to support teachers in, firstly, the technical aspects of Smartboards. The second year saw the focus move from technology training towards technology in education: ‘In what ways do our available technologies support sound pedagogy?’ Smartboards, the laptops, web tools (and a range of others) were therefore reviewed to see how they best supported student learning. The use of Marzano’s work (Classroom Instruction that Works) and the technologies that can be used to implement many of his strategies, has supported the shift from ‘how does this work’ to ‘how does this improve student learning’. This would have been very difficult without the addition of a full time technology integrator/facilitator, who collaborates and plans with teachers, teaches model lessons, and is able to help with just-in-time learning. The holistic approach to the introduction of these initiatives is enhanced by each teacher having a professional technology goal as part of their professional development plan within the Professional Appraisal model used at NIS.
 * Professional** **Development**

**Apple Support Center** NIS set up an Apple Center in our school, geographically located right in the middle of the school in the busiest corridor possible. This shop is the first line of support for any problem before, during, or after school. The shop stocks hard drives, cases, bags, ear buds, computer memory, and sells iPods, Time Capsules for backups, many items that keep our outsourced company employee quite busy. 

**IT Staffing** The human resources element has been a crucial component in addressing the expanded needs of a large and diverse community, and consists of:
 * IT Director, with overall responsibility for infrastructure and service provision
 * Technology Integrator (full time), responsible for supporting teacher and student learning. A second Integrator has a .25 timetable allowance for this role
 * Two outsourced Apple technicians man the Apple shop and provide support for Apple products, servers and systems
 * Two additional technicians provide support on all technology fronts (telephones, databases, software imaging etc etc)

**Supporting Community Communication** What evolved was the system we have today, based on several things:
 * that communication systems needed to be easy to setup and maintain, and flexible enough without sacrificing simplicity
 * a single password-protected entry giving access to all digital communication points, such as iCal, email, wiki access, podcasts etc
 * easy accessibility for web users
 * home-grown solutions to issues experienced within our digital community, rather than proprietary solutions which were found to be large, cumbersome, and inflexible

**iCal** Our laptop students were part of the equation now, making a triad of teacher - parent - student. For homework posting and attaching documents all MYP/DP teachers use iCal. Students subscribe to each teacher’s homework calendar and parents can subscribe as well via Mail or Outlook. The student (or parent) can quickly see their class assignments and download documents from the teacher.  **Wikis and Blogs** All PYP teachers use a class wiki for home-school communication. These wikis have evolved into much more than simple homework posting incorporating photos, video, website links, comments and more. Every MYP/DP teacher has a wiki for each class that they teach. The wikis have been adopted to varying degrees with many teachers using them as a core component of their classroom and as collaboration points for students. Wikis are behind a user password that allows students and parents to participate in the blogs, homework postings, and download files from teachers. Along with the wikis our students use their individual blogs in many classroom activities. These 2 systems - wiki/blog and iCal - have greatly changed classroom management, content delivery and feedback mechanisms.

NIS uses iWeb to create a wiki-like access to guide parents, visitors, and wanderers into our wiki system. The system is updated with classroom projects for everyone to see on **NIS Learning**.

**Managed Printing Services** In SY 2009-10 NIS abandoned the idea of individual printers, removing over 60 of these from various locations and replacing these with sophisticated printer/scanners. Anyone at NIS can print, scan, and email documents by using these printers, located at points around the school - a cost effective - and greener - solution!

**PYP Students** Our PYP students use several trolleys, each containing 24 MacBooks for their IT needs. Teachers check out trolleys on an electronic schedule for project based learning as needed. In 2009 NIS moved to this mobile, on-demand delivery system of computers eliminating the need for a fixed IT lab. In SY2010-11 there will be no “fixed” IT time, as IT is blended into a whole class environment and computers are booked on-demand.

**Parent Education** Getting parents positively involved in understanding and supporting our programme is a goal for NIS. We continually invite parents to visit classrooms and see how technology is being used. A brochure describing our program is given to all new parents. Some Parent Coffee Mornings have a technology focus, giving parents opportunities to see technology in action as well as ask questions and share concerns. This year we offered a Parent Technology Conference on a Saturday and were swamped with the number of parents attending. They were amazed at how little they understood their children’s digital world!  **New Students** As an international school we have a high turnover of students. Students purchase designated models of laptops either from our school or on their own. Laptops are imaged with our school software. New students are given a loaner laptop to use until their own laptop arrives. All our laptops contain our ‘image’ of software and operating system. Before the student starts classes (usually the day before their first official class) they are given 3 hours of laptop training. This gives the student enough of an understanding to get started, including an understanding of of our network, setting up of all necessary accounts, and a grounding in the Mac OS. In addition we offer an After School Activity titled “Build Your Tech Skills” for students new to the Mac and Mac Software.

**Future** Some thoughts for the future include: •Monitoring the effectiveness of wikis/blogs/iCal •Continually assessing technology for learning •Building new opportunities for parent education •Ongoing staff education •Seeking a good server based software to limit our licensed copies of software and to prevent students for unauthorized program use at school •Establishing more global connections •School management software - reduce number of different data bases •Enhancing data access for all •Evaluating and updating our Technology Plan 