Mobile Learning Program

Competencies: Project management, Instructional design

Background

“New Trier’s one-to-one Mobile Learning Program (MLP) gives one iPad to every student. These devices offer a unique set of features creating opportunities for individualized learning, increased student engagement, and the transformation of teaching practices…”¹. The Mobile Learning Program, or MLP for short, began as a limited pilot around 2014, when five teachers began to test the iPad as a learning tool. Eventually the program expanded as efforts were made to evaluate how different disciplines could utilize the iPad, and whether it made sense to mandate the use of these devices across the institution.

By 2016, the pilot group made several recommendations that included:

Formalizing a set of core workflows centered on assignment submission, media creation, and note taking.
Identifying expensive book titles and migrating to eBook alternatives.
Curating a core list of iPad apps that each student could utilize for classroom activities.

The number of devices in circulation across the institution began to increase but a full implementation was dependent on several factors which included asset management, onboarding, and network/AV upgrades. Once we felt we made sufficient upgrades to our infrastructure, we began the process of onboarding entire incoming classes.

Objectives

I was brought on as the de-facto project manager for the MLP committee, leading a cross-functional team that included the network, enterprise application, user support and instructional technology team. We were tasked aggregating and refining the nebulous processes formulated through years of piloting into a single scope and sequence that we could utilize year in and year out. These processes included:

Device and peripheral procurement.
A communication strategy of outreach to ensure students went through our onboarding prior to the start of school.
Reporting tools to aide our efforts in asset management and tracking student onboarding.
Developing onboarding curriculum that introduced students to technology use at our institution and the expectations for using these devices in the classroom.

Additionally we were empowered to make policy recommendations that included the use of BYO devices, financial assistance, AppleCare and repairs, device restrictions, and accommodations for students with special needs.

Outcomes

The process of transitioning MLP to operations took several years. There were three stages to this transition, beginning in 2019 when we began to identify and develop processes, the second stage when we had to shift everything due to COVID and finally iterating and merging processes from the previous stages with a return to in-person instruction.

One of our first priorities as a committee was to define and sequence the activities for our project and develop a schedule. The schedule was important in managing resources such as people, orientation days and communications. Once we had a general idea of our timeframe for acquiring and enrolling devices into our MDM (Mobile Device Management), I made a CAPEX request for devices, cases, bags and charging peripherals. This request included the sum of the approximate freshman class plus the number of swaps we needed as part of our general technology replacement plan for staff and faculty.

We identified key stakeholders that included the transition and communications team and worked collaboratively to design a communication strategy. The MLP committee created a web site with information and a portal that families utilized to mark their iPad selection, make payments, and register for an orientation. The data would then feed into a reporting service that we designed that would allow us to:

Confirm asset distribution at the time of device pickup and orientation.
Cap the number of students coming for an orientation to a manageable level.
Determine the number of no-shows or students with no iPad selection and take actionable steps such as allocate space and time for additional orientations or increase our outreach efforts to families with no program selection.

For our outreach efforts, we set up an email account and phone line to send out important communications such reminders and receive support tickets as needed for orientation changes or special requests. We identified key dates and time frames for communicating with families that included sports, summer school and registration deadlines from competing districts. We documented each of these processes to ensure that each year the communication strategy remains consistent and up to date.

In our schedule we reserved 1.5 hour time slots for orientations during the summer that students could schedule to attend. At these sessions, students could check in and complete an onboarding delivered via a self-paced online course. I developed this course outlining key steps and information for students. The course guides students to:

Create their network passwords so they can login to the technology services offered via the institution.
Setup their iPads for the start of the school year.
Login to each technology service such as Canvas and Google Drive and give them real-world exposure to routines such as assignment submission.
Understand what is considered acceptable technology use at our institution.

The self-paced orientation course contains detailed instructions, pictures, videos and activities such as assignments and quizzes. Completion of the activities also served as a “check” that we could cross-reference with our reports to ensure compliance and accurate pickup counts.

During COVID we had to abbreviate and change many of our processes to reduce contact and ensure compliance federal guidelines and institutional remote learning practices. This meant spacing out and capping our pickup times, changing our spaces to safely handle those pickups, and modifying provisioning practices to allow students to authenticate and change their initial passwords remotely. We also altered the course to help onboard students remotely and safely, including setup instructions and resources for remote learning, such as Zoom. The orientation course was so successful that it was provided as a template to other districts in the area to use in their own onboarding processes.

Over the course of three years, we were able to document, schedule and iterate many of our processes and turn this project into a yearly operational service. In the time that we began as a committee, we have served four graduating classes, or roughly 6000 students. I am especially proud of our ability to be flexible in light of external factors beyond our control and take the lessons learned from each year to create a better experience for staff, faculty and students.

Citations

1. “Technology / Mobile Learning Program”, New Trier High School District, December, 2023, https://www.newtrier.k12.il.us/mlp