School District Proposes a ‘Notebook’ for Every UMHS Student

In the near future, when teachers ask their students to open up their notebooks, it’ll be done at the click of a button.

“We’re moving from brick-and-mortar to competitive cyber,” Dr. Robert Milrod, school district superintendent, said. “I’d like to be ahead of the curve as much as possible.”

Milrod, along with Ian Carter, the district’s coordinator of technology, presented a five-year plan at the April 3 school board Programs and Services Committee meeting that would introduce a possible pathway for the support of a 21^st-century technology environment at the high school.

The plan proposes by the 2014 – 2015 school year, the high school's students will use online-technologies to both supplement and enhance teaching practices of the classroom. Furthermore, it was reasoned that web-based lessons would increase engagement and ease of communication between teacher and student.

According to Milrod, he received a revelation for this plan when he recently visited Montgomery County Community College for a between the two educational institutions.

“How can we better prepare students to be successful post high school students?” Milrod asked. “The best way to do that is to mimic what they’re doing in college, while still in the safety of high school.”

In light of Upper Moreland's 85 percent college-bound graduation rate, Milrod said the need to prepare students for the college environment is clear.

Utilizing such technology at the high school would then require each student to operate his or her own laptop.

A ‘Notebook’ for Every Student

The school district would require students to operate laptop computers with certain standards. Physically, the computers would have to be more durable than recreational or home-laptops. They would also require longer battery life to last the entire school day, as the high school’s current infrastructure wouldn’t be able to accommodate the outlets needed.

In terms of software programming, all student laptops would have to have MicroSoft Suite, as well as include certain web-tools, likely from the technology company Blackboard.

While this plan is more economically attractive than continuing to update pre-existing technologies of the high school, according to Milrod, it would be impossible for the school district to provide laptops for every student, citing the current economic climate.

Should the school district diverge from its course of continually updating pre-existing machines, Milrod said base technology funds would be freed up for the school district seek out deals with local businesses for bulk purchases at an educational discount.

The school district could then offer a three-or four-year lease for students. The students could also receive “loaned computers,” with every classroom they visit, as is the current practice with school district owned graphic calculators. The laptops would also need to be equipped with a anti-theft system.

According to Milrod, the ideal price for leasing is from $100 - $150, but may end up being $250 a year.

Parents or guardians also have the option of purchasing their students’ own machines.

Milrod added that the school district could potentially save an annual $50,000 in paper-copying expenses with the conversion to online lessons.

Implementing the Plan

In addition to the laptop purchases, the school district would also have to drastically update its online infrastructure.

Among other necessities, the high school would have to have 100 percent wireless coverage, have a redundant internet connection, in case one fails; purchase the Blackboard web tools and support; as well as create a new district-level coordinator position.

Teachers would also have to be instructed on the use of the new technologies.

According to Carter, the first step in the plan is to replace the high school’s upper and lower library computers. By the 2013 – 2014 school year, the wireless deploy, cabling, networking and other set-up infrastructure will take place. By the 2014 – 2015 school year, Blackboard will be installed and ready for use.

“10 years down the road, we have to look at where other schools are,” Milrod said.

What do Other School Districts Think?

Nearby school districts, including Lower Merion and Upper Merion are already using such technology in their classes.

, earlier this year, there was mixed support from faculty, administrators and students for Lower Merion's "one-to-one laptop program," which is in its second year of the program.

The report describes the innovative measures, such as using video-software as class projects to reinfornce lessons, as successes of the program. Alternative perspectives, mostly from the district's high school students, suggest that having a laptop in the classroom may distract student concentration.