Ways to pay for technology, as indicated by the task force.

After studying technology issues for more than a year, an LA Unified task force this week offered their ideas for the district after the botched iPad debacle that was supposed to result in one computer device in every student’s hands.

The price tag would be $311 million for “a 1:1 environment,” providing every student with a tablet or laptop, but the Instructional Technology Initiative Task Force also explained how much the district has already done in a year in their comprehensive report issued Tuesday and presented to the school board.

For example, 749 school sites have had full wireless infrastructure added this year, and 89 Early Educational Center sites will get it by the end of next school year, according to the report. Bandwidth in the district expanded to 119 gigabits, nearly double from a year ago.

More than 160,000 iPads, Chromebooks and Windows devices have been distributed to the schools since 2013.

“We are aware that as soon as we pressed the button to print this out, it is all out of date,” said Frances Gipson, who was put in charge of the task force last year by former Superintendent Ramon Cortines. “The world has changed by the time we do it.”

Superintendent Michelle King praised the more than 50 teachers, principals, parents, students, community computer experts, business people and administrators who were part of the task force and met every Thursday for the past year to work on the instructional technology issues facing the district.

“They met in small groups and large groups and even virtually to see how it can be done and have given us some principal-driven recommendations,” King said.

The task force in action during the Cortines administration.

The task force suggested ways of paying for the plan through bond funds, textbook funds, external partners and leasing devices, as well as having students bring their own devices to school to use for classwork. They also identified problems with the existing computer distribution devices, such as keeping track of them.

The recommendations involve the students being self-directed and the teachers being able to design their own instruction. They suggested avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach and emphasized flexible learning environments and a personalized approach. The recommendations include support for teachers and tools to identify effectiveness so there is consistent learning in all areas of the district.

“I would like to know what we would need to implement this,” said board member Monica Garcia. “What I see is us closing the digital divide that separates our families from others.”

Board President Steve Zimmer suggested the district look at how the devices could be used in the students’ homes. He said he would like to see all students being bilingual and also be able to write code for computers.

Board member Monica Ratliff said she thinks this should get to all the high schools as soon as possible and hopes the training for the teachers would not create too much of an extra burden for them.

The ideas and recommendations will continue to be collected on a free publishing platform called Scalar, said Sophia Mendoza from the task force.

“We knew the minute we printed it, it was out of date because of the rapid nature of technology,” Mendoza said. “This platform allows us to build out the recommendations as they change.”

The superintendent is now reviewing the recommendations and determining how to implement them.

Ray Cortines watches as the ITI Task Force discusses issues.

When 50,000 iPads, laptops and Chromebooks went out to LA Unified students last year, about 1,500 were unaccounted for.

So far this year about 1,000 were recovered and district computer techs now say they expect to recover the remaining 500 devices by sometime next week.

“We’ve been like Sherlock Holmes,” said Bill Wherritt, a Facilities Division official on the Instructional Technology Initiative Task Force who is overseeing the device deployment to the schools. “We can see them online and can deactivate them.”

By the end of next week, he explained, the missing computers will generate a message reading: “Go to see the principal if you want to reactivate your device.” Wherritt said he is confident the district will retrieve them all.

He admitted there was not good inventory taking last year and “a few things could be done better” to account for the distribution of the computer devices given out to the students and teachers. “We have learned, and we don’t want to recreate this situation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wherritt said the district is “in the heat of distributing devices” to 103 pilot schools on schedule to get a device for every student. He said that at the beginning of the year 24 schools had their plans completed and approved to get their devices, and now that number is nearly double, at 47. He said 18 other schools have plans submitted and waiting for approval, and 23 other schools that have been approvaled are awaiting their devices.

It’s a complicated process to get the expected 70,000 computers out this year, but it’s a good sign that 88 of the schools are very close to getting them, Wherritt said.

Already, 11 schools have started the two-to-three days of training and distribution to the students, while 44 other schools will have computers distributed to each student in the next two weeks, Wherritt said. Some delays arise because principals have to be digitally certified, the entire school has to go through digital citizenship training, contracts with every student and parent have to be signed and all the forms have to be in before the devices get handed out.

Bill Wherritt

The tech services teams are aware of issues that occur when a school’s network gets a high traffic volume, especially when they are all downloading applications at the same time and when the wireless system goes down. Sophia Mendoza, the interim director of the Instructional Technology Initiative at LAUSD, said about 80 schools have requested support, and that shows widespread enthusiasm among the principals.

“We have some big, big changes going on with schools in the district,” Mendoza said. Some schools are collaborating with neighboring schools to get their devices faster. Also, Mendoza said the district is accelerating the process for schools to use the iPads at schools that students are already using for state tests.

Schools have to answer two questions to use their devices in the schools, Mendoza said. One is how the school will use the tech tools, and a second asks about the school’s vision for use of the devices.

Linda Del Cueto, chief of Professional Learning and Leadership Development, told the parents, teachers, principals and community experts on the task force that she has compiled some feedback from teachers and students so far about the math books. The schools are working with five publishers who all have online computer components to their materials.

“Teachers want more PD (professional development), and that is a good thing,” Del Cueto said. “And students and teachers both love not having to drag around their textbooks.”

The task force meetings are open to the public, and led by Local District East superintendent Frances Gipson. She outlined a loose agenda for the task force to present district-wide tech proposals to the School Board for approval by May.

The next ITI Task Force meeting is planned for Oct. 8 at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex.

The brutal civil war in Syria has been raging for more than four years now, and some students at View Park Preparatory Charter High School on Crenshaw Blvd. will experience it like never before when they connect virtually with Syrian refugee youth living at a Save the Children community center in Amman, Jordan.

The event is happening April 14 at USC, and highlights the new and visceral ways that digital technology can enhance a student’s education and experience.

Before connecting with the Syrian youth, the Valley Park students will “be immersed in a virtual reality recreation of a bombing and its aftermath in Aleppo, Syria to understand the realities of the Syrian crisis,” according a Global Nomads Group press release. The group is organizing the event, and added, “These young people will discuss the impact of conflict on their daily lives and explore how they can take action locally and globally.”

Click here to learn more about the event.

Instructional Technology Initiative task force meeting

The first meeting of the Instructional Technology Initiative task force is scheduled for later today.

The task force, chaired by Judy Burton, is looking for the best way to pick up the pieces from the district’s disastrous — and rebranded — Common Core Technology Project, which sought to get an iPad into the hands of every student and teacher in the district but was cancelled by Superintendent Ramon Cortines in the wake of a grand jury investigation into the program’s bidding process.

The task force is looking to “develop a plan that supports technology in the classroom to improve teaching and learning,” according to a district press release. A strategic plan is expected to be completed by early 2016.

Linked Learning

The Second Annual Linked Learning Student Showcase took place on Tuesday and gave teams from 10 LAUSD high schools an opportunity to present their projects to local business leaders.

The Linked Learning program is an LA Unified initiative since 2009 that partners with the business community to “build awareness among high school students on the variety of careers available and the role of postsecondary education,” according to its website.

Business leaders from SoCalGas and Warner Music Group were among the participants and saw student projects that included PSAs, a rap performance inspired by Beethoven and drought awareness.

*Corrects reference to Linked Learning. It is an LA Unified program, not United Way, as incorrectly reported in an earlier version.

More than 19,000 laptops —  part of the newly renamed Instructional Technology Initiative Phase 1L pilot — were scheduled to be delivered to 21 participating high schools by September. But Superintendent Ramon Cortines today explained that due to a “delay in the contracting process, our technical teams got a late start in developing the systems and infrastructure needed to support an effort of this magnitude.”

The new timeline calls for the start of c vfdelivery of Chromebooks during the second week of February while the Window 8.1 laptops will go out starting Feb 19.

Before the devices can be distributed the district is having them audited for security purposes.

“In order to ensure that devices are safe to be taken home by students, as many schools in the pilot have chosen the district is completing a security audit by Feb 13,” Cortines wrote to teachers and principals.

An outside firm is conducting the audits, Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district told LA School Report.

The inclusion of laptops for older students was an effort spearheaded by board member Monica Ratliff, chair of what was once known as the Common Core Technology Project Committee, to diversify the one-to-one program, which initially only considered supplying iPads.

Judy Burton

LA Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines has invited Judy Burton, a former associate superintendent of innovation and instruction in the district, to serve as chair of what is now known as the Instructional Technology Initiative, nee the Common Core Technology Project.

Cortines said Burton, founding president and CEO of Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, would work with two senior district officials, Ruth Perez and Bernadette Lucas, to establish a committee to review device and curriculum options.

The committee would also include teachers, administrators, parents, students, community members and a representative from the Bond Oversight Committee, Cortines said.

“It is my expectation that the committee will review what the District has done so far, examine the funds that have been used thus far, and assist with the development of a plan which includes funding options,” he said in a memo to the school board. “As we move forward, it is my intent to ensure that we look at funding this Initiative in a balanced way using bond dollars but taking into consideration the District’s brick and mortar needs as well as our technology needs.”