As Triad settles into the new school year, it’s already looking at the next – including implementing a one-to one computer program.
“That is the next stage for where kids are going,” said Superintendent Vickie Hoffman.
One-to-one computing in schools refers to initiatives that allow each student one computer to use for school and classwork.
According to Hoffman, the district is going to spend the next year looking at how to achieve that within the district. She said district officials feel they’re financially ready for such a program.
At last month’s school board meeting, Triad technology coordinator Ryan Thompson said there are currently 647 computers within the district. Thompson said the district received 185 new computers this year. He said the district’s efforts in the past few years have gotten nearly every computer in Triad up to date.
He said the next step could include a one-to-one program.
The district is still in preliminary stages. Hoffman said officials are looking for places to start.
“We’ve had administrative meetings where we’re talking about that,” Hoffman said at the meeting.
In an interview, Morgan Fagnani, Triad’s new curriculum director, said the one-to-one program is “huge right now.”
“A lot of our staff have their textbooks online, and we do not have the technology currently to implement that fully,” Fagnani said.
Hoffman mentioned her past experience at North Union implementing similar programs.
“In my previous experiences, we’ve had students keep their devices for four years,” Hoffman said in an interview.
There will be preliminary discussions between principals and staff in order to gauge which staff members are ready. From there, the district will have a better idea on what sort of training is needed.
This system would assign computers to Triad’s fifth and ninth-grade students.
“And then when those fifth graders got to ninth grade, they’d get a new device,” Hoffman said.
That also includes training faculty to transition to, then work within, a potential one-to-one program. Hoffman said that’s the first step in the program. Before a one-to-one program can be implemented, the teachers need to be up to speed.
“You have to have teachers who are excited about it and they feel like they have the professional development to deal with it,” Hoffman said. “We need to train them this year if they’re getting them next year.”
Once Triad gets those new computers, the district will need to figure out how to maintain them.
“From then, it’s about all the behind the scenes things, like paperwork, signing off things when they’re damaged,” Hoffman said. “How do we financially make sure that doesn’t cost us a lot of money?”
Fagnani said there’s one computer cart per grade at Triad right now. There’s an extra cart at the high school, since it doesn’t have a computer lab.
“There’s so many things you can do in a science classroom or social studies,” Hoffman said. “Being able to have every kid and every teacher have that capacity and be able to do that, that will be a game changer.”
Thompson said if the district ends up pursuing a one-to-one program, the district would likely need a bandwidth upgrade.
“Other than that, we’re doing pretty good,” he said.