30 Blogposts of Summer #21: 1x1x15

I've made enough public statements about this now so that it is no longer a surprise initiative, so I thought I'd outline my next project for the schools in my diocese.

In essence the slogan says it all. By the opening of the 2015 school year, we will have a functional 1×1 technology program in all of the schools of the Diocese. This plan will have different forms and support different age levels at campuses, but students at every school will experience a growing percentage of their class work in conjunction with individualized digital devices (we won't be using the trick of counting devices campus-wide and saying we have 1×1 because the number equals the total students).

Though this idea has been percolating in my brain for some time, the form took shape last summer when I was presenting my workshop in Chicago “10 Technology Trends that Will Change Education (and the World)” (end of the buzz marketing segment of this post). I talked about the inevitability of 1×1 programs in schools as an essential step in the transition of digital devices from toys to tools. Afterward someone asked me whether I had 1×1 programs in my schools. “The high schools have them now,” I replied, “and some of the elementaries in more wealthy south county are looking to start in the next year.” Even as I said this, I felt how inadequate my response was. If I believed this to be an inevitability evolution in classroom education, then how could it be limited to schools in more affluent areas. Likewise, how could this fundamental change be addressed on a site-by-site basis with no central direction.

I took out a piece of paper and wrote for the first time 1x1x15.

In the months since that first writing I've been busy sharing this idea with principals and tech directors from my schools and talking with people running similar programs across the country. With the kick-off of another school year, I announced the initiative to principals and teachers, and now I'm starting the public announcements. I want 1x1x15 to be a rallying cry for teachers, a common direction for our planning, and a way to market ourselves to parents.

I've also just begun to grasp the enormity and complexity of this task. Every time I talk to someone running 1×1 I hear about a new wrinkle of complexity. To combat this I'm proposing that we limit the implementation schemes. I don't want to mandate that all schools get laptops or iPads or whatever, but we will have 2-3 acceptable configurations that will give schools some choice while limiting the support schemes. I also don't intend that all schools will have 1×1 for all grade levels. I'm sure that this will evolve over time.

I also know that I can't do this, it has to be a project of the tech directors, principals, and teachers of the diocese. My job has to coordinate the efforts of different parts of the project and act as cheerleader. Right now I'm looking to create 6 teams:

• Networking infrastructure
• Hardware specifications
• Curriculum, apps, and textbooks
• Teacher formation
• Tech support
• Finances (this is always the first question from everyone, “How will you pay for this?”. While recognizing the problem my response is, “That's a problem, you can solve problems; it's directions that are hard”. Talk about whistling Ina graveyard!”)

All of these people working together we will spend the next three years transforming our schools, our teachers, and out students. I hope you follow along to see the highs and lows (can one write tears in a blog?) and contribute your own ideas.

Because the clock is ticking.

As always, I welcome your comments.

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