3 Districts Deploy Dell Laptops for 1:1 Learning
At ISTE 2014 this week, Dell announced that Chesterfield County Public Schools, Henrico County Public Schools and Maryville City Schools are rolling out Dell laptops to give students anytime, anywhere access to learning and collaboration tools and help prepare them for college and career success.
Chesterfield County Public Schools
In line with district goals to build students' 21st-century skills, Chesterfield County Public Schools administrators sought technology to support a blended and project-based learning model. The district will provide a Dell Chromebook 11 to every student in its 12 middle schools and 12 high schools. According to a press release, the devices will use Hapara's Teacher Dashboard to organize all student work across Google Apps automatically by class and student, providing teachers and administrators with real-time insight into student outcomes.
"Working with Dell and Hapara has helped us scale our blended learning environment, removing the restrictions of the physical classroom and engineering an anytime-anywhere learning platform," said Adam Seldow, executive director of technology at Chesterfield County Public Schools, in a prepared statement. "We are very excited that students will have opportunities to pursue academic endeavors and their passions and interests with their Dell Chromebook, and we look forward to further expanding our students' access to learning opportunities with Dell."
Henrico County Public Schools
After partering with Dell on a 1:1 laptop program for its high school students in 2013, the Henrico County School Board expanded the arrangement with two four-year contracts that will supply Dell devices to its elementary and middle school students and teachers.
"For years, we've received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students, parents, teachers and administrators following the initial deployment of laptops to our high school students, who are flourishing in the increasingly digital learning environment that we've enabled," said Peter Taylor, the school division's director of technology, in a press release. "We look forward to continuing our successful partnership with Dell as we engage all grade levels in 21st-century learning."
The district has also worked Dell to provide various professional learning programs for Henrico educators and staff since 2006.
Maryville City Schools
Through its iReach-Limitless Learning initiative, the Maryville City Schools district is providing each student in grades 4-12 with a Dell Latitude 13 Education Series laptop. Teachers in the district will also receive Dell devices.
"Through our partnership with Dell, we can provide digital access to every student in grades 4-12, erasing the digital divide and elevating the learning potential of every child," said Mike Winstead, director of schools, in a press release. "In my experience as an educator and parent, this initiative offers the greatest potential for real change in teaching and learning. We are excited to be working with Dell as we deploy laptops across the district over the next two years, and forever change the learning environment for all current and future students in the Maryville
About the Author
Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].