Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Oklahoma District Deploys iPads for 1:1 Initiative

Oklahoma's Altus Public Schools has launched a 1:1 computing initiative in an effort to provide personalized digital learning and integrate technology skills practice with the classroom.

The first step of the four-phase project, dubbed the Digital Learning Initiative, was launched this school year, when all teachers and certified staff were issued MacBook Air laptops preloaded with software for use in curriculum. "Teachers will use laptops and related technology to enhance communication, collaboration, organization, and production in all classes and subject areas," according to a report in the Altus Times.

The second phase of the project is launching in the second semester of this school year, when all students at Altus Intermediate School and Altus Junior High School will receive iPads for use at school and home, with access to learning resources via the district's network.

Phase III will include deployment of iPads to all students at Altus High School beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, and in the final phase, beginning the following year, all elementary school students will receive iPads.

Altus Public Schools serves approximately 3,800 students at five elementary schools, an intermediate school, a junior high school, a high school and a learning center with a budget of about $27.5 million. More information is available at altusschools.k12.ok.us.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Students using laptops in classroom

    Stop Asking Whether Students Can Use AI

    As generative AI has become embedded in the tools students use to search, write, create, translate, organize, and receive feedback, the boundary between "using AI" and "not using AI" has become increasingly difficult to define. More importantly, treating AI use as a binary choice does little to help students understand the different roles AI can appropriately play in learning.

  • children using smart phones

    With Little Federal Guidance, States Take on Screen Time Themselves

    As an umbrella term, education technology encompasses everything from learning management systems and student information systems to productivity tools and AI platforms. More specific language clarifying the difference between ed tech and consumer-facing tools would allow state leaders to match the right evidence, expertise, and policy to the right questions.

  • young man hand working on a laptop, bokeh blurred at night

    Redesigned Microsoft Copilot Will Build Apps and Work on Its Own

    Microsoft has announced that it's redesigning Copilot, the company's all-encompassing AI assistant, so users can hand off complex tasks, build tools by describing what they need and assign work to an agent that keeps going after they log off.

  • Abstract Network of Blue and Orange Lines

    Tech Industry Leaders Launch Alliance for AI Agent Security

    NVIDIA and 36 other industry partners are targeting agent security across multi-vendor clouds by combining open technologies for workload identity, agent controls, vulnerability scanning, and software supply-chain security.