2 Vermont Middle Schools Go 1-to-1
Edmunds Middle School and Hunt Middle School in Burlington, VT, have
implemented 1-to-1 initiatives to provide every student with mobile tablets and
high speed data plans so they can access online learning resources at any time
from anywhere.
Edmunds Middle School and Hunt Middle School are among 13 new schools to
join the Verizon
Innovative Learning Schools (VILS) program this year. The VILS program is
directed by Digital Promise, a
nonprofit organization that encourages innovation in education. As part of the
VILS program, "all 405 students at Edmunds and all 383 students at Hunt will
receive their own personal tablet equipped with a two-year Verizon Wireless 4G
LTE data plan, enabling 24/7 Internet access for learning at school, at home,
and wherever they want to take them," according to a news release from
Verizon.
Teachers at both schools are receiving ongoing professional development
intended to help them use the technology to practice more individualized and
experiential learning techniques in the classroom. Both schools also plan to
use the 1-to-1 program to support new science, technology, engineering and math
(STEM) initiatives over the next two years, and they have dedicated learning
coaches in place in place for those programs.
Len Phelan, principal of Hunt Middle School is enthusiastic about the 1-to-1
program. "These powerful tools for learning will do much to enhance our
ability to provide authentic and beneficial learning experiences to all of our
students in school and beyond the school day," he said in a prepared
statement.
The VILS program is collecting best practices, teacher insights, stories and
resources from all participating schools and will make them available online at
no cost, so teachers can access the information and use it in their own
classrooms.
Further information about VILS program resources can be found on Verizon's Digital Promise
site.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].