CHOICE: Start Here
CHOICE: Start Here
Notes and Table of Contents for the book CHOICE: Personalized Learning, Personalized Technology.
This book is being written semi-publicly. All chapters will be published here. They are being published somewhat organized, but subject to change. This is a living project, not a completed work. Check this post regularly for an updated table of contents and tracking any changes.
Table of Contents
Why A Book…
Many well funded and well intentioned technology initiatives fall flat. Failing for any combination of reasons; planning, implementation, culture, understanding, communication, money and a hundred others. If you have worked in a school system, you have scars from projects like this. A simple idea turns into a monolithic project involving countless stakeholders and issues you never imagined. That is a reality of working in public education.
This book is about one of those large scale technology projects, the 1:1 device. Giving one device/computer to every student. We’ll go through lessons learned, pitfalls to avoid, and learn how to navigate the myriad of obstacles that come with large scale projects.
A little background: I started writing this book in 2017 with the idea of introducing a Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) model at the school I was working at. A 1:1 program was not a universal concept in education yet. And looking back ,we were working under optimal conditions.
Enter 2019, COVID, and remote learning. A 1:1 program is a necessity for every school overnight. Any minor issue with your 1:1 program becomes amplified exponentially. It felt like trial by fire for many school IT departments.
Present day, I am revisiting this writing from 2017 with the lessons from 2019-2022 (which felt like 10 years of experience). What holds up? What doesn’t? What needs to be clarified or rethought?
This book is being written for anyone working with educational technology. If you have devices in the hands of students in your district, I want to help. The book is being written from my experience as both a classroom teacher and a district administrator.
The focus of the book is, how to implement an impactful and sustainable 1:1 program in a K12 environments. Not just giving every kid a device. The book will introduce and advocate the CYOD (Choose Your Own Device) model, but the ideas can be applied to any model you choose.
The technology used in these programs changes constantly, My focus will be on the systems you need in place to make the program work and less about specific technology. The content of the book will apply to any technology initiative you want run, not just a blip in time when (insert your favorite tech) is the current trend.