Dave Hohulin's List: IAASE Fall Conference 2014

• The

  analysis found that district staff was so focused on distributing devices that little attention was paid to using iPads effectively in the classroom.
• Among the issues cited at several schools: high school math curriculum wasn't provided, efforts to log in and access curriculum were unsuccessful and at least one school said it preferred the district's own reading program. Four out of five high schools reported that they rarely used the tablets.
• "The overarching theme of comments ... was that deployment of devices on this scale and pace had never been attempted before in the district, and that [teachers and others] had to learn and adapt as the project unfolded," the report said.
• This view was echoed by many of those the researchers interviewed. The early goal "was to just get the devices out, that was basically it, just get the devices out, use them as quick as possible ... there were other goals …. they were talked about but they really didn't get implemented," one technical specialist told evaluators.
• A district leader who was not identified said: "We didn't have enough people so everyone was working on deployment ... that really, really impacted our professional development [training] rollout, in fact we barely had one because of that."
• "We had a vision to have a device in the hands of every LAUSD student to close the digital divide. This is still our vision," Lucas said in a statement. "All of our students — not some, but all — should have the same access to the learning tools they need to achieve in the 21st century."
• The curriculum, which cost L.A. Unified about $200 per device over three years, was among the biggest problems identified by schools.
• "At nearly all schools, staff stated that the Pearson curriculum that was promised during initial ... trainings was not available during the school year," the report said.
• There were also complaints about the Pearson materials loading slowly. And five schools reported issues with logging in and accessing their Pearson accounts — all of which hampered their efforts to use the curriculum.
• One elementary school characterized the curriculum as lacking rigor. It favored the district's existing reading program.

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• L.A. cancels iPads-in-the-schools program: a failure of vision, not technology
• According to the L.A. Times, the reason behind the cancelation was at least partially political, as “the superintendent and his top deputy had especially close ties to executives of Apple, maker of the iPad, and Pearson, the company that is providing the curriculum on the devices.” But an LAUSD report also found “major problems with the process and the implementation.”
• The latter charges have been widely used as evidence that iPads were poorly suited for LAUSD
• But the key point is this: We didn’t start with the best Wi-Fi system or the best firewall—rather, we started with vision and leadership.

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• Sept. 2014—1,300,000