Case Study: Building Classrooms for the Future: Planning and Designing for Tomorrow's Technologies


Organization: Forsyth County Schools
Location: Forsyth County, Georgia
#Students/Staff: 30,000 students, 3,500 staff members
#Schools: 30

Summary

Using a network that connects to all classrooms to provide teachers access to productivity tools and resources.

Overview and Description

Forsyth County Schools is dedicated to improving student achievement through technology-enriched learning opportunities to engage students in asking questions and in choosing tools to facilitate real-world problem solving. The district uses technology not just to do the same things more efficiently, but to create a state-of-the-art collaborative classroom. It is the Forsyth County Schools' objective to transform classrooms with innovative technologies that support and extend many different teaching and learning styles. For example, the interactive whiteboard creates a classroom environment which encourages collaboration among teachers as they create lessons and among students as they work together to solve problems using a variety of resources. Each school's network provides access to a wealth of productivity resources like word processing, presentation tools, and connection to the media center holdings from anywhere in the school. Similarly, teachers using web-based streaming audio and real-time video applications have been very successful in keeping students more engaged. Forsyth County teachers participate in ongoing professional development to experiment, initiate, and create new models of teaching and learning for dynamic and changing curricula.

All classroom computers are part of the school network, and all schools are connected to a high-speed fiber optic network. Teachers are able to do more project-based learning through the district's capacity to host electronic portfolios for every student, rather than relying solely on pen and paper tests. Also, teachers throughout the district can share resources, activities, and assessments through an online repository of learning tools. Teachers are designing higher quality work for students and achieving greater student engagement and improved scholastic performance. Forsyth County Schools believes that no district in the nation has attempted to blend online education with the traditional classroom on the scale that they are attempting, believing that their version of the 21st Century classroom is not an alternative way to design school but the very future of education itself.

Educational Applications Deployed

Forsyth County Schools provide a total of 70MB Internet access for their individual schools. Every classroom is equipped with an interactive whiteboard, sound system, wireless Internet access, and four desktop computers. Wireless notebooks are available for student use as well. The district uses the NetTrekker search engine (http://www.nettrekker.com/), United Streaming (streaming video of all content areas, http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/), Safari Montage (streaming video of all content areas, http://www.safarimontage.com/), BrainPop (all content areas, http://www.brainpop.com/), Gismo (math & science, http://www.explorelearning.com/), the Angel Learning Management System (http://www.angellearning.com/), and SchoolWires (school portal, http://www.schoolwires.com/).

Educational Challenge or Background

Forsyth County is a suburb of Atlanta, and it is consistently cited as one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. Since 1997, the district has grown from 10,000 students to 30,000 students in 30 schools, and by 2013 it is projected to increase to 50,500 students in 45 schools. Forsyth County Schools has a Technology Services Department is responsible for providing the resources to support the vision, mission, and beliefs of the school district. Thirty-one schools and four district administration and support buildings are connected via fiber optics on a 1 gigabit Ethernet network. Internet service is acquired through two providers to help balance bandwidth demands and provide for redundancy. The Technology Services Department manages this district network and ensures continuous peak efficiency of the system and connected devices. It is also responsible for troubleshooting and hardware break-fix issues.

Each school is assigned both a full-time educator and an experienced classroom teacher to serve as instructional technology specialists (ITSs). The ITSs plays a major role in planning, communicating, and achieving district initiatives, and they often serve as a member of the school leadership team. They are the main point of contact for all the school's technology issues. ITS spend, on average, 50% of their day on technical troubleshooting and break-fix work instead of being able to work directly with teachers and providing support that will affect instruction and learning.

Technology Solution (including people, process, organizations, and vendors)

To provide the growing student population with high-quality individualized education, the district has used web-based instruction, invented mobile laptop cart concepts, and has provided extensive professional development for the faculty.

In 2003, an instructional technology specialist saw an Activboard (http://www.prometheanworld.com/us/) for the first time at a computer conference, and by fall 2005 each classroom was equipped with an interactive whiteboard and sound system. Teachers were able to understand the technology and how it could be integrated into the classroom, and students were engaged by the technology. ITSs were initially overwhelmed with the higher levels of professional learning that teachers now required, but the central office was able to provide the faculty with this training. The Activboards provided many benefits: They increased the use of classroom-based computing; have taken the place of maps, globes, and television sets; have accelerated the use of streaming videos; have helped encourage teachers to go electronic for their lessons; and have allowed the district to donate some of its equipment (i.e., overhead projectors) to needy school districts.

For fiscal year 2008, the Technology Services Department set a number of goals.

  • Implement a HelpDesk system where teachers can directly submit issues; this will in turn enable the ITSs to concentrate on instructional issues while the technicians respond to the problem directly.
  • Develop and begin limited testing of a thin-client remote-access solution for both students and staff, so that users have access to school resources while off site.
  • Continue evaluation and deployment of the Xirrus wireless network (http://www.xirrus.com/) and continue testing and evaluation of "Safari Live" videoconferencing (http://www.safarivideonetworks.com/).
  • Explore digital video distribution systems to allow teachers to schedule and record cable programs directly from their computer.
  • Implement an e-mail archiving solution and a visitor access system.
  • Roll out new technology resources including computer lease refresh, ActiVote handheld student assessment system (http://www.prometheanworld.com/us/), document cameras and digital microscopes, wall-mount computer tables, additional notebook carts and digital cameras, and scanners in every classroom.

Community Groups and Organizations Involved

The Forsyth County community has supported the district's innovative approaches to education. The county has provided notebook computers for teachers and students, online school-to-home communication tools, school-based instructional technology staff, and interactive whiteboards. Support also has come from the Chamber of Commerce, the Forsyth County Government, and local business partners.

Benefits

Forsyth County Schools have experienced increased student engagement, administrative efficiency, and parental involvement.

Implementation Barriers and/or Challenges

Providing personnel resources and sustained funding are challenges that the district continues to face.