Digital learning takes hold at the Glenbrooks

It's hard to believe that Chromebooks have only been in our students' hands for 90 instructional days. In that short time of the Glenbrook one-to-one learning initiative, more than 300,000 Google Documents have been created and and estimated 7,500 are being viewed daily, with numbers continuing to grow. 

At the meeting on February 10, students, teachers and administrators shared their experiences with the Board of Education. Many cited increased production, access, responsibility and ongoing professional development.

Glenbrook South English teacher Mr. Scott Glass explained that occasionally outside of school hours, he will hop on to students' documents and sometimes even surprise them because the icon shows them that he is collaborating with them in real time. "In a few seconds, I can point out some thoughts to guide and direct their work." This type of interaction has been made easier with the one-to-one initiative.

"Technology is changing how we learn, we are pioneers in this initiative," he continued.
       

District Instructional Technology Director Ryan Bretag, shared data from professional development surveys, analytics, and focus group themes. The majority of feedback centered on the three main goals of the initiative: student engagement, access, and the overall teaching and learning experience. 
       

"More that 130 Glenbrook teachers have signed up to attend the Google Summit, which we are hosting in early March," said Bretag.  "While we offer our own comprehensive professional development program in-house, they are willing to give up a long weekend to dive even deeper into this environment."  

A review of the current device and pricing model for 2014-15 will be presented at the March 10 Board meeting.