'Mobile Learning Project' Provides Fulton Students With iPads, Laptops

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The Fulton County School Board on Thursday gave the go-ahead to award a one-year contact to three vendors to provide mobile device access to 96,000 students in the school system.

Pending final approval from the district’s legal team, the plan would allow schools freedom to choose among a marketplace of selected mobile devices to support the district’s personalized learning initiative.

“This mobile learning project pairs two ideals that Fulton County Schools is passionate about – personalized learning for our students and giving schools freedom and flexibility,” said Serena Sacks, chief technology officer for the district. “This is a ‘marketplace of choice’ – it offers a flexible, customized way for students to learn while giving our schools the autonomy to make decisions that are in their students’ best interests.

“Fulton is not a one-size-fits-all district, and no school has the same educational needs. This plan allows schools, with School Governance Council input, to ‘shop’ among our providers to pick the device that best suits their instructional needs,” she said.

While ‘mobile device’ often implies a tablet, the definition also includes laptops. Fulton’s mobile learning plan began with a Request for Proposal process that evaluated vendors on their ability to provide technical and implementation support, professional development and training for teachers, as well as warranties and pricing.

Ultimately three vendors and their products were selected: Apple Inc. (iPads), Dell Computers (Chromebooks and Latitude laptops) and PC Specialists (Microsoft Surface tablets). The operating software used by the devices are iOS, Microsoft Windows and Google Chrome.

Over an 18-month period, the district will begin implementing programs that will provide classroom sets of mobile devices to elementary schools, where students will use them on their own or share with a classmate during class, or for middle and high schools, where students will have their own device and be allowed to use it at school and home.

The district’s schools were divided into five groups to make rollout of the initiative smoother and more manageable. Schools first had to show their readiness by creating a personalized learning plan that details how the devices will be used to support instruction, how professional development will be provided for teachers and how information and communications will be shared with parents and the community.

Students and parents also must demonstrate their readiness as they will be required to take a mini-module on digital citizenship. The module will instruct on etiquette and responsible use of the device and online resources. It also will explain how to properly care for the device so it is safeguarded and remains in good condition.

Sacks believe the attention given to Fulton’s initiative is warranted given the project’s large scope, but it’s all just part of the way education is changing and adapting to the times.

“While the idea of using tablets in the classroom in intriguing, it’s really just part of the evolution of teaching and learning,” Sacks stated. “Years ago, laptops in the classroom were a novelty, and now they are everyday items. The same goes with our mobile device initiative. These laptops and tablets don’t replace our teachers – they are just a teaching tool that help us reach and teach our students in different ways.”

The project, estimated at $60 million, is funded through Fulton County Schools’ five-year eSPLOST which is building new schools, funding renovations and additions, and supporting new technology in classrooms. Technology is an integral part of the current SPLOST, investing more than $200 million in upgraded technology throughout the school system.

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