Curriculum Planning 1:1 Technology in Alternative High School Setting

Situation:  In 2012, Metro South ABE's Under 21 alternative high school had a traditional paper based curriculum.  Bloomington Schools was piloting 1:1 Google Chromebooks in our middle schools.

Opportunity:  I worked with our social studies teacher, Greg Rein, to begin planning how we might implement a 1:1 pilot in his classroom.  Our Under 21 program was already using a self-paced, independent learning curriculum.  Greg had prior experience teaching in an online environment.  We put together a proposal for our ABE director that included transitioning the curriculum to a Moodle online classroom and purchasing twenty-five Chromebooks.

Challenges:  Our director was very skeptical of this model.  She saw it as a large financial commitment, as well as a potential distraction to classroom learning.  We had many discussions about our 1:1 pilot proposal before she approved it.  I learned that many of our district administrators were going to Huntsville, AL, to see how Huntsville had implemented a 1:1 Chromebook program across their system.  I convinced our director to go.  She came back with enthusiasm and optimism about how we could reshape our program.

One of challenges was funding this large of a commitment.  I worked closely with our Director of Technology, Next Technologies for Learning manager, and our program leadership to secure ongoing funding.  We're now able to replace each Chromebook every three years.

Outcome:  This project was very successful.  We adopted this model across our Under 21 program.  Teachers were trained to use Moodle.  We now have almost 300 Chromebooks throughout Metro South ABE.  The model has been expanded to many of our Adult Diploma courses, GED, and adult ESL.

Our Under 21 program became a showpiece for our Next Technologies for Learning initiative.  Each school board member visited our program over its first couple of years to see how we had transitioned from paper to 1:1.  This also future-proofed our alternative high school.  Students now attending have used Chromebooks in this environment since they were middle schoolers.  They don't have to give up critical learning tools just because they attend an alternative high school--this is an important equity accomplishment!