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From a shared vision to a learning model and technology decisions

When you plan a learning environment, starting with

technology is not your best first step. Jumping ahead to

make any of the many necessary decisions too early will

not only limit your choices, but also make it more likely

that the learning purpose and context will be overlooked.

We recommend assembling community stakeholders —

including administrators, community members, curriculum

planners, educators, parents, IT staff, school board

members and students — so that together you can

articulate a shared vision for learning and student

enablement in your school district or learning environment.

Students should have a strong voice in the process.

Next, define the learning model to realize the vision.

By building consensus around key terms such

as learning and teaching, you can help focus the

collaboration of teachers, parents, administrators and

IT teams. You can also set up a professional learning

framework, lay out a plan for teachers’ activities

and required resources, and create a digital content

strategy that supports your educational goals.

When you design a modern learning

environment that readies students

for success in a complex, quickly

changing world, technology can

help you transform learning into an

empowering, lasting experience. To

achieve this goal, you need to make

the right design choices in the

context of your learning model. This

paper provides some ideas for thinking

about students’ technology tools.

CHOOSING THE BEST STUDENT TECHNOLOGY FOR TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING

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Finally, it’s time to tackle technology. Create policies

and infrastructure that will enable effective learning

and teaching. You can make devices and technical

resources available to students and educators in a

low-risk, well-controlled deployment program.

Select technology that empowers students and fits your educational goals

The devices you offer to students will be instrumental

in enabling their learning and realizing your vision

for education. Ideally, they would combine the right

functionality, lasting reliability and excellent usability —

all at a reasonable cost.

Keep in mind that it’s unlikely that one kind of device

will meet all your students’ requirements. Students

will have different needs depending on the learning

model. Their needs may change as they grow through

successive grades. Technology design and capabilities

must adapt to the learning objectives for each student

group, which requires a flexibility of choices about

the size and weight of devices; the availability of an

integrated, on-screen or detachable keyboard; display

features; application performance standards; and

connectivity needs.

Also consider that the youngest students might use

devices on a limited basis, performing tasks that are

more touch-based and consumption-oriented. Soon,

however, they will need more powerful, versatile

technology to access information and digital resources,

produce content to demonstrate mastery, and

collaborate with peers and experts on and off campus.

What will students do?

In addition, various subjects and assignments may

impose their own conditions for computers used in

learning. Take the time to think about how students

will learn and what typical activities they will perform:

Connect to learning resources. At any grade

level, students’ devices will have to help them

access the learning network and authenticate

themselves. But they will also need to be able to

use the devices effectively when they are offline.

Produce and consume. In the lowest grades,

students consume by reading and looking,

often using specialized reading applications.

Then the balance shifts toward production,

with students performing assignments, creating

content, collaborating and conducting research.

Use apps and software tools. What are the

mobile apps, applications and software

productivity tools students will be using in

different subjects and grades? Software

resources will have specific operating-system

and computing requirements. You will want

to choose a processor that meets these

requirements, which may be different for

cloud and on-premises software.

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Perform assessments. If devices will be

used to complete assessments, make sure

they meet the technical specifications for

computer-based and online testing provided

by your state’s Department of Education.

Collaborate and share. When students

work together on projects and assignments,

they need a way to connect with each other

and exchange content. If their collaborations

become more interactive, they may also need

a capable web camera and microphone, the

right ports, and peripheral devices.

Store their work and content. Files need to be

accessible and secure in a storage medium that

provides students with all the space they need. This

could be a drive on the device itself, cloud storageor

a combination of the two. Hard-drive size is critical

if most content will be stored on the devices.

Use a variety of learning tools. Your students’

devices need to work with the supporting

technologies in your learning environment —

microscopes, displays, printers, projectors

and other equipment. For some curricula

and class settings, device requirements

will become more extensive in order to

interoperate with such resources as digital

lathes or specialized printers.

Get creative. Device and peripheral

requirements, especially for higher grades,

become more varied when students perform

complex science projects, conduct live

interviews, create art, handle masses of data,

develop engineering designs and software,

participate in robotics and other contests,

or engage in other pursuits in a thriving

learning environment.

Enable access wherever students are

Depending on the kind of access model you provide

students, requirements for the devices’ robustness,

performance and functionality will vary, along

with the needs for support, maintenance and risk

management. In addition, you need to consider the

locations where learning takes place, so you can align

your device choices with departmental IT practices.

Most modern learning environments give students

the flexibility to study, perform assignments and

collaborate in a variety of locations, including

classrooms, specialized labs and collaboration spaces,

and homes. Given this range of possible learning

locations, you should consider the role of students’

devices in keeping learning time productive.

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For example, if students use their devices only during

the school day or for specific purposes, keeping sets

of devices in carts throughout the school’s learning

spaces — such as classrooms, specialized labs,

collaboration settings and libraries — may be a good

strategy. On the other hand, in learning scenarios that

require access to devices and resources anytime,

anywhere, students may receive their own devices for

use on and off campus during one or several school years.

When learning extends beyond the classroom, you

face additional technology considerations to support

collaboration and productivity. By offering robust WiFi

connectivity throughout school campuses — including

outdoor locations and monitors, projectors and other

resources in hallways and other common spaces —

many school districts promote interactive, collaborative

learning. If you provide makerspaces, where students

develop their creativity and resourcefulness in applied

sciences and other disciplines, technology requirements

may include tools such as 3D printers and scanners,

robotic kits, high-density displays, and more.

Make sure that learning time is always productive

In a digitally enabled learning environment, where IT

teams and resources are dedicated to the effectiveness

of students and teachers, it would be best if educators,

curriculum planners and administrators make technology

decisions in concert with IT staff. When it comes to

selecting devices, you need to keep several IT-related

considerations in mind:

Interoperability and compliance. Student devices

need to be compatible with existing learning tools

and support IT practices for network management

and for safeguarding information, applications,

hardware and networks.

Manageability. Because IT staff facilitates your specific

learning model, devices should accommodate the

current IT management strategy and preferred solutions.

Support. Vendor support and repair services should be

available to complement your internal resources. You need

to decide whether on-site or same-day support would

make sense. Also, consider whether you will offer tech

support internships or ask students to provide at least

some support and maintenance themselves. Typically,

that cannot be done with consumer-grade devices.

Technology planning. Existing preferences, licenses,

and long-range projections for operating systems and

for learning and productivity software will determine

which devices you choose.

Power. Devices should have a battery life that

accommodates the many usage scenarios in

learning. You also need to think about what options

are available, or should be offered, for students to

charge their devices.

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Reliability and robustness. IT may well have

standards and can provide guidance about the durability

and reliability of devices and what to look for in making

a selection. Vendors’ practices in designing and testing

devices for educational environments diverge greatly.

Building requirements. Buildings, classrooms, labs

and makerspaces may well present certain limitations

or requirements for the connectivity, ports and other

specifications of student devices. IT can consult with

you on these issues and help you consider plans for

building upgrades or new construction.

Technology designed and refined to help students learn

Dell is uniquely positioned to support educators as

they transform the learning experience. Educational

experts and technology designers at Dell have for

many years researched and created K–12 learning

technology based on the evolving needs of school

districts and other learning environments. From

your early planning to implementing solutions, Dell

teams offer the expertise to help make education

transformative and empowering.

The Dell portfolio of devices optimized for learning

purposes inside and outside of the classroom includes

several mobile computers from the Latitude and

Chromebook product families. They incorporate

state-of-the-art Intel® Celeron™, Pentium™ and

Intel Core™ processors as well as Intel Integrated HD

Graphics. They enable anytime, anywhere learning,

with dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and

they come with several standard ports to connect to

other learning technology. All devices have batteries that

can last throughout a student’s day. Extensively tested

under extreme conditions and equipped with sealed

keyboards and click pads as well as rubberized bases,

the Latitude devices can withstand spills and shocks.

These computers can run on Windows 10 or Google

Chrome operating systems:

Latitude or Chromebook 3180 11” Education

Series laptop includes a 180o LCD hinge and an

HD video camera to support cross-desk and long-

distance collaboration.

Latitude or Chromebook 3189 11” Education Series

2-n-1 is a tablet-convertible laptop that lets you touch,

swipe and write at any angle, gather research, and create

and display multimedia content with a powerful camera.

Latitude or Chromebook 3380 13” Education Series

laptop is a powerful high-performance computer for the

most complex assignments, extensive collaborations,

data-intensive research and creative work.

Complemented by a full ecosystem of Dell monitors,

printers, computer carts, speakers, projectors and

other peripherals, these purpose-built devices can

support effective learning in any location, including

classrooms, makerspaces, labs, collaboration settings

and students’ homes.

To take the next step in transforming education:

Learn more at www.dell.com/K12

Follow us on Twitter at @DellEMCedu