At a Glance
What they wanted to do• Rapidlyimprovestudentandteacherengagementinnewacademies
• Allowacademiestochoosetheirownsoftwareforteachingandproductivity
• Eliminateisolatedtechnologyrooms,andinsteadbringtechnologytoclassrooms
What they did• AddedChromebooksandGSuitetoclassroomssostudentscanshareworkwiththeirpeers
• Choseamulti-platformapproachforgreaterflexibility
• Addedavarietyofwebsoftwareresourcestoeachschool’sChromebookhomepage
What they accomplished• Teachersdevelopcreativeideasforincreasingstudentinvolvementintheirlessons—suchasencouragingstudentstocommentoneachother’swork
• Individualacademieshavethefreedomtoselecttechnologyresourcesthatworkbestfortheirstudentsandteachers
• ITstaffmanagefarfewersupportticketsforChromebookscomparedtoWindowsdevices
• Schoolscanadoptclassroomsandotherspacesforotheruses,sincethey’renolongerneededforcomputerlabs
• Schoolscanmakesignificantchangesintechnologywithouthighcost,orintenseprojectmanagementandtechnicalsupport
BackgroundTheDavid Ross Education Trust(DRET)manages33primaryandsecondaryacademiesacrosstheEastMidlands,YorkshireandHumbersideandtheEastofEngland.Asafirmbelieverineverychild’srighttoanoutstandingeducation,DRET’smissionistosupporteachofits12,000studentstoachieveahighstandardofacademics.
ChallengeAsschoolsjoinDRET,expectationsarehighforrapidtransformationoflearningstandardsandprocesses.“Whenyouhaveachangeinstatusforschools,peopleexpecttoseemomentum,”saysGuyShearer,DRET’sHeadofIT,notingthatthetrusthasbeeninaperiodofrapidgrowth.“Wewereonamissiontoimproveourschoolsasfastaswecould.”Inmanycases,arrivingschoolssufferedfrompoorITinfrastructure,includingcomputerlabswithoutdatedequipmentthattendedtoisolateteachersandstudents.
TheproblemwasparticularlynoticeableinDRET’s23primaryschools.“Weknewthatchildrenprobablyhadaccesstotechnologyathome,butnorealwaytolinkthattechnologytowhatstudentsweredoingintheclassroom,”Shearersays.“Wewantedtomakeitpossibleforstudentstotaketheirlearninghome.”
“ All of the feedback from teachers and students on Chromebooks is incredibly positive.” — Guy Shearer, Head of IT, David Ross Education Trust
Complicatingthechallengeofimprovingaccesstotechnologywasthateachschool’steachersandadministratorshaddifferentpreferencesforsoftwaresolutions,whichwouldinevitablychangeovertime.“Wewantteacherstousewhatworkswellintheirschools,”Shearerexplains.Thetrustdidn’twanttodictatechoicesabouttechnologyorteachingphilosophy,soShearerhadtochoosedevicesthatwereflexibleenoughtoallowfordifferentclassroomapproaches.
David Ross Education Trust chooses Chromebooks and multi-platform tools to raise student engagement and teacher creativity
SolutionTobringaboutfasttransformationyetalsoallowschoolstheindependencetochoosetheirowntools,Shearerneededdevicesthatwouldworkacrossplatforms.SomeschoolsusedGSuite,whileothersusedMicrosoftOffice365.AnydevicechosenbyShearerandhiscolleagueshadtobeflexibleenoughtosupportbothplatforms.In2013,ShearerbegantestingChromebooksinDRETprimaryschools.C-Learning,aGoogleforEducationpartner,helpedDRETwithinitialteachertrainingforChromebooks.
ForschoolsusingGSuite,theadoptionofChromebookswassimple:StudentsloggedinwiththeirGSuiteaccountandaccessedalloftheirusualassignments.ForschoolsusingOffice365,DRETcreatedacustomkioskfortheChromebooks.ToaccessOffice365,studentsuseasinglesign-onplatformandarethenauthenticatedtouseresourceslikeOffice365.
“Forusthishasmeantamassivesimplificationofourhardwaredeploymentefforts,”Shearersays.“Weknowthataslongasanytooloronlineresourceworksinabrowser,thenitwillworkforeverystudent.WhetherstudentsareinschoolwiththeirChromebooksorathomewiththeirowndevices,whattheyseeinthebrowseristhesame.”
TohelpstrengthenadoptionofChromebooks,Sheareridentifiedspecificclassesintheschoolwhereteacherscouldabsorbthefullimpactofadeviceineverystudent’shands.“It’sreallyeasytosuperficiallyallowpeopletotrytechnologyforafewhours–butweneededtoletpeopletryitlongenoughsothattheycouldworkouttheissuesandproveitworks.”Shearersays.Inevitably,onceteacherstestedouttheChromebooks,they’dsay,“CanIhave20Chromebooksformyclass,please?”
Soon,wordspreadquicklythatstudentsweremoreengagedandimprovingtheirperformancewithChromebooksandthatteacherswerecomingupwithinspiredideasforusingChromebooks,GSuiteandotherapplications.
“Earlyon,wehadonestudentwhowasareluctantwriter,”Shearersays.“WithaChromebookandGSuite,herealisedhecouldwritestoriesandsharethemwithhisfriendsintheclass.Writingforhisteacherdidn’tmotivatehim,butwritingforhisclassmatesdid.”
JohnMurdin,anow-retireddeputyheadandyear6teacheratDRET’sEastfieldAcademy,foundthatthesharingcapabilitiesofGSuite,GoogleClassroomandChromebooksenabledgreatercollaboration.Forexample,Murdinaskedseveralstudentstotakeondifferentrolestojointlydevelopawrittenassignment.Onestudentwrotetheroughdraft;anothereditedtoaddmorecreativelanguage,andathirdservedas“grammarguru,”double-checkingforgrammaticalerrors.
“ You can lead people in a certain direction, but if they’re not happy about where you’re taking them, they won’t go. The good thing is that teachers are not perceiving that the change to Chromebooks is the end of something – but more like the beginning.“ —Guy Shearer, Head of IT, David Ross Education Trust
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“Thiswasexactlywhatwewerelookingfor,”Shearersays.“Studentswouldreadwhatotherstudentswrote,thenthey’dgobacktotheprojectandworksomemore.Itmadestudentspauseandreflectontheirwork.”
BenefitsChromebookshelpDRETmeetthetrust’sgoalofallowingschoolstochoosewhichsoftwareworksbestfortheirstaffandteachers.TheChromeoperatingsystemprovidesaccesstoGSuite,Office365,andotherteachingandproductivitytipsontheChromebookhomepage–customizedforeachschool.
“Wedecidednottoadoptasingleplatform–wedon’twanttotellschoolswhichproductstheyhavetouse,”Shearersays.“Everyschoolcandiscoverandusetheirownweb-basedtools.”All12,000DRETuserswereaddedtoadirectorymanagementsystem,sostudents,teachers,andadministrativestaffonlyneedasinglelogintoaccesstheirhomepagewithalloftheirapplications.Forexample,DRET’sMalcolmArnoldAcademyreliesonapplicationsusingtheWindowsoperatingsystem,viaChromebooksrunningCitrix.
ChromebooksbringanumberofbenefitsforITstaffatDRET,too.Inadditiontobeinglesscostlythancompetingdevices,Chromebooksareeasiertosetup,sotheywerequicklydeployedatscale.TheyalsohelpreducetheworkloadforShearerandhisDRETITcolleagues.Forexample,staffmanage50timesfewersupportticketsforChromebookscomparedtoWindowsdevices.Thestaffalsodoesn’thavetospendtimetestingaccessibilityofappsandonlineresourcesacrossplatforms.“Puttingthingsoutonthewebissorapidnow,”Shearersays.“Deployingapplicationsiseasier,soittakeslesstimetobringservicestoallstudentsandteachers.”
Today,DRET’sschoolsareusingthousandsofChromebooksinclassrooms.“AllofthefeedbackfromteachersandstudentsonChromebooksisincrediblypositive,”Shearersays.Toincreaseengagementbystaff,schoolsinvitedstudentsfromthepilotgroupstoleadtrainingfortheirteachers.“Astudenttalkingtoateacherandexplaininghowhewantstobetaught–that’spowerful,”Shearersays.
TheadoptionofChromebooks,andteachers’willingnesstotestnewwaysofengagingwithstudents,areevidencethatDRET’schangesareworking.“Youcanleadpeopleinacertaindirection,butifthey’renothappyaboutwhereyou’retakingthem,theywon’tgo,”Shearersays.“ThegoodthingisthatteachersarenotperceivingthatthechangetoChromebooksistheendofsomething–butmorelikethebeginning.”
About G Suite for EducationGSuiteforEducationisasuiteoffree,securetoolsthatincludesGmail,Calendar,Sites&Documents.Useitforcollaborationandcommunicationnomatterwhereyouareorwhichdeviceyou’reusing.Over60millionstudents,faculty,andstaffinschoolsaroundtheworldhavegoneGooglewithGSuiteforEducation.Youcanlearnmoreandsignuptotryitoutbyvisitingourwebsite:
www.google.com/intx/en_gb/edu/products/productivity-tools/
About Google ChromebooksChromebooksaredesignedtohelpstudentsandteachersgetthingsdonequicklyandeasily.Devicesstartat£159andaresimpletomanageatscalethroughawebbrowser.Withseveraldevicestochoosefrom,it’seasytofindaChromebookthatmeetsyourstudents’needs.Youcanlearnmorehere:
www.google.com/intx/en_gb/edu/products/devices/chromebooks.html
