Frequently Asked Questions # 5

I am a bit confused - are the leasing options leasing to own the chrome book? Will we own it after the completion of the lease?

Yes - there are three leasing options and they are all lease to own.

If someone breaks or damages my child's chrome book will they be made to pay the excess? 

As always when any damage occurs at school we would investigate and make a recommendation. When the chrome books are introduced (hopefully at the start of Term 1) we will be discussing the rights and responsibilities of using a chrome book. A question like this would be discussed with the children.

The clip we saw where there was multiple people typing on one screen at once,  is this a reality of what will be happening as I feel it would be incredibly distracting? 

​This is a useful teaching option and will be used particularly for collaborative, full class writing but it will not be an everyday activity.

Can other students comment/edit your work while you are actually doing it?

Only if you invite them to.​

Blogging, I wouldn't be happy with it being a public blog, however a private 'in school' blog I would be quite happy with.

We will be surveying our parents to find out what they would prefer...

​Different school do different things for different reasons. The options seems to be:

• a public blog with no restrictions so anyone can comment at  any time. The thinking around this is that children need to have an audience for their writing. An example would be a child from a school blogged about Val Adams and guess who read it and responded to it - Val Adams - how cool and relevant would that be.

OR

• We can apply filters so that teachers, parents and other students are co authors and can comment. The world can comment but these comments are not published until they are approved by teacher or the blogger.

OR

• All comments have to be approved by the blogger or teacher before publishing.​

​Morning tea and lunch, are the class rooms going to be locked with no access to chrome books?

No one will be able to use chromebooks  during play and lunch.​

How will you ensure our children are safe from cyberbullying?

Cybersafety is a big challenge that is best addressed by many strategies, including a combination of network security and student education. Our school network is secure and we will have the ability to monitor (and, if necessary, manage) student activity on the internet. Our internet connection is managed by Watchdog/N4L which are both Ministry of Education partners and have solid reputations as a solution for filtering out undesirable content. No one technology solution is ever 100% secure, however, student and parent education is also an important part of approach to providing a safe learning environment and giving students the right strategies and resilience to cope when things go wrong! 

Our approach will be called Cybersmart, that is, we will be teaching the children how to be smart and effective users of technology in their connected world. More to come...

Community Meeting held 21 October 2014

Thank you so much for coming along to the information meeting for 1:1 device meeting held last Tuesday. We were delighted with the turn out and from the feedback we have received  it seems that it was of value. For those that could not make it here is a short summary. Please note the new tabs at the top of this page where you can find additional information at the click of a button.

The evening was divided into 3 parts. Derek Wenmoth  spoke about the need to go digital. He outlined the changes that have happened over the years in a witty and engaging way. He talked us through the benefits and the risks of technology.  Derek's presentation covered many of those questions that were asking why can't things stay the same?

Jo and Lee presented a view of how the classrooms might look in 2015.  They talked about why 1:1 and not BYOD and why chrome books.There was clip on the google chrome books and also the hapara dashboard which is how the work is organised.  They outlined what work that  had taken place so far in readiness  for going 1:1.

Mike Hilliard from the trust discussed the google chromebooks, the lease to own option and the buy outright option. He discussed insurances and answered many questions from the floor.

At the end of the evening (which did finish on time!) there were questions from the floor as well as an opportunity for parents to come froward and ask questions at the end in a less public setting. Parents also had a question sheet that they could fill in.

The next step is to survey our parents and find out  how many  would be interested in leasing to own or purchasing a google chromebook. This information will help us with our planning for next year.

Frequently Asked Questions # 4

What is the impact of going from a school that is 1-1 device in Yr 8 to a school that is still text and exercise books in Yr 9?

We are unsure however, what we do know is that secondary schools who have not implemented a digital environment will need to, to meet the MOE expectations. NCEA in some subjects is going digital in 2016 and there is a trial in one subject this year. It’s coming whether we like it or not.

The schools we contribute to:
Catholic Cathedral College (promoting chromebooks)
St Thomas’ (moving to chromebooks)
Villa Maria (working towards BYOD)
St Bedes (laptops with certain specifications, can accommodate chromebooks)
Christchurch South Intermediate (promoting Chromebooks / BYOD)
Hillmorton High School (IPads but can accommodate Chromebooks)
Cashmere High School BYOD 
Lincoln High School BYOD

Please note: any school promoting BYOD can accommodate a chrome book.


How will we manage the social networking issues and gaming?

Using a chromebook at school is not about gaming and we will be ensuring that certain games are blocked – they will not be able to get apps like snap chat, instagram, minecraft and facebook while at school. There may be other games that make this list also. 
The focus at school is on learning and whilst it can be argued that some of these apps can be educational – at this stage we would see them as a distraction. We are about teaching the children to become cyber smart – and therefore we need to teach them how to manage the social media in an appropriate way.

Frequently Asked Questions #3

Can We Bring Our Own Device?

No. Other schools’ experience suggests that having multiple devices is problematic. Having one device means that teachers and students are working from one platform. This is our preference, however for those in their last year at school there is flexibility. Some of you may have already purchased a laptop or ipad for your child to have at intermediate or secondary school and we will work with this.

A point to note: There will be considerations – insurance, breakdowns, incompatibility.  Our staff will endeavour to accommodate the different device however, should there be issues with the different device this will need to be sorted from home. The bonus with the chromebook is that we will have technicians available to ensure they are in working order. 

Will the Chromebook be kept at school or can it be taken home?

If you lease or buy the chromebook then it will be able to go home. We want the children to be able to continue their school work at home should they wish. The children may need to access their class sites for homework – but we don’t envisage that they will be spending all their time at home on the chromebook. You will have your own rules around screen time at home and this is no different. 

What will happen if my child does not have a chrome book?


The leasing of a chromebook is a cost effective way for your child to have up to date technology that they can use at home and at school and is transferrable amongst our contributing schools. The school will have a limited pool of devices as we do currently, which will only be able to be used in class time.

Frequently Asked Questions # 2

What are we planning to do?

We are planning to roll out a digital programme in 2015. It is intended that every Year 5-8 student will have their own device. Our Chromebook initiative, coupled with excellent teaching and learning programmes, is designed to provide age appropriate opportunities for students to develop the academic and 21st Century skills needed to thrive and adapt in our ever-changing world! 

Why now?
We are part of MOE led cluster that will support us financially to provide professional development for teachers and competitive leasing/ owning options for parents.

Frequently Asked Questions # 1

What are the options? 

 1. Buy the Chromebook up front. This comes ready to use with a 3 year warranty, insurance and a bag. Price will be $460+GST +/- 10%. It will  include heavy duty case, Google Management Console, 3 year warranty and 3 year insurance policy against loss, theft or damage (reasonable) with an excess of $50.(approx $520 all up) 

2. Leasing terms are a $40 deposit, a three year contract is $4.00pw; a two year contract requires $5.50 per week;  a one year contract is $10.50 pw.  It will  include a heavy duty case, Google Management Console, 3 year warranty and 3 year insurance policy against loss, theft or damage (reasonable) with an excess of $50.

Can I buy a chromebook for other children in my family that are not involved in the 1:1 programmes?

You can purchase chromebooks for your other children but you can only use the leasing option for children in the current programme.

Have a great holiday

Kia Ora Families
We hope you are having fun times with your children these holidays!

Attached is an invitation to attend a meeting to inform you on how we plan to introduce 1:1 devices for Year 5 and 8 children next year at Hoon Hay and OLA.

We are keen to know your thoughts, questions and concerns, so that we can tailor the meeting to your needs. We want you to leave the meeting feeling confident and assured that your children will be getting a good deal in 2015. The more information you email, the more tailored the meeting will be. So please email us.... principal@hoonhay.school.nz, or principal@ola.school.nz or RSVP to office@hoonhay.school.nz. or admin@ola.school.nz


COMMUNITY MEETING

Hoon Hay School & Our Lady of the Assumption School
INFORMATION EVENING
Tuesday 21 October, 7.30pm – 9.00pm

Hoon Hay and Our Lady of the Assumption Schools are thrilled to announce that we are part of the Ko te Tihi o Matauranga Cluster - a Christchurch wide project made up of five different communities
of schools. The aim of this project is to ensure that our students have access to suitable digital technologies at home and at school.
It is all about building digital learning capabilities. 

In a nutshell – we are part of a number of local schools who will receive Ministry assistance to further develop eLearning in our schools.
Why is this good? 

This initiative helps us to achieve our goal to meet the needs of equipping our children with 21st Century skills and digital competencies more quickly than we could if we worked in isolation. We will receive Ministry funding to provide professional learning to staff to ensure that we are planned and ready to meet the challenges that having more digital devices will bring.

It is an advantage that our two schools work together to utilise the strengths and demonstrate collaborative learning practices. We are the same community and let's celebrate that and work through the process together.

The Modern Learning Environment is coming! This cluster development will place our schools in a positive position to know how we need our schools to look, to reflect the way we need to teach, to ensure success for all.

Until now this approach has been accessible to mainly independent schoolsand we are very fortunate to be funded for this development. 

Going Digital OLA and Hoon Hay

You will now be aware that in 2015 Hoon Hay school’s Legends Team (Year 5 & 6) and OLA's Batten and Hillary Teams (Year 5 - 8) are intending on running a pilot programme with each child having a device. Our staff will use technology in ways to improve, enhance and engage learners. We already have lots of devices in our school however having 1 device for each child is new. Keep up to date by checking the blog for all the information and remember to ask questions and make comments. 

We want to know what you’re thinking
We want to know your questions & concerns 


So please comment on the blog or e-mail:
Lee McArthur
principal@hoonhay.school.nz
Jo Earl
principal@ola.school.nz
We will endeavor to answer all your questions at this meeting 

Remember, no question is silly! If you are thinking it – someone else will be too

Meeting Format
7.30pm Welcome
Why digital?
Derek Wenmoth – Director of e-Learning, Core Education
 
Derek has been involved with CORE since its inception in 2003. With a background as a teacher, principal, teacher educator, and education policy advisor, Derek’s role perfectly combines his passion for teaching and learning together with his long-held fascination with the use of technologies in education. Derek is regarded as one of New Zealand education’s foremost future-focused thinkers, and is regularly asked to consult with policy makers and government agencies regarding the future directions of New Zealand educational policy and practice. 

8.00pm How might it look in classrooms in 2015?
OLA and Hoon Hay Staff 

8.30pm Ko te Tihi o Matauranga Cluster
Leases and insurances – how will this work? Carol Moffatt and Mike Hillard

Location To be confirmed
RSVP office@hoonhay.school.nz or admin@ola.school.nz By Monday 20 October 

Google Chromebooks
Our schools, like many in the cluster, are choosing Google Chromebooks as our device.
The trust is intending to bulk buy with options for parents to lease or buy outright. An approximate cost at this stage looks to be about $400 which includes everything – set up software, protective bag, insurance etc.
The experience of other schools suggests one device is preferred for the following reasons
o Teachers explain the way to use a Google Chromebook rather than a variety of devices o Technicians will be available to fix Google Chromebooks (not other devices)
o The learning needs to be the priority not the type of device
o Google Chromebooks will be insured – other devices won’t be
o Having different devices could be a distraction.
However, we are considering a ‘transition year’ to allow those that may have already purchased devices for intermediate and secondary schools. To be clear we are not opting for BYOD, rather we are choosing a preferred device – in our case that is a Google Chromebook. 

2 Connected Communities
Blog http://2connectedcommunities.blogspot.co.nz E-mail Lee principal@hoonhay.school.nz
E-mail Jo principal@ola.school.nz

In the last week of Term senior students from Our Lady of the Assumption and Hoon Hay schools welcomed our giraffe to school. Students from both schools have now entered designs to paint and name our giraffe. The brief given to the students was the design must represent our two school communities and e-learning. Early in Term 4 the winning design will be painted on the giraffe and then it will join the Christchurch Stands Tall wild animal trail before the giraffe is returned to our schools.

Auckland trip

Going Digital OLA and Hoon Hay - Look at what we have been up to...

Most of you will be aware that in 2015 Hoon Hay schools Legends Team and OLA's Batten and Hillary Teams are intending on running a pilot programme with 1-1 devices. Our staff will use technology in ways to improve, enhance and engage learners. We already have lots of devices in our school however having 1 device for each child is new. Keep up to date here on the blog for all the information and remember to ask questions and make comments. We are holding a community meeting on October 21st 7:30-9pm. Diary this now so you don’t miss out. 

Modern Learning Practices

We continue to talk about, read about and observe good practice as we work on our journey towards 1 - 1. 

This week we just want to leave you with a video and an articles - some of our staff are in Auckland today and we know that they will have information to share with you next week.

This link is to a video from Myross Bush School - interesting viewing - talking about modern learning practices in traditional school buildings.

Using Chromebooks in the classroom - An interesting read of one persons view of observing in a 1-1 classroom where the children are using Google Apps for Education (GAFE) - our staff are currently training to use these tools.

The blog next week will have information about what we have learned from our Auckland trip. 

We are progressing...

Next week some representatives of both our schools are heading to Auckland to spend some time with schools that have had 1 - 1 devices for a long time. They will be looking to see how this works. Check out Pt England school.


At this stage we have got a number of devices in our classrooms and we can see that each child having their own device would be the ideal. Our kids love technology and are Digital Natives whereas teachers and parents are Digital Immigrants (check out the last post for the article that explains this), therefore we need to understand how this is all going to work. We are very lucky to have this opportunity to visit a school that has successfully introduced 1 - 1 and the achievement results and research back this up.

The Staff and Board have put together some questions for the team visiting Auckland and we invite you to email us your questions to be included.

Both schools have purchased a small number of Chromebooks as the thinking seems to be that these are the most cost effective device. We will be trailing using these over the next term. There has been no final decision on what device we will be using in our pilot classrooms next year. 

OLA and Hoon Hay Community Meeting
 21 October 2014 7.30pm 

We intend to run a community evening on this date to give you more information about why we have decided to implement this programme and also the nuts and bolts of how we will make it work. More information about this very soon.


Some more light reading and viewing for you…Keep the questions coming.

This is interesting viewing - while it is American and therefore not everything applies - it poses some interesting questions.

Give me one good reason...

One Good Reason 

A school's role is to prepare our students for their future. We are charged with this without a full comprehension of what the future will hold. We see this initiative as preparing students for a future where technology and creative thinking will be at the forefront of society. Our teachers are learning how to harness the power of technology to build creativity in our students, engaging them in self-regulated lifelong learning.

Research shows educational benefits of one to one devices are:

▪ They give students access to anywhere, anytime learning.

▪ They enable students to learn independently, collaborate with peers and communicate their understandings using rich media.

▪ They complement the existing school curriculum by providing digital learning tools that link with planned classroom activities.

▪ Their use in the classroom will evolve as students and teachers become familiar with the new tools.

▪ Improved student motivation and achievement

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - 

Check out this link:

Students are the future, but what's the future for students? To arm them with the relevant, timeless skills for our rapidly changing world, we need to revolutionise what it means to learn. Education innovators like Dr. Sugata Mitra, visiting professor at MIT; Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy; and Dr. Catherine Lucey, Vice Dean of Education at UCSF, are redefining how we engage young minds for a creatively and technologically-advanced future. Which of these educators holds the key for unlocking the learning potential inside every student?

Questions

Thanks for sending in your questions – there are some common  themes – interestingly enough these are the ones raised by teachers as well. We will endeavour to answer them more fully over time.

• Cyber Safety
• Controls / Security particularly around learning vs gaming
• What happens to pen and paper?
• Parent Education
• What if you can't afford a digital device?

Pen and Paper

This is still important. Our children will be using a mixture of both technology and pen and paper to record their ideas and thinking. Rest assured we will not be throwing the baby out with the bath water! Our approach will be carefully thought through.

Cyber Safety

In the blog last week we posted a link to a booklet and website that provides us all with a common sense approach to this topic. We will be thinking about and developing procedures that will keep us all safe. We will continue to post relevant and interesting links for you.

Have a great weekend. Keep the questions coming…

Lee and Jo

Some light reading for you...

Kia ora

We have added some links this week for you to have a look at. We know that you will have lots of questions and we are keen to hear from you.

If you are thinking it, so are others - so please email your questions to us (Lee  principal@hoonhay.school.nz or Jo principal@ola.school.nz) or add a comment on the blog. Next week we will answer the questions for you.

First and foremost the best device your child can have is a good teacher. We know this. You can have all the devices you like however if the teacher is unsure of how they can be used to enhance learning - improvement won't happen. Therefore we intend to ensure that our teachers are prepared and confident.

Our focus will be readiness rather than devices. This first link focuses on good teacher practice. While it's written for teachers we believe it is a good article for you to see what is going on behind the scenes.


Enabling elearning


Did you see this?
Nigel Latta - School Report -What's going on?

Staying Safe online This is a great common sense resource. Share it with your children. Let us know if you find it helpful.

Have a great weekend!

Jo and Lee

2 Connected Communities

Hoon Hay and Our Lady of the Assumption schools join together to move forward with eLearning!

Hoon Hay and Our Lady of the Assumption Schools are thrilled to announce that we are part of the Ko te Tihi o Matauranga Cluster - a Christchurch wide project made up of five different communities of schools. We are part of the Hillmorton Community. The aim of this project is to ensure that our students have access to suitable digital technologies at home and at school. It is all about building digital learning capabilities.

In a nutshell we are a part of a number of local schools who will receive Ministry assistance to further develop eLearning in our schools.

Why is this good?

This initiative helps us to achieve our goal to meet the needs of equipping our children with 21st Century skills and digital competencies more quickly than we could if we worked in isolation. We will receive Ministry funding to provide professional learning to staff to ensure that we are planned and ready to meet the challenges that having more digital devices will bring.

It is an advantage that our two schools work together to utilise the strengths and demonstrate collaborative learning practices. We are the same community and let's celebrate that and work through the process together.

The Modern Learning Environment is coming! This cluster development will place our schools in a positive position to know how we need our schools to look, to reflect the way we need to teach, to ensure success for all.

Until now this approach has been accessible to mainly independent schools and we are very fortunate to be funded for this development.

What does this mean?

Digital technologies change the way students learn, the way teachers teach and where and when learning takes place.

It is our thinking that we would like to introduce this learning in a planned and structured way. We plan to run a pilot programme in our schools focusing on our senior students first. At OLA year 5-8; and at Hoon Hay Year 5-6.

Do I have to supply a device for my child?

The cluster is considering how to make this happen in a cost effective way. Sit tight, and we will keep you posted.

What has happened so far?

Both our schools have many digital devices so children using technology to enhance learning is not new. However the possibility of every child having a device is new and will require a carefully thought out strategy.

Our senior school teachers have attended a number of workshops focusing on readiness and discussing how it might look in our classes if every child has their own device and how this will change the way we teach and what impact will this have on learning.

We have spoken with and will visit schools who have successfully implemented this approach. Our staff need to feel confident, competent and ready.

We will be providing you with regular updates via our newsletters and this newly established combined blog. We have a combined community meeting planned for early in Term 4.

We are excited about this opportunity and we are very keen to get it right. Your thoughts are important to us so please use this blog to comment should you wish.

Here are some articles you may like to read to ensure you get a balanced view.

Classrooms Flooded with Devices

Digital Literacy Investment for Christchurch



Lee McArthur                        Jo Earl
Hoon Hay School                   Our Lady of the Assumption