Projects

School Infrastructure upgrades

In 2014-15, IUSD upgraded bandwidth for all IUSD schools.  Bandwidth describes the “connectivity to the doorstep” of our sites.  This was a necessary first step to address much broader concerns about equity and technology access.  More recently, IUSD set aside facilities and other funding to retrofit all schools' technology infrastructure.  The scope of the upgrades includes replacing and augmenting network cabling, network equipment and wireless access points.  This project combines long-term comprehensive upgrades with incremental efforts to provide immediate relief to our schools.  When this project is complete, IUSD schools will have connectivity that supports 1:1 (one device per child) access anywhere on our campuses. 

Incremental Upgrades:  Over 1,400 wireless access points have been replaced or added since the project began in 2015. The incremental upgrades also included replacing network switch equipment at many IUSD sites, including all of our high schools. "Spot fixes" continue as we work to complete comprehensive upgrades at all IUSD sites. 

Comprehensive Upgrades:  Late in 2016, IUSD awarded bids to complete the comprehensive (cabling, wireless access and network equipment) upgrades for nearly all sites.*  The work is moving forward rapidly.  As of August 2017, half of IUSD schools have been cutover to newly upgraded technology infrastructure.  The remaining schools are expected to be complete by June 2018.  

*Sites scheduled for modernization through Measure E will receive upgrades as part of those projects. 

1:1 INNOVATION pILOT PROGRAM

During the 2015-2016 school year we launched the “1:1 Innovation Pilot” program,  approved as part of the district's LCAP.  IUSD set aside funding for approximately sixty 1:1 (one device, per student) pilot programs awarded through a competitive application process.  Each selected teacher (or team of teachers) received: a class set of devices (primarily Chromebooks), charging/storage cart, wireless upgrades for the selected classroom(s) if necessary, and professional learning for best practices and curriculum integration.  The district approved funding for an additional fifty 1:1 classrooms in the 2017-18 LCAP.  The new awardees will receive their devices early in the 2017-18 school year.  

The program aimed to pilot the effectiveness of 1:1 in the classroom by assisting teachers in using technology to redefine the learning environment consistent with the District’s Continuous Improvement Efforts (CIE) and redesign their curricula in order to provide project-based, collaborative opportunities for students to apply and interact with instructional content (Hanover, Dec. 2015). It also allowed for students to extend classroom instruction through online learning, meaningful connections and differentiated, student-curated content.

As a result, teachers were able to empower students to be the architects of their own learning by regularly providing them with the tools that allowed them to set personal educational goals, create knowledge and assess progress. These incubators of innovation, have clearly made an impact on the learning in our district, as leadership has made a push to provide more devices for students at every school site; growing our Chromebook count from 2500, in 2016, to 15,000 in 2017.