Gamifying your own cancer treatment: how playing a video game actually helps patients get healthier

Video games have great potential to be powerful learning tools by providing instruction, keeping students engaged or interested in a subject, or even simply by helping students stay active using Microsoft's Kinect. A new game featured in an article on CNN Tech has shown me that there is a new way that video games can teach: they can provide the motivation to fight cancer.

Re-Mission 2 is a new game created by the non-profit group HopeLab. In Re-Mission 2 the player
uses chemotherapy, cancer drugs and the body's own natural defenses to fight off cancer. In that sense, the game simply teaches the player about the science behind fighting cancer.

But something unexpected happened to the patients who played the game: they became more diligent in taking their medicine. By seeing what happens inside their bodies, patients understood the importance of receiving their treatments and had a much higher rate of sticking to their treatment schedule. Any parent knows how hard it is to get children to take their medicine or go to the doctor.  By playing the video game it helped give patients the knowledge and the will to do what it takes to get better. The video game provided willpower to a cancer patient. Doctors and patients alike have said that playing the game provides a psychological advantage to fighting cancer by giving the patient a sense of control over the disease. How extraordinary is that?  Playing the game showed patients the effect of their medicine on cancer which gave them the confidence and the will to keep fighting for their lives.

Currently the game is only available on the PC as a Flash-based game but HopeLab plans on making a version that can be played on Android and Apple devices in the near future.

WiFi is a necessity, not a luxury: use this app to find free WiFi

Just how important is the Internet to you?  I am not one to say, “I can’t function without the Internet!” If I were to honestly evaluate how much the Internet means to me, I would say that having Internet in the home is more important than having cable TV or a land-line phone. The Internet keeps us connected to the world in ways that grow every day. It brings us local and national news. It provides us with information that educates and informs us. But mostly, it keeps us connected to the people that matter the most to us.

A better question might be this: how often do you connect to the Internet each day? To this question I bet most of us would simply say “a lot” or “all the time”. There are two things I do most often when I first get on a computer – get on the Internet or check my email. Everything I want from a computer is on the Internet. On my cell phone I check Facebook and read the news on +Boston.com almost any time I have a few spare minutes. Yes, I’m the guy who will read an article or two while waiting in line at the grocery store. I also use Google Drive regularly to update documents and share them with others when I do not have access to a computer. The Internet keeps me connected in ways that traditional means cannot.

Name one person you know who is not connected to the Internet today. Who comes to mind? I can name just two – my 87 year old grandfather and my 86 year old grandmother. They are the sweetest couple who simply do not believe that they need to be on the Internet. Yet they have a son who lives in Florida; grandchildren in Boston, New York, and Busan (South Korea); and a great-granddaughter in Chicago. All of these family members are on Facebook, could be reached via email or +Skype, and can connect through Google Hangouts. My grandparents are missing out on the social interactions that the Internet provides.

Unfortunately, many homes in America still do not have an Internet connection. The website Internet World Stats says that only 78% of Americans are connected to the Internet, which places us 27th in the world.  Did you know that Niue ranks ahead of us?  I've never even heard of Niue!

But how does this relate to students? 

They have the same needs that adults do: be productive, stay connected, and to communicate with others. Students probably have a greater need to be on the Internet than we do as adults. I mean that: they NEED the Internet. Students are not the ones who decide whether or not they can have Internet access, though. Their parents make the decision to provide Internet in the home or to purchase a cell phone plan with Internet access. Our district is projected to provide every student with an iPad starting in August of 2014, but it will be the responsibility of the family to get Internet in the home. What if parents choose not to have home Internet service? Then the students will need to find it elsewhere.

We might be 27^th in home Internet access worldwide, but Americans have two advantages over many other countries when it comes to WiFi: McDonalds and +Starbucks Coffee.  We have LOTS of McDonald's and Starbucks locations which offer free WiFi.  In fact, many businesses offer free WiFi.  When we rolled out our first batch of iPads to 1,500 students I created a digital map of the local businesses that offer free WiFi to help show our school board that even if our students do not have the Internet at home that they would still have many options for staying connected.  That map was small, it only covered part of our geographical borders, and it only included locations that I knew for a fact had wi-fi.  It simply was not accurate. Our five high schools serve towns with a combined population of over 200,000 which makes creating and maintaining a WiFi map very labor intensive.

Free WiFi Finder

An app called Free Wi-Fi Finder has replaced that small, outdated map.  You can search for free WiFi by entering an address into the search box or by letting it search based on your current location.  It produces a map with the location of free WiFi locations marked with green arrows.  Each location lists the name, address, and phone number of the business where WiFi can be found for free.

A 26MB download of its database will allow you to search for free WiFi even when you are not connected to the Internet. This allows students to go home where there is not Internet but use the app to find the closest free WiFi location to his house

The Free Wi-Fi Finder app claims to work in other counties, but my colleague's search for free WiFi in Jamaica, his spring break destination, yielded zero results.  The app relies on its users to enter new locations, so it looks like when he arrives he is going to have to tag the free WiFi zones for the rest of us.

Now if only I could get my grandparents on the Internet. Since they won’t be leaving the house, the Free Wi-Fi Finder app will not help them very much. It looks like I will have to buy them an Xbox One to keep them connected to the rest of the family. 

(This article is an update on an earlier one. Click here to see the original.)

Addressing the negative student behaviors in a one-to-one classroom

I strongly believe that technology is going to completely revolutionize the classroom. But when are we going to start addressing the negative aspects of the one-to-one classroom? When are we going to acknowledge the fact that just because every student has a device it does not mean that they will get a 36 on the ACT? I have seen videos of babies that can play with an iPad, but that does not mean that high school students intuitively know how to use one to effectively collaborate and communicate in the classroom. Let's be honest: using technology in the classroom is harder than teaching the "old way". It takes a whole new skill set, and it requires a lot of work to get ourselves over the new barriers caused by the technology. We can overcome the obstacles, but we need to acknowledge that the obstacles are there. A hurdler does not run down the track blindfolded - he has to see the hurdles in front of him if he is going to clear them and win the race.

There are SO MANY well-documented positive results of using technology in the classroom. There are major studies that will tell you that technology improves a child's education in very specific ways. Read Project Red's study of nearly one thousand schools in Revolutionizing Education Through Technology to learn about 13 specific areas where schools will see benefits from a strong one-to-one program. The key to making progress is to implement it PROPERLY, and that is where many schools fail. They throw technology in the classroom and expect benefits to appear. But they don't always appear - some benefits do not reveal themselves right away, and some never appear at all. Not only do you have use technology the right way, but you also have to be prepared to identify and overcome the problems. 

Besides just documenting the positive aspects of using technology, schools also need to be on the lookout for the negatives. It's still early in the one-to-one era, but a surprising number of schools are simply not prepared for the question of, "What do we do when things aren't working quite right?" As classrooms change with the addition of technology, we need to celebrate the positives but also realistically deal with the distinct negatives that were not present before. So what are the negatives?

Student behaviors, actions and attitudes

1. Technology becomes the distraction. Students can find it hard to resist the temptations of all the iPad has to offer. They are easily distracted by the games, videos, chatting, and social media sites.  They're much more fun than listening to a teacher, right? Classroom management can be very difficult when thirty students have iPads in front of them, and it's not always easy to see what they are doing. Distracted students who are  not paying attention in class is probably the number one gripe from teachers. 
   
2. Distracting other students.  Many students are perfectly capable of paying attention in class and using their tablet or cell phone effectively - unless they are sitting next to another student who is not so disciplined. It's hard for other students to ignore one who is watching videos or playing games in class. When one student is distracted, he becomes a distraction to others. 
3. Difficulty evaluating information. Students think that when they "Google" a question that they will get the right answer. They are not naturally adept at discerning the difference between "good" information and "bad" information. Students need practice to hone their skills in information literacy which is one of the six national educational technology standards for students (NETS-S).
4. Less interest in the class. It is generally accepted that student interest and engagement increase when they are in a one-to-one classroom. But what happens when a teacher is not prepared to use technology effectively? Students will actually lose interest in the class if the teacher does not provide lessons that take advantage of the technology or use the same boring technology over and over again. Keynote presentations everyday? Boring! 
5. Loss of sleep. When students are well-rested they are more capable of processing information, concentrating, making decisions, and interacting with others. Losing sleep can have negative consequences academically for a student. An unanticipated consequence of our one-to-one program is that our kids take their iPads to bed with them where they check Facebook, Instant Message and video chat with each other, or simply watch Harlem Shake videos for hours on end. Some students are not accustomed to having Internet access 24 hours a day, and consequently they lose sleep for the first few weeks (or months or longer) while they explore the wonders of the Internet.
6. Increased incidences of bullying. Administrators often anticipate that there will be an increase in anonymous attacks on other students over the Internet. What we found is that many students are not afraid to use their actual names and accounts to launch attacks on each other. You can easily find students from your own school who post horrible comments and photos about other students on Twitter and Facebook by doing a simple Internet search. Bullying in person is damaging, but when bullies use technology it's amplified a hundred times over. I will not recount for you the number of incidences where online bullying resulted in suicide for the victim. Use the term "facebook bullying suicide" in a search engine and see for yourself. Online bullying is devastating. Unfortunately, only one in ten students will tell an adult that they are being bullied online.

Technology has changed the behavior of our students, but we as educators can help address those issues. In the long run, these problems will be resolved. You will find the solution to these problems much faster if you can identify them and address them. The six I listed were chosen based on my personal observation and from research I did on the subject. I am sure there are others. 

Just because students behave differently when using technology does not mean that only students have to change. Teachers and administrators also have to change their attitudes, behaviors, and professional practices if your one-to-one program is going to be successful. I will address that aspect in another article.

Increased parental engagement will help your one-to-one program succeed

Communicating with parents can lead to better relationships between parents and the school, and it can also decrease negative behaviors in students.  Better communication can also lead to academic gains for the students.  If your school is building a one-to-one program, one often-neglected aspect is the focus on improving your communication with parents.

The research on school-parent communication can be grouped into five different categories:

1. Communication flows from the teacher to the parents in an effort to keep the parents informed of school and classroom activities.
2. Communication flows from parents to the teacher to educate the teacher as to how to best reach their children.
3. Communication helps to build strong relationships between the parents and the school.
4. Using one communication method is not effective, especially when using technology.
5. Students have fewer instances of negative behaviors when their parents are involved in their schoolwork.

The most common form of parent-teacher communication is when information is sent to parents by the teacher, usually in the form of a newsletter or an email.  This type of information is important to parents because they want to stay connected.  Nora Carr wrote, “they [parents] greatly appreciate frequent updates about their children’s progress—as well as online access to homework assignments, grades, attendance, discipline reports, teacher notes, and student portfolios.”

One aspect of communication that is often ignored by teachers is the information that can be gained from listening to a parent.  Teachers are often seen as the expert who knows what is best for the child, and they offer advice to the parent on how to best help their child learn.  A great deal can be learned from the parent if the teacher only knew to ask.  Parents will become truly engaged in their child’s learning if they are treated like a partner in their education.  Kevin Mixon wrote, “when working on National Board certification ... two-way communication is an area of weakness for most teachers.”  Larry Ferlazzo wrote this:

“In involvement, the teacher might be akin to a social worker, doing things for parents or tending to tell them what they should be doing with their children. In engagement, the teacher is more of an organizer who helps parents do things for themselves. He or she would elicit ideas from parents about what everyone (parents and school staff) could do differently to support students and their community.”

Building strong relationships helps build trust and helps facilitate meaningful conversations between parents and teachers.  This can be done by having conversations unrelated to specific children and instead everyone can discuss education and/ or parenting as a whole.  David Ruenzel wrote that his school holds potluck dinners where parents and teachers can just sit and talk in a less formal setting, and while misunderstanding still occur it happens less frequently.

Different technology should be used in different situations and to reach different audiences.  Due to a wide variety of conditions that affect families - socioeconomic status, technology skill level, personal preference related to communication - there is a need to utilize technology that can be accessed through multiple means to meet everyone’s needs.  Schoology offers teachers the ability to connect via email, a website, or through an app that is accessible on Android and iOS phones and tablets.  The increase in smartphone adoption has greatly assisted in reaching parents of all types.  Nora Carr wrote, “America’s smartphone obsession cuts across gender lines as well as racial and ethnic groups. Women are about as likely as men to own smart phones (45 percent versus 46 percent, respectively), while smartphone ownership rates among blacks (47 percent) and Hispanics (49 percent) surpasses those of whites (42 percent).”  Teachers also need to be trained on how to best utilize technology to communicate, and school policies often have to change to match the changes in technology.  The state of Illinois' rule requiring one instance of making contact with a parent per year is outdated, especially in this era of hyper-communication.

Increased participation by a parent in their children’s lives has been shown to have a positive effect on the child’s behavior.  It can help reduce the number of Fs students receive and the number of discipline problems that are documented by the school administration.  One related study by Michelle Molnar reported, “Higher parental involvement in schools may reduce rebellious behavior because parents have more time or are more committed to being involved in their kids' lives. It may also be that schools where most of the parents are involved increase parental network ties, which helps them keep better track of their adolescents.”

Your one-to-one program will focus on changing the way teachers teach and students learn. Increased student engagement will probably be one of your measurements of success. Increased parent engagement is also important, measurable, and attainable. One of the goals for you one-to-one program should include parent engagement, if for the sole reason that increased parent interaction will help you reach your other goals.

Resources

Carr, Nora. "Smart Phones Require Smart Communication Strategies." Smart Phones Require Smart Communication Strategies. ESchoolNews, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/10/10/smart-phones-require-smart-communication-strategies/>.

Cavanagh, Sean. "Parental Engagement Proves No Easy Goal." Education Week. Education Week, 28 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/04/04/27engagement_ep.h31.html>.

Epstein, Joyce Levy. School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2011.

Ferlazzo, Larry. "'Back To The Future' For Parent Engagement." Education Week. Education Week, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/2012/04/back_to_the_future_for_parent_engagement.html>.

Ferlazzo, Larry. "Follow-Up: Parent Engagement vs. Parent Involvement." Education Week. Education Week, 23 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/2012/04/the_roles_of_parents_teachers_administrators_in_parent_engagement.html>.

Johnson, Graham. "Teachers: Involve Parents in the Flipped Classroom, Too." Teachers: Involve Parents in the Flipped Classroom, Too. ESchoolNews, 26 Oct. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/10/26/teachers-involve-parents-in-the-flipped-classroom-too/>.

Mixon, Kevin. "Making Parent Involvement a Two-Way Street." Education Week Teacher. Education Week, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/12/07/fp_mixon.html>.

Molnar, Michelle. "More Parental Involvement Means Fewer Runaways." Education Week. Education Week, 1 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/parentsandthepublic/2012/08/parental_involvement_in_schools_is.html>.

Molnar, Michelle. "Va. Superintendent Initiates a System-Wide Involvement Approach."Education Week. Education Week, 24 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/parentsandthepublic/2012/09/Va_superintendent_initiates_a_system-wide_involvement_approach.html>.

Ruenzel, David. "Just What Do We Mean By 'Parent Involvement'?" Education Week. Education Week, 18 Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/2012/04/just_what_do_we_mean_by_parent_involvement.html>.

Stansbury, Meris. "Strong Communication Key to Online Learning." Strong Communication Key to Online Learning. ESchoolNews, 6 Oct. 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/10/06/strong-communication-key-to-online-learning/?ast=93>.

We need more stinkin' badges (or, how to increase student participation without using grades as a reward)

What encourages students to do well in school? Often, it comes down to grades. Many students will work harder in order to earn a higher grade. Colleges want to see good grades. Parents want to see good grades.  Grades are good, right? Of course they are, but the grades should not be the only goal. Learning for the sake of it should be a goal, including what they learned, how long they remembered it, and how they applied it to new situations.

Unfortunately, some students are not motivated by grades. Yes, this includes your brightest kids. Some kids could get an A on any test you give them, so they do not see the need for homework. Why do an hour of work every night when they know they are going to get an A on the test? Now you have a student who gets Fs on all his homework and As on all his tests. It turns into a C average, and he doesn't care. How do you motivate him to do more or do better? The old-fashioned way - you give him a badge.

Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts

Boy Scout advancement patches

Boys and girls in the scouting program earn patches for three things: progressing through the scouting program, attending a special event, or accomplishing a specific goal.  They are given a badge, patch, or pin to wear on their uniform to show others what they have achieved.

The patches are a source of pride to the scout who earned them, and they are a way to show off what they have accomplished to others. Scouts have to meet certain criteria before advancing to the next level, but they are not expected to earn every single patch. The Scouting Organizations choose what they feel is important to the development of a child, and the scouts then can choose the ones that are interesting to them and start working towards earning that badge.

The values of every organization change, and when that happens new badges are created to encourage members to gain those skills. While camping or gardening might have been important in the past, computer skills are now considered important to a child. The Girl Scouts recently announced that they were creating a new badge in video game development.

The use of badges in the military
The Scouts' use of badges was borrowed from the military which has been utilizing badges for hundreds of years. Military uniforms display a soldier's pins and patches to display their accomplishments. You can tell at a glance those who have served the longest, accomplished the most, or have high marks in certain skills. The military awards those pins and patches for things that are valuable to the organization. Each pin or patch is created with the belief that soldiers with those skills can serve the military better.

Video Game Achievements
Video games award badges, too, in a very similar way to the Scouts and the military. But why? Video games are fun to play, so why provide extra incentive for playing games? It is because every video game loses its excitement over time. People lose interest even in the most popular games and eventually walk away. So how do game designers keep people playing once the game has been solved? By building in challenges that provide you with a reward for completing them. They are called achievements. If you play a video game through to the end you will earn anywhere between 200 to 500 points, but if you keep playing all the way through and complete every challenge you will earn 1,000 points. Those extra achievement points are specifically designed to keep you playing the game over and over.

Some of the achievements are very specific. Bowl a turkey? That's an achievement. Hit three triple-20s in darts? Achievement. Kick the ball over the net in volleyball instead of using your hands to score a point? Achievement. Those types of achievements encourage you to try harder and to keep working towards a goal.

Some achievements are really random, though. Why should you get an achievement for giving a high five to a robot hiding in an alley? Because it's funny and unexpected. It encourages the player to keep looking, to keep trying, but most importantly, to keep playing the game and to communicate with others when they find an achievement. It keeps people engaged in the game, and it keeps them engaged in the community of gamers who like to talk about their success.

Achievements can also be extremely challenging or encourage people to try things totally out of the ordinary. Win a game of table tennis with your left hand and then win the next game with you right hand in Kinect Sports. Yep, I did that one. It was easy, but I never would have tried it until I found out it was worth 15 points. Play all 80 songs in a row without pausing the game on Rock Band 2. It is called "The Bladder of Steel" Award, and it is named appropriately. It takes about six hours to finish and you CANNOT PAUSE THE GAME OR FAIL A SINGLE SONG. It was worth 25 points. Why would I spend six hours trying to earn a small handful of points? Because it was one of the hardest achievements to get, and no one I knew had that achievement. It was worth every minute of it.

Applying video game achievements to your classroom
Educators can learn a lesson from the video game industry.  Every game gives the player an achievement (like a badge) for completing certain missions or for finishing the game. But they also give achievements for doing something really, really hard - or really, really cool! It gives players something to strive for other than just the typical goal of finishing the game which is similar to a student who wants to do more than just earn an A.  Students WANT specific goals in class to push them to try harder. It gives students direction instead of just telling them to "go learn on your own and report back to me". The teacher sets precise targets which are important to the class, and the students earn a reward for hitting that target. What do they earn? A badge.

How to begin awarding Class Badges
The two things you need to start awarding badges to your students are (1) a list of targets you want your students to meet, and (2) a way to give out badges.

Targets
There are three things you should reward in your class in order to push your students to try harder.

1. Specific targets. List specific activities you want your students to pursue. You can ask your students to simply complete a task like watching three additional videos on how a bill becomes a law (Schoolhouse Rock, anyone?), or they can be based on an accomplishment like writing a letter to your Congressman and getting a response to the letter.  The targets should be aligned to your course objectives, and by completing them the students will gain something they would not have gained in class.
2. Random targets. You can create a few badges for doing something completely random but still in line with the class activities. Take a photo outside of your Congressman's local office to earn a 15 point badge. Take a photo shaking hands with your Congressman to get 25 points. Do those increase knowledge of the course? They might, and they might not, but they will increase interest and they will likely lead to increased learning. If your student is shaking hands with the Congressman, don't you expect them to spend five minutes talking about government? I hope so!
3. Challenging or extraordinary targets. Some targets can be easy to accomplish, but some need to be really hard. REALLY HARD. By earning these badges, the student will know they accomplished something extraordinary, especially if they are the only one in the class who earned it.  What if your student started an online petition on Change.org and actually got 100,000 signatures? That would be amazing. How about starting a blog on your town's history and getting 100 followers? That would be really cool, too. Both of those push a student to work harder and to do things in really unconventional ways.

Giving out badges

After creating your list of accomplishments, now you have to find a way to actually hand them out. You can do it physically by actually giving them a real badge or patch, but that is extremely unrealistic. You could use a sticker chart, but then it can only be used in class. The best way to do this is to provide them electronically. The best site at this moment is ClassBadges.

ClassBadges is "a free online tool where teachers can award badges to students for accomplishments or academic mastery. Through your teacher account, you can award badges customized for your classroom or school. Badges can easily be aligned to academic goals or associated with existing school awards." As a teacher you set the learning targets for each badge, give the badge a name and choose a logo for it, and then award the badge to each student once they accomplish it. Students can track their results, compare their results to others, and work towards earning their next badge.

Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!
Where did the title of this blog entry come from? It's a quote that has been used in at least three different movies (most famously in Blazing Saddles in 1974) where the lawmen are asked for their badges, to which they respond, "Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" It's silly, but people my age will quote it to you any time they hear the word "badges".

But we do need badges, though. Badges encourage our students to try harder, do things differently, and think outside the box. Badges are a reward, and doesn't everyone want something to show for the work they did? There is no other explanation for spending six hours on one silly achievement other than to say that I did it.

Watch +Ramsey Musallam explain +ClassBadges 

NSBA highlights six innovative technology companies that will improve education

The National School Boards Association has chosen six companies to feature at their first-ever Technology Innovation Showcase at their national conference in San Diego April 13-15, 2013.

There are two really positive things I'm taking away from this announcement.  First, it's great to see school boards recognizing the importance of technology in the classroom.  School boards approve the vision and mission statements written by the schools, they approve the technology budgets, and they hire the top administrators in the district who in turn hire good principals who in turn hire technology-savvy teachers. As educators and as technology integration specialists we need the support of our school boards.  Seeing the NSBA showcase technology is a clear sign of their support.

Two, I love seeing technology that can help improve education but is not necessarily a classroom technology.  I love classroom technology.  I love +Nearpod. I love one-to-one devices.  We need more than just content, though. BloomBoard provides technology to improve the teacher evaluation and feedback cycle. Rather than fear evaluations, how amazing would it be if teachers actually looked forward to getting feedback from multiple points of view - principals, department heads, and colleagues - in addition to creating their own personalized professional learning plan? Improving our teaching practices will have an impact on classroom learning just as much as providing better resources and devices, and honestly I believe it will have more of an impact. So I really appreciate the NSBA recognizing that the focus should not solely by on classroom technology use.

Here is the list of the 2013 NSBA Technology Innovation Showcase companies:

1. BloomBoard – Helping educators grow by providing a free platform to manage the entire feedback cycle for improving educator effectiveness (e.g.: observations, coaching, and individualized learning plans, etc.), connected to recommendations from an open marketplace of professional development resources.
2. Guide K12 – Using the power of geovisual analytics, districts can look at student data in new ways for the purpose of forecasting, capacity planning, and boundary discussions and get immediate answers to “what if” questions.
3. Nearpod – An all-in-one solution for the synchronized use of iPads (and other mobile devices) in the classroom that is helping redefine the traditional classroom lecture through interactive presentations and real-time assessments.
4. TenMarks – An engaging web-based learning environment that super-charges math instruction by delivering contextual help, automatic interventions, real-time assessments, and a personalized curriculum for every student.
5. VizZle – District Edition / Monarch Teaching Technologies – Committed to providing technology-enhanced solutions that offer districts more effective, yet cost-efficient data-driven tools that support children with autism and other special learning needs.
6. World Wide Workshop, Globaloria – A blended-learning platform with a results-proven curriculum and educator support system to teach youth to produce STEM games with industry-standard methods and tools to increase digital literacy and global citizenship skills, and promote engagement in STEM and Computing.

OERs vs. online content

Online content is crucial to teachers.  It does not matter if you have just one computer in the back of your classroom or if every student has an iPad 24 hours a day - online content will enhance the teaching and learning in your classroom.

+Edudemic  "How to Find Open Educational Resources"

There are several types of content.  The most common is, put simply, educational content which includes anything you would give to your students to read, watch or listen to.  This will include books/ textbooks, videos, audio recordings, maps, graphs, photographs and historical documents. This group could also include courseware which is typically an all-encompassing, pre-packaged set of instructional materials created by textbook companies like Pearson.  If Apple's iBooks ever hit their stride they will probably the best example of courseware where one iBook focused on a particular topic will include all the text, photos, videos and interactive animations in one tidy location.

(related article: Edudemic: The 100 Best Web 2.0 Classroom Tools)

Teaching isn't just about providing educational resources to read and watch - good teachers design activities that go along with the resources.  This is why teachers should never feel threatened by technology.  Technology will not take away teaching jobs; it will help good teachers become even better teachers.  Some online resources that will help teachers design their lessons include teaching guides that have been written and tested by other teachers or professors.  Google has a lesson plan search that is still a little sparse but it is growing rapidly.  You can also find practice work which are the activities that your students will complete once after they have viewed the educational content.  You'll have to search a little deeper to find practice work that goes beyond typical review questions and worksheets, but it is out there.

Of course, teachers need a way to distribute the educational resources to their students in a logical and searchable format.  Using a Learning Management System is the best way to gather and present your materials, and LMSs also provide calendars, discussion boards, grade books and online assessments on top of it.  There are many free LMSs you can try, and I recommend you start by trying out +Schoology which is the best overall LMS package available - and it's free.

Curating your material by placing them in folders (by chapters or topics) in an LMS is effective, but it isn't very eye-catching.  Combine other methods of curation with your LMS to keep your students' interest.  A playlist on YouTube, a photo collection on Flickr, or a magazine-like collection on Flipboard are all ways to curate a collection of materials that look great - and hopefully they inspire your students to do the same on a future project.

What is the difference between OERs and online content?

Online content covers all the materials you pull from the Internet to use with your class.  You can use the material yourself and you can link to it so that your students can use it.  However, you do not automatically have the right to copy that material, make changes to it, or distribute it to others without permission of the person who created it.  YouTube is the best example of online content.  It has millions of videos you can watch or ask your students to watch, but most of those videos expressly prohibit you from copying them, editing them, or using them in any other manner.  Of course, there are even some videos that have been posted illegally and as a classroom teacher you are not permitted to use materials that break copyright laws.

Open Educational Resources, or OERs, are materials that are written by educators (or educational non-profits) for the specific purpose of using them in the classroom, and the materials are often aligned to Common Core standards.  Most OER providers have a mission of providing high-quality resources for free so that all students in all cities and nations can improve their education. You see the same desire to improve education for all people in places like Harvard, Stanford, and Penn State. Professors in those universities are offering all of the course materials for free. (Check out a list of 700 free courses listed on OpenCulture.)

This is the mission statement of +CK-12 Foundation, a company that provides OER textbooks:

"CK-12 Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing access to high quality educational materials for K-12 students all over the world. We offer free high-quality, standards-aligned, open content in the STEM subjects. By providing these free resources, CK-12 is working toward educational equity for all."

I've listed about some OERs on my Delicious social bookmarking page.  Do you like my not-so-subtle use of a curation site to list the resources? It looks much nicer than a bulleted list inside this blog.

Reasons, research and Rogers: Why you should roll out technology in small groups first

Purpose of pilot groups

Why do schools roll out new programs or courses in small "pilot" groups? I would point at two reasons: the decision makers either (a) want to test the programs out first before deciding if the program is viable, sustainable, and worthwhile, or (b) they need key people to lead the way in the first year which will make full-scale adoption over time quicker and longer-lasting.

Agents of change

Many school districts are rolling out one-to-one programs where every student has a computer or tablet, and they are usually doing so with small pilot groups of teachers in the first year.  Are they really testing out these one-to-one programs to see if they work with the possibility of shutting down the program after just one year?  In most cases I would say no.  It's more likely that they are choosing their best change agents and best innovators to help implement the program, improve the program, and spread the message to other teachers so that the program can expand successfully.

A one-to-one program is a huge fundamental change for a school, and for every person excited about it there is another who is deathly afraid of it.  For every person who is mildly interested (but still unsure), there is another who is mildly disinterested (and could care less).  For the one-to-one program to be successful, EVERY teacher will need to get on board.  The entire organization needs to change.

Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation theory

Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation theory is the basis for several different models of organizational change, and it is the theory that is taught in most instructional technology programs at the Masters or Doctorate level.  Organizations will not change until the people within them are ready to change, and those people have differing attitudes towards change.  In a one-to-one program, often the resistance isn't towards using technology but instead it's resistance towards change itself.

Why use small pilot groups?

I am going to apply Rogers' model to a one-to-one technology program.  In the first year of a program you want small test groups which allow you to bring in the teachers who are ready, willing, and able to make things happen.  They are the innovators.  They are willing to take risks, they will not give up when the work becomes difficult, and they will learn from their mistakes rather than speak negatively about their experience.  This is a very small group - only 2.5% of your staff according to Rogers - but it is still the perfect size for your first year.  These teachers need large amounts of professional development, technical support, and most of all, TIME.  Give them time to make things happen.

In the second year you can target the early adopters. This group is still not very large - 13.5% of the staff - but it's still five times larger than your first group.  It allows for continued support of the teachers before rolling out to a much larger audience.  You are now two years in, but you only have 16% of your staff participating.  That is perfect! Do not try to go bigger just because you can.

Your change agents will start appearing with the early adopters' group.  They do not have to be the most excited about the program or the most knowledgeable about how to use technology in the classroom.  A change agent is someone who can get other people to follow them.  They are leaders.  When your change agents try something new, other people will also be willing to give it a shot.

In the third year it is time to engage the early majority.  They make up a large population of your staff who are willing to try something new but they needed to see other people do it first.  There are still many change agents in this group, also, such as level leaders and department chairs. The number of staff members participating in the program has now doubled from 25% to 50% which continues to make expansion manageable. That is one out of two people who are involved and invested in the program and who can help to pull the remaining staff members along.

Before the fourth year you have a choice: either target the late majority (34% of staff population) in year four and the laggards (16% of staff population) in year five, or lump them together and bring the remaining 50% of your school on board all at once.  Some of your laggards will embrace the change eventually, and after three of four years it would be extremely disappointing if they still were not ready.  Unfortunately some of your laggards will NEVER accept a new program and will even go out of their way to try to sabotage it with resistance, complaints, or excuses.

From the very beginning, the leadership team should be assessing where they feel each individual staff member falls on the bell-shaped curve and then create action steps to help shorten the amount of time it will take to get ALL staff members to buy into the new program. Identifying your change agents is also vital to your success.  The sooner you can get your key players involved, the sooner they will be able to bring others with them.

Should the first pilot group be volunteers or should they represent an entire grade level or department?

My district's administrators hand-picked their first small pilot group of one-to-one teachers, with 37 of our 700 teachers forming that first year's cohort (5%) who represented many different academic departments.  Before the second year's group was chosen there was a lot of pressure to simply choose an entire department (like science) or an entire grade level (the freshman class).  We stayed the course, though, and asked for more volunteers for the second year.  An additional 60 teachers were selected through an application process for year two (8.5%), and again they represented all of the academic departments and all of the grade levels. We intentionally chose to spread the program out across all areas and all grade levels.

Expanding the program to include an entire grade level would have made many tactical decisions easier in terms of professional development, collaborative time, data collection, and even just handing out tablets on the first day of school.  Many, many districts choose to roll out their one-to-one programs one grade level at a time.  It's easier, but it does not take into account that an entire department or an entire grade level will not necessarily be ready or willing to implement the program.  Giving the entire math department two days of technology training will give them the skills to be successful, but it won't automatically give them the attitude and motivation to succeed.  In one of our high schools we could have over 50 teachers working with freshman courses.  According to Rogers' Diffusion of Innovation theory, 8 of those teachers will be innovators or early adopters, people who are truly ready to get started.  But there will also be 8 teachers who are laggards, people unprepared or unwilling to participate in the program.  Of course there are still 34 people in the middle looking for a little guidance before they jump in. Pushing out a program by grade level is not advised in the first year.

Even in an elementary school where three or four or five teachers work in the same grade level you would be hard pressed to ever find that all of them are innovators ready to pilot a one-to-one program in the first year.  From a principal's point of view, her fifth grade team might look like the best group to pilot an iPad program.  In reality, even on the best team, there is probably only one innovator and the others are probably early adopters.  The fifth grade team would be a great choice for the second year of the pilot program, but in the first year only one teacher should be in the program.

Keep your pilot groups small

Remember, there are two reasons you need to keep your pilot programs small in the first and second year.  One, you need people who are ready. They must be ready to succeed, and they must help re-shape the opinions of their peers and help prepare them for change. Two, the administration needs to ensure that the pilot group has adequate support: professional development, technical support, and time to work through the problems that invariably come up when trying something new.

(This post was published by +Edudemic on May 22, 2013. Click here to see the re-published article.)

How do your students find free wi-fi? With an app, of course

I would argue all day (really, I would) that having an Internet connection at home is more important than having cable TV.  The Internet keeps us connected, and we need to stay connected to each other for educational and social reasons.  An Internet connection is also way cheaper than paying for cable TV.

Unfortunately, many homes in America still do not have an Internet connection. The website Internet World Stats says that only 78% of Americans are connected to the Internet, which places us 27th in the world.  Did you know that Niue ranks ahead of us?  I've never even heard of Niue!

Americans have two advantages over many other countries when it comes to WiFi: McDonald's and Starbucks.  We have LOTS of McDonald's and Starbucks locations which offer free WiFi.  In fact, many businesses offer free WiFi.  When we rolled out our first batch of iPads to 1,500 students I created a map of the local businesses that offer free WiFi to help show our school board that even if our students do not have the Internet at home that they would still have many options for staying connected.  That map was small and it only covered part of our geographical borders.  Our five high schools serve towns with a combined population of over 200,000 which makes creating and maintaining a WiFi map very labor intensive.

An app called Free Wi-Fi Finder has replaced that small, outdated map.  You can search for free WiFi by entering an address into the search box or by letting it search based on your current location.  It produces a map with the location of free WiFi locations marked with green arrows.  Each location lists the name, address, and phone number of the business where WiFi can be found for free.

A 26MB download of its database will allow you to search for free WiFi even when you are not connected to the Internet.  

The app claims to work in other counties, but my colleague's search for free WiFi in Jamaica, his spring break destination, yielded zero results.  The app relies on its users to enter new locations, so it looks like he's going to have to tag the free WiFi zones for the rest of us when he gets there.

Using Schoology and Khan Academy for individualized instruction

Education is shifting towards individualized, personalized learning for every student.  Students currently in a special education program have their own Individual Education Plan (IEP) or Individual Learning Plan (ILP).  What educators realize is that every student is different and every student would benefit from their own learning plan.  Technology is going to play a major role in creating these individual plans and also in helping our students meet their goals.

Our students - all students - are different from each other.  They have different attitudes, different motivation, different abilities, and different learning styles.  Educators are finding that all students would benefit from lessons and materials that most closely match these differences.

Technology is going to help educators provide an individualized learning environment in two ways.  First, it will provide the backbone for delivering the content and lessons.  Second, it will provide the educational resources needed to meet our students' needs.

Schoology is the delivery system for individualized learning to your students.  It is the backbone of your school.  Schoology is a Learning Management System (LMS) that allows teachers to provide videos, articles, texts, websites, online quizzes, discussion boards , flipped lessons, and review materials to their students in an organized manner.  Schoology also allows teachers, students, and parents to communicate electronically about their teaching and learning.  Schoology provides teachers with the ability to provide differentiated learning materials that meet a variety of learning styles and learning abilities to all students, and it can even let students work at their own pace by opening new sections once a student completes the previous section. Harlem Academy in New York chose Schoology as their LMS, their web site, and their intranet all in one.  It truly is the hub of the school where everything a student needs can easily be found.

Once the backbone is in place, teachers need to provide high-quality resources that are aimed at different age groups, that meet different learning levels, and meet different learning styles.  Open Educational Resources (OERs) are free resources "documents and media that are useful for teaching, learning, education, assessment and research purposes." There are many individuals and organizations who believe that everyone deserves a high-quality education at little to no cost, and OERs are a way for the whole world to benefit from well-written educational materials.  OER Commons states, "equitable access to high-quality education is a global imperative."

One OER that is making big headlines is Khan Academy.  Salman Kahn began creating video lessons and practice problems on a variety of subjects.  His mission is "to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere."  A pilot program was announced last week for 47 schools in Idaho that will receive a total of $1.5 million to provide teachers with the two days of proper training in using Khan Academy with their students as well as a study to measure the effect it has on student achievement.  This study on the blended learning environment - direct instruction from a teacher coupled with self-guided video instruction from Khan Academy - is being funded by the J.A. and Katheryn Albertson Foundation.

In some instances the teacher will try to "fill the gaps" in a student's learning, but often it will be the student himself who recognizes what he knows and what he does not know and then utilizes the resources provided by the teacher to fill the gaps himself.  Whether a student is trying to catch up, trying to fill in holes, or trying to get ahead, a student will often take that initiative on his own - but the teacher needs to provide the appropriate materials to make that happen.

What is more important, the content used to learn or the way that it is delivered?  That's a subject for an entirely different article.

Do adults meet the NETS standards to the same degree that students do?

Technology is improving the teaching and learning that is going on in our classrooms.  Students have seen huge benefits from using technology.  But has technology changed anything meaningful in the ways the adults interact with each other?  Teachers are flipping their classrooms, but few adults have flipped their committee meetings.  Students send direct messages when they see each other online, while adults send an email and then wait (and wait and wait) for a response.  Students collaborate on their projects online, but few adults use shared documents to store files or work together.  In fact, if you look at all of the NETS-S technology standards for students, I would say adults are great at helping kids meet the standards but they do not know how to apply those same standards to their own work with their colleagues.

Individual teachers can often meet the standards (communication, collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving are among them) on their own, especially when they begin to connect to like-minded teachers across the country through Google+ or Twitter or when they simply meet each other at the tech conference like ISTE.  Small groups of teachers in the same school can be successful because they are able to seek each other out and form small technology-rich teams even when they do not work in the same grade level or department.  But on the whole, as an entire school, we fail miserably at creating a connected, creative environment. The students always seem one step ahead of us, and until we begin to live up to the same standards as an entire organization then they always will be ahead of us.

Four decisions every district should make when using iPads in a 1:1 program

iPads and your one-to-one program

Designing a student one-to-one program of any size is a BIG DEAL, but the proper planning can help you minimize the problems from the time the first school bell rings in August. Using iPads will present a unique set of problems, but it will also lead to a unique set of rewards.  There are four decisions you will need to make before students even touch an iPad.  We learned some of these the easy way, but most of them we learned the hard way.  Read my advice below, but take in others' opinions as well.  The more you know before you implement your iPads, the better prepared you will be and the fewer problems you will have. When there are no problems, people are happy.  Repeat after me:

Fewer problems = happier teachers and students

Apple IDs

This is the granddaddy of all decisions that you will face.  Should the school district create generic Apple IDs for each iPad, or should the students create their own Apple IDs and use them on their assigned iPad? Overwhelmingly this is the answer: each student should have their own Apple ID. When a user has their own ID, then everything they create, download, save, purchase, or use is saved to their account. An Apple ID gives them access to every app, song, or movie they buy (or get for free) for the rest of their lives, and it will follow them onto multiple devices.  When they trade in their iPod Touch for an iPhone, those purchases come with.  When they trade in their iPad2 for an iPad5, all their apps and data will still be available.  (Click here to read more about Apple IDs)

Some students try to share their mom or dad's Apple ID, but this is not a good idea.  An Apple ID is meant for one person. Sharing data among multiple people is confusing and problematic.  It is best for every individual in a family to create their own Apple ID.  Should parents have access to their child's account?  That's really a family matter, but a nice compromise is when a student has their own Apple ID but the parent has their child's log in information.

In my school district last year, we asked students to create Apple IDs on the first day of school when they were issued their iPads.  This coming year we will likely send a letter home to the students and parents asking them to create the account before school begins. We will do this not only to save time but also to help educate the parents as to what we are asking for (a unique Apple ID for every student) and why we are asking for this (to create a single account that will follow their children throughout their high school years and beyond).

Configurator vs. MDM

Every iPad need some type of preparation before you issue them to your students.  Apple provides software called Configurator for free, and it can do things like install paid apps, update paid and free apps, and pre-install the wireless network password.  If you want to do more with setting up your iPads you can pay extra to use Mobile Device Management software, or an MDM. From our experience, the cost of an MDM is far greater than their benefits.  We used Casper as our MDM with 1,600 iPad2s in the first year of our 1:1 program.  There was nothing wrong with Casper, but we have decided not to use it again next year.  At a cost of around $7 per iPad per year, we decided it wasn't worth the price. We will use Configurator exclusively, and part of the reason we can do that is because of our policy on paid apps which is described in the next section.

One suggestion I have for you is do not install free apps on your students' iPads.  When you use Configurator to install an app, you will have to use Configurator to update that app unless you are willing to give out the security code to your students.  This is a huge burden on your tech staff.  Instead, create a list of free apps that every student should install on their own.  When they install the app, it becomes part of their Apple ID profile and it allows them to update the app at any time.

Paid apps vs. free apps

At last estimation, there are 14 kabillion apps available for the iPad. That might be a round number I made up in my head, but if there is an app for everything then it must be true.  Most apps are free, but obviously some are not.  Even if your district can afford to buy apps, someone needs to ask whether they are really, truly necessary.  Make these decisions regarding purchased apps before students even touch an iPad.  There are four main questions you will have to ask when deciding on the use of paid apps.

#1 Is your district ready for paid apps?
When your one-to-one program is just beginning you will be asked to quantify and qualify and justify your success in every conceivable way.  You will have to train your teachers and teach your students on how to use iPads.  You will have to distribute, manage and maintain those iPads.  Do you really have time to deal with paid apps in the first year of your program?  Can you defend the expense of paid apps? In the first year I strongly recommend that you do not spend a dime on apps. Spend $0 in your first year. There are many excellent free apps, including all of your productivity apps (Google, Evernote, Dropbox) and your LMS (we use Schoology). These are the apps you will use everyday.  It is your content apps that often cost money, and I recommend you hold off on buying those apps for the first year.  Teachers will find other free apps that are similar and possibly even better. One year later, if teachers really want a paid app then your district can create a method for requesting, pruchasing, and distributing apps.

#2 Who will pay for the apps?
If you decide to use paid apps, then who will buy them?  If your district pays for them, set a budget ahead of time and stick to it.  Apps will get expensive very quickly, even at just $1 a pop.  You will also need to establish a procedure for teachers to follow when requesting apps.  You might ask teachers to try free apps first, or to buy the paid app on their own for testing purposes before you agree to buy a set for the whole class.  Whatever you decide, make sure it's clearly posted and understood by all.

If parents are expected to buy the apps, give them the rationale behind it.  Three good reasons for a parent or student to purchase their own apps are:

1. When a student buys the app, that app will follow the student for life. Our students will graduate, and when they buy their own iPad they will not have to buy all their apps again.  Those apps, and all the learning that occurred with those apps, will always be owned by the student.
2. Overall, the total cost of apps is often less than the traditional supplies parents buy for their students every year.  A friend of mine has two children and two step children, and he says that it typically costs around $100 per child PER YEAR to pay for supplies.  In a one-to-one environment, the apps are often the only supplies your child needs.  Buying a child a $10 or $20 iTunes gift card to pay for the apps he uses in school is not any different than buying him folders and paper and a calculator.  
3. When students buy their own apps, they have more freedom to choose what they want to buy.  In some cases, choice will save them money.  Why should your child buy Pages for $10 if they are happy using Google Docs? In other cases, it allows them to spend more if they feel that there is more value to the app.  There are free scientific calculator apps, and there are $20 scientific calculator apps.  Some parents and students find value in buying the right app and are willing to put more money into it, especially if they are heading into a math or science-related field after graduation.

#3 What can you afford to spend on apps each year?
The more students you have, the more it will cost you to buy apps.  It's okay to buy apps - just make sure you do so wisely and make sure they will actually get used.  Set a budget and stick to it.  This is especially true for pilot programs - it sets a bad precedent when you go over budget in your very first year!

#4 Will you "keep" the apps, or will you give them away to students and buy new ones each year?
We use Configurator to install paid apps on our iPads, which gives us the ability to remove the app at a later time and distribute it to someone else. The district retains ownership of the app, which saves us tens of thousands of dollars every year.  The downside is that our tech staff has to update the paid apps manually, but overall it is cost-effective for us.

Some districts prefer the "consumable" model of distributing apps, where the district buys the app but then gives the app to the student permanently. People will tell you to look at it like a workbook: you spend $15 on a workbook to give to a student and you do not expect them to turn the workbook into you at the end of the year.  It sounds very logical, but it can become costly.  You will have to decide for yourself if the cost of retaining ownership of an app - the time it takes your tech staff to manage the apps - is greater or less than the cost of giving away apps to students.

My opinion is that if the district spends money on apps then the district should retain ownership of the apps. 

Security, insurance, and "what do you mean they don't bounce"?

There are multiple ways to keep your iPad secure, but to be honest none of them are very effective.  Apple loves to taut their Find My iPad feature, where you can use a computer or phone to track the location of a lost iPad.  The feature does work, but only when the iPad is turned on and it is connected to the Internet.  If a thief wipes your iPad, which takes approximately 10 seconds to begin, then Find My iPad no longer works and your iPad cannot be tracked.  Other security options include having your school district's contact information engraved on the back of the iPads (This iPad is the property of School District 1 - please call XXX-XXX-XXXX if found or presented for sale), or applying metallic security stickers.  You can also buy software to track your iPads, but they are very expensive and not very cost-effective.

So what do you do to protect yourself and your students?  Insurance. Some districts offer insurance to parents but it is not mandatory. In our district, about 50% of parents bought the insurance from Worth Ave Group for about $32 - $42 a year. Other districts require every student to pay for insurance (Wellesley, MA has a great proposal for charging one annual fee that covers the iPad, insurance, apps, and maintenance).  Another option is to self-insure your district by charging the premiums and deductibles yourself, but I strongly recommend using an outside company for the first year or two and analyzing the data regarding costs and loss before you try this yourself. In the end, most districts decide that it is the student who is responsible for the iPad.  Offering insurance is a way to protect the parents from getting a $500 bill due to a lost iPad, and it is a way of protecting the school district from the small number of parents who do not pay for their child's lost iPad.

iPads don't bounce. They don't fly. They don't float. Damage is a serious problem, and most of it can be traced back to some form of negligence. Find a good repair company in the area or one that offers a through-the-mail service, and make sure your repairs occur quickly and at a low cost.  Apple does provide decent service, but they are not very good at dealing with POs.  Blue Raven is a large company that specializes in low-cost repairs on the iPad glass, which is the most expensive repair you will face.  Blue Raven charges about 1/2 of what Apple charges for glass repairs. Once you've chosen a repair company, put the process down in writing so that your tech staff knows exactly what to do to get the broken iPads out for repair and back into your students' hands as quickly as possible.

iPad cases are another low-cost, highly effective protection method.  Get samples from multiple companies and test them with your students.  I wrote to Otterbox, Gumdrop, Uzibull, Griffin, and Belkin and they all sent me samples for free. Whether your district is buying the cases and providing them to the students for free, or if you are simply recommending a case for the parents to purchase on their own, a real hands-on test will help you to decide which case is best for your students.

D211 employees can buy the new Microsoft Office Professional Plus for $9.95 starting today

All Township High School District 211 employees can purchase a license for the new Microsoft Office 2013 which was released today.  The cost is only $9.95!

To take advantage of this offer, go to the official Microsoft Home Use Program website.  You will need to enter this special code C8956B668B along with your D211 email address.

There are some limitations to the program, which can be expected when you are paying less than $10 for something that costs over $400 in the stores.  First, this is a license to use Office for as long as you are an employee of D211.  You are expected to delete the software if you end your employment with the district.  Second, you can only download it to computers that belong to you and are used by you.  Third, you can only purchase Office for $9.95 once through this program between August 1, 2012 and July 31, 2015.

So that was the bad news.  It wasn't that bad, really.  It's not like missing the playoffs after going 10-6!  Let's get to the good news and stop dwelling on the Bears...

The license is for the entire Office Professional Plus 2013 suite of software.  This is a much larger package than the "Student and Teacher Edition".  The Professional Edition includes the following:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneNote
• Access
• Publisher
• InfoPath
• Lync

Mac users, you are not left out.  You can continue to buy Microsoft Office 2011 for your Mac for the same price of $9.95.

If you are having any trouble purchasing the software, please contact the technology coordinator in your building first.  If the TC cannot solve it, you will need to contact Microsoft directly.  They have always been extremely helpful in resolving issues with the Home Use Program.