One urban district’s digital learning revolution Continued from page 27
one. RUSD also believes that we can bridge this gap in other ways using existing systems and funding in a more effective and efficient way. The adoption and implementation of digital textbooks is just one example. We currently pay between $80 and $120 for one standard textbook, and at the secondary level we are providing students with four or five textbooks, depending on their class load. If
we provide (as we are doing at Ramona High School) a digital device capable of holding all student textbooks at a cost of $165, we would be saving money as well as providing every student access to the Internet and a wealth of other educational resources.
Making the fundamental shift You can begin this process immediately
in your school or district, but understand
that what we are talking about is not an “im- plementation;” it is a fundamental shift in philosophy. So with that in mind, we have listed some basic steps that will help you to empower your students as well.
1. Let instructional goals and instruc-
tional leaders drive the bus. Too often tech- nology departments and or business depart- ments are defining instructional goals based on what we cannot do rather than what we can do.
2. Survey your students and parents to
find out what level of technology and Inter- net access they have and what they would be willing to provide to enhance their students’ education.
3. Define what educational resources are
available online and in what format, as that will help you identify the “best” device to be used.
4. Identify volunteer populations and
begin implementation with those volun- teers.
5. Never forget that all devices, access and
resources must be student-centered and em- power students.
6. Start now! We can’t keep talking about
preparing students for the 21st century when we are more than a decade into it.
Moving beyond the system’s restrictions We fully understand that people inside
and outside of your district will be saying that you can’t do what you are trying to do, but our job as educators is to move from “can’t” to “how.” Fortunately for us there are others doing the things we have discussed in this article. Many of them are posted on our NING at
http://rusdit.ning.com. Feel free to use these resources to help you move beyond our system’s restrictions. Our students are counting on us! n
Jay McPhail is director of Instructional
Technology and Career Technical Education and Judi Paredes is assistant superintendent of Instructional Services, Riverside Unified
School District. Paredes is a member of ACSA’s Urban Education Committee.
36 Leadership
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