Barrington 220 One to World Program Update for 2019-22

At the Regular Board Meeting on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, the Barrington 220 School Board approved a lease to continue the district’s One to World Program. Part of the proposal includes the first major change to this learning and teaching program since it began as a pilot during the 2013–14 school year. Students at Barrington High School will switch from using the MacBook Air 11-inch laptop to an iPad as the primary learning device. High School teachers will receive an iPad, keep their MacBook Air 13-inch laptop, and will now have the same two devices as Barrington 220 elementary and middle school teachers.

iPad Generation 6, Logitech Slim Combo integrated keyboard case, and Logitech Crayon smart stylus. Photo courtesy of Logitech.

The Board Finance Committee and School Board considered several different options before they made their final decision. One issue that was addressed early was whether BHS should phase in iPad devices over several years or make a change all at once. Current BHS course data reveals that over 69% of BHS classes contain students in multiple grade levels in the same class, affecting over 88% of BHS teachers. Thus, unless we make a one-time device switch, BHS teachers would need to prepare two types of activities for each of their classes for up to four years, a situation that is not ideal. For this reason, the Board opted for a one-time switch. For BHS courses that require specific technologies, appropriate devices will be provided (i.e., Project Lead the Way desktops running Windows, MobileMakersEdu app development laptops running macOS).

While much discussion has ensued around the BHS student device change, all Barrington 220 students and teachers will greatly benefit from this new lease.

Three-Year Cycle

As a result of this lease, Barrington 220 will be transitioning ALL iPad devices at the same time, starting at the end of this 2018–19 school year and likely moving into the beginning of the 2019–20 school year. This means that after our transition, every Barrington 220 student and staff member will have the exact same iPad device, a new iPad Generation 6 with 32GB storage, for the next three years. After three years, we will plan another complete device refresh. This will allow teachers and students to have the same device with the same capabilities and allow tech staff to manage our devices more efficiently than our current situation with up to four different iPad models deployed.

New Cases for Students and Staff

Since our BHS students are switching from a MacBook Air 11-inch laptop to an iPad, we have had many discussions about text input on the iPad. We have heard from students, parents, and staff that they would like the option of an external keyboard in addition to the many text input options available on the iPad. In preparing for our transition, we tested at least four different integrated keyboard cases with students and staff, and our selection is the Logitech Slim Combo for iPad Generation 6.

We also re-evaluated our elementary and middle school case option through testing and speaking with other districts and found that districts using folio-style cases (with covers that flip to protect the screen when it’s not in use) have a lower percentage of breakage than our current iPad case. Our new elementary and middle school case is the STM Dux Plus Duo Case for Generation 6 iPad. This case is a folio-style case with a slot for a smart stylus.

iPad Generation 6, STM Dux Plus Duo case, and Logitech Crayon smart stylus. Photo courtesy of STM Goods.

Smart Stylus

One of the features added to the iPad Generation 6 its ability to use a smart stylus. We selected the Logitech Crayon. This stylus works with all apps designed for the Apple Pencil. All Barrington 220 teachers and BHS students will get a Logitech Crayon issued to them, and we have purchased a Logitech crayon for every Grade K–8 student that we will make available to use in class sets.

Logitech Crayon. Photo courtesy of Logitech.

Apple-Delivered Professional Development for All Teachers

This lease also includes services from the Apple Professional Learning team. Each Barrington 220 teacher and administrator will have the opportunity to learn directly from Apple trainers to use the apps and ideas described in the Everyone Can Create series in the classroom. For more information about Everyone Can Create, download the free books on the Apple Book Store or visit the website.

Apple's Everyone Can Create books in the Apple Book Store.

For a complete explanation about why our district made the device change at BHS and to find answers to many frequently asked questions about the transition, please visit the Barrington High School One to World Device FAQ.