One thing that stood out to me was SDUSD’s ample bandwidth and bandwidth plans. In 2008, San Diego voters passed Proposition S which funded updating classroom facilities and technology. As a result, SDUSD rolled out their “i21 Classroom” plan which detailed a 5-year endeavour to go 1-1 for students, update networking, and update teacher devices. According to their 2010 plan, “Elementary schools will be increased from 15 MB to 100 MB per site; middle schools and high schools will be increased from 20 MB to 500 MB at each site.” SBAC suggests capabilities for “a minimum of 20 Kbps available per student to be tested simultaneously” which should be more than enough to test large groups of students if not whole sites.
Another key finding was that the iPad is much more of an issue with compatibility than basically any netbook. Although I found multiple models of netbooks, all of them met the recommended requirements without any supplemental products. With iPads this was not the case. The lack of keyboard and mouse, and lack of easily used accessories, creates hindrances to testing. Many iPad keyboard and mouse options are wireless, which could interfere with networks, or other wireless devices if whole classes and/or sites are using them. The screen size could also be problematic at 9.7” rather than the required 10”. I was not surprised by this finding however, after iPads have been in the news lately for this very reason. They were the early device of choice for the first 2 years of SDUSD’s roll out, but then in 2012 they switched to various netbooks.
http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/102/DTSP2010-15WEBBUDSUM.pdf
http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Executive_Summary_Tech_Framework.pdf
Another key finding was that the iPad is much more of an issue with compatibility than basically any netbook. Although I found multiple models of netbooks, all of them met the recommended requirements without any supplemental products. With iPads this was not the case. The lack of keyboard and mouse, and lack of easily used accessories, creates hindrances to testing. Many iPad keyboard and mouse options are wireless, which could interfere with networks, or other wireless devices if whole classes and/or sites are using them. The screen size could also be problematic at 9.7” rather than the required 10”. I was not surprised by this finding however, after iPads have been in the news lately for this very reason. They were the early device of choice for the first 2 years of SDUSD’s roll out, but then in 2012 they switched to various netbooks.
http://www.sandi.net/cms/lib/CA01001235/Centricity/Domain/102/DTSP2010-15WEBBUDSUM.pdf
http://www.smarterbalanced.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Executive_Summary_Tech_Framework.pdf