Assembling the perfect team for a large-scale EdTech rollout
How do you select, purchase, deliver, install, and implement new EdTech in the classrooms of thousands of teachers at once, AND complete it successfully?
The answer is simple: with the right team in place.
When Jefferson County Public Schools received emergency funding during the pandemic that allowed them to make a long-term investment in new EdTech, a move that would provide dexterity in the new world of hybrid and remote learning, they immediately turned to their regional technology partner, Creative-image technologies (C-it) to lead the charge.
Years of experience with education technology rollouts at a large scale made it easy for C-it leadership to recommend SMART Technologies as the partner that would provide more than a product, but also an entire ecosystem of support and content for staff.
“[SMART was] absolutely the best choice,” C-it representative Trish Bradley said. “A lot of it has to do with not only the product itself, the hardware, the software, but also the warranty, the service, the support that you receive, the training options that they have…When you're deploying a system to that many classrooms, you really have to have a good solid plan.”
Teachers training teachers
Jefferson schools tech department, along with C-it and SMART, needed a cohesive plan for training nearly 6,000 teachers on best practices with their new devices.
A virtual training approach was taken so that teachers could actually use and touch their individual SMART boards in real-time as training was taking place.
C-it and SMART collaborated to create a customized wallpaper on every SMART board that included quick links and a QR code that teachers can scan that would allow them to immediately gain access to support in using their devices.
When scanned, the code also provided important information to C-it and SMART about what SMART board model that teacher was using and in what classroom.
Bradley says that the attention to detail her team received from SMART was a game-changer and that every aspect of the rollout was catered to teachers’ needs because SMART knows teachers.
“SMART has a lot of educators on their staff, that's where they came from, they understand the importance of providing the best education to the students, and giving the teachers the best tools to do that,” she said. “The really phenomenal thing I find about SMART is they listen, they not just listen to us as their partners, but also to the teachers.”
Partnering with C-it enabled SMART to bring inclusive, connected technology to Newcomer Academy teachers and students. Read about Newcomer Academy and their diverse, inclusive community.