"A Pew Research surveyon 2,462 teachers indicates that 73% of their students use mobile devices to complete assignments, 45% use e-readers, and 43% use tablets. Technology in the classroom is not a future trend, it is already here." With BYOD here and now, and with a growing number of students bringing their own devices into the classroom, one of the more remarkable things I have seen in our research is the creation of a "Genius Bar."
There are many schools across America who have introduced the concept of creating a Genius Bar in their schools. For those who do not know, a Genius Bar is a tech support station located inside every Apple Retail Store, the purpose of which is to offer help and support for Apple users. Punnet, Wildern Schools and Burlington High School have created Genius Bars to help support their students who bring their own devices to school each and every day.
According to the GENYES blog, which produced an excellent document for schools interested in creating a "Genius Bar", there are a number of things to consider:
Creating a basic student lead model
Setting aside space
Training
Customer Service
Creating a culture of excellence
Managing Students
Integration into the whole school
Sustainability
One of the best examples of school wide implementation is Burlington High School's Help Desk. Burlington has successfully integrated their "Help Desk" into the school's mainstream culture. It not only serves a specific technological purpose, but also helps create an atmosphere of cooperation and forward thinking. The school offers online tutorials on topics like iOS, using GOODNOTES, and student responsibility.
Are you ready to implement a Genius Bar at your school?
Awesome. There's no reason why Oak Hills shouldn't have something like this up and running. We've got the eKIDs class in place where this could be part of their class. Maybe also incorporate after school hours for help as well.
When I was in high school, we did a peer mentoring program where we would go to the middle/elementary schools and be matched up with one or a few students. We could do something similar but instead of matching up with students, have students "man" a help desk and be available for support. Once our current middle school eKIDs move on and the program grows at the high school, this should be a serious consideration.
Totally agree with the eKIDS classes being the leaders for this idea. I also think that it will be interesting to see in a couple of years once our eKIDS move onto the high school to put this into full motion would be easier knowing that they have been through our program at the middle school. Great Potential!
This would be fairly easy to implement. I have dozens of kids stop by my room at the start of each quarter looking to become student aides to avoid being placed in Study Hall. I am fairly certain that there would be no shortage of kids that would be willing to sit in designated "help" location every bell of the day.
I think this is a great idea that we could easily do in Oak Hills. This is something that we have already kind of talked about with our kids. I know there's been a discussion of our eKIDS helping teachers with their own technology or helping them out in the classroom when they are doing certain projects, etc. With BYOD it only makes sense that the kids should also be allowed to really work with other students and help them through their technology problems. I know that I see at least several students a week about problems that they're having with the devices. While I do think our students are well versed in technology they also have technology problems just like everyone else. I also believe that this would be a great experience because our eKIDS could become experts on multiple platforms, which if they peruse a career in technology could be beneficial to them.
I think this would really be easier to set up at the high school since they have a bell schedule and might have more flexibility to keep the "Genius Bar" open. I'm not quite sure how that would work out with the middle schools except if they would possibly do it during there eKIDS class time. This mean that the "Genius Bar" would be only open for a certain amount of time during the day. Hwever, it could be open before after school and possibly during lunch. This is something that I really believe could be implemented without too much work and would be a major benefit to everyone in the school.
I agree with you all, I think Oak Hills needs this! This would be great to incorporate into the ekids program. I know we are always trying to expand the program and I think this is a great way to do this. I wonder if there are any schools near by that are implementing this and we could observe?
I too would be very interested in observing schools who are already implementing the Genius Bar, and would like to talk to the teachers/administrators to see how they made this happen. I wonder if there are any Genius Bars already implementing with BYOD?
I like the idea and I think the idea of a Genius Bar is something we should investigate. However, I don't think that it's going to be as easy as finding a couple kids who typically want to aide for a teacher and sticking them in there. As Andy stated when he cited the GenYES Document, there will be a lot of training that needs to take place. Training that includes customer service as well as technology/device training. I do think .that in the end, students will be learning exactly the skills that they need to be successful in the 21st century. Skills that are found in the 21st century learning framework such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, information literacy, media literacy, ICT literacy, flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self direction, social and cross cultural-skills, productivity, accountability, leadership, and responsibility
I was waiting to hear what you thought seeing as how you are at the high school and would more than likely be involved if something like this would be implemented at Oak Hill High School. I think you brought up some great points about the training that would be required for the "Genius Bar" to be successful. I also agree with what you said about how this would go hand in hand with Oak Hills goals of preparing our students for the 21st century.
I don't think it would take as much training as we think. Think about if you get a random sample of students, say 5. Chances are you've got a multitude of devices, software, and programs those 5 students are accustomed to. I think it'd be best if we tried to have students "specialize" in a program/device and almost become the expert in that area. We then try to have a variety of experts staffed at any given time.
I love this idea of a genius bar! I would be interested to see what the "expertise" would be for the Genius Bar, however, particularly with BYOD. With so many device, would the kids have to learn the operating systems for all devices? Since most of the devices will most likely be student-owned, I am sure there will be a few liability issues with students "fixing" devices that other students own. I would also be interested in who would do the training? Maybe this is something we could partner with the Green Team? I would love to see this idea in action at the middle schools!
There are always students that are willing to help other students and are very knowledgeable about various devices. I would be interested to see what this 'looks like' somewhere else to be able to really visualize what we could do with it in our setting here in OHLSD. With out a bell schedule, I am not sure how this would work at middle school, unless it is just during the encore in which eKIDS is occuring....? Definitely needs to be a conversation in the near future though.
Awesome. There's no reason why Oak Hills shouldn't have something like this up and running. We've got the eKIDs class in place where this could be part of their class. Maybe also incorporate after school hours for help as well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school, we did a peer mentoring program where we would go to the middle/elementary schools and be matched up with one or a few students. We could do something similar but instead of matching up with students, have students "man" a help desk and be available for support. Once our current middle school eKIDs move on and the program grows at the high school, this should be a serious consideration.
Totally agree with the eKIDS classes being the leaders for this idea. I also think that it will be interesting to see in a couple of years once our eKIDS move onto the high school to put this into full motion would be easier knowing that they have been through our program at the middle school. Great Potential!
DeleteThis would be fairly easy to implement. I have dozens of kids stop by my room at the start of each quarter looking to become student aides to avoid being placed in Study Hall. I am fairly certain that there would be no shortage of kids that would be willing to sit in designated "help" location every bell of the day.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea that we could easily do in Oak Hills. This is something that we have already kind of talked about with our kids. I know there's been a discussion of our eKIDS helping teachers with their own technology or helping them out in the classroom when they are doing certain projects, etc. With BYOD it only makes sense that the kids should also be allowed to really work with other students and help them through their technology problems. I know that I see at least several students a week about problems that they're having with the devices. While I do think our students are well versed in technology they also have technology problems just like everyone else. I also believe that this would be a great experience because our eKIDS could become experts on multiple platforms, which if they peruse a career in technology could be beneficial to them.
ReplyDeleteI think this would really be easier to set up at the high school since they have a bell schedule and might have more flexibility to keep the "Genius Bar" open. I'm not quite sure how that would work out with the middle schools except if they would possibly do it during there eKIDS class time. This mean that the "Genius Bar" would be only open for a certain amount of time during the day. Hwever, it could be open before after school and possibly during lunch. This is something that I really believe could be implemented without too much work and would be a major benefit to everyone in the school.
I agree with you all, I think Oak Hills needs this! This would be great to incorporate into the ekids program. I know we are always trying to expand the program and I think this is a great way to do this. I wonder if there are any schools near by that are implementing this and we could observe?
ReplyDeleteI too would be very interested in observing schools who are already implementing the Genius Bar, and would like to talk to the teachers/administrators to see how they made this happen. I wonder if there are any Genius Bars already implementing with BYOD?
DeleteI like the idea and I think the idea of a Genius Bar is something we should investigate. However, I don't think that it's going to be as easy as finding a couple kids who typically want to aide for a teacher and sticking them in there. As Andy stated when he cited the GenYES Document, there will be a lot of training that needs to take place. Training that includes customer service as well as technology/device training. I do think .that in the end, students will be learning exactly the skills that they need to be successful in the 21st century. Skills that are found in the 21st century learning framework such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, information literacy, media literacy, ICT literacy, flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self direction, social and cross cultural-skills, productivity, accountability, leadership, and responsibility
ReplyDeleteI was waiting to hear what you thought seeing as how you are at the high school and would more than likely be involved if something like this would be implemented at Oak Hill High School. I think you brought up some great points about the training that would be required for the "Genius Bar" to be successful. I also agree with what you said about how this would go hand in hand with Oak Hills goals of preparing our students for the 21st century.
DeleteI don't think it would take as much training as we think. Think about if you get a random sample of students, say 5. Chances are you've got a multitude of devices, software, and programs those 5 students are accustomed to. I think it'd be best if we tried to have students "specialize" in a program/device and almost become the expert in that area. We then try to have a variety of experts staffed at any given time.
DeleteI love this idea of a genius bar! I would be interested to see what the "expertise" would be for the Genius Bar, however, particularly with BYOD. With so many device, would the kids have to learn the operating systems for all devices? Since most of the devices will most likely be student-owned, I am sure there will be a few liability issues with students "fixing" devices that other students own. I would also be interested in who would do the training? Maybe this is something we could partner with the Green Team? I would love to see this idea in action at the middle schools!
ReplyDeleteThere are always students that are willing to help other students and are very knowledgeable about various devices. I would be interested to see what this 'looks like' somewhere else to be able to really visualize what we could do with it in our setting here in OHLSD. With out a bell schedule, I am not sure how this would work at middle school, unless it is just during the encore in which eKIDS is occuring....? Definitely needs to be a conversation in the near future though.
ReplyDelete