Katy ISD Mobile Learning Device Program Featured As Success Story

Katy ISD’s use of smartphones as mobile learning devices is being showcased as a technology success story by Business2Business, an online community focused on sharing the latest news about technology and social media.

In the story, entitled “How Katy Independent School District Turned Its Students’ Love Of Mobile Into Better Learning, Test Scores,” Business2Business correspondent Eric Lai outlined the district’s successes with the mobile learning devices.

In the story, Lai noted “Leveraging the iPads, Droids and iTouches that most kids already had, (the program) is bringing learning to the 21st century and giving kids a preview of how their future workplaces will operate.”

The story also quotes Katy ISD Chief Information Officer Lenny Schad as saying, “There wasn’t one teacher who didn’t see improvements in engagement and test scores” as a result of the use of the devices.

The school district’s use of smartphones – and now mobile notebooks – began as a pilot project in 2009 with 125 mobile learning devices given to fifth-graders at one school.

The phones had the calling and texting features disabled.

The following year, the district distributed an additional 1,500 smartphones to 10 additional campuses.

This year, following upgrades to campus networks, the district instituted a “Bring Your Own Device” policy in its middle and high schools.

Today, the article noted, more than 80 teachers in the district are using mobile learning devices as an integral part of their classroom instruction, with plans to have 35 elementary schools using the MLDs by next year.

To read the entire Business2Business article, click here.