Miami-Dade School Board Authorizes Digital Convergence Plan

The Miami-Dade School Board today authorized a plan by Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho to provide wireless digital education services for students across the school district.

“Miami-Dade's digital convergence race is not about outcompeting others; it is about outpacing ourselves in the pursuit of equity and opportunity,” said Carvalho. “ Miami-Dade will lead the nation in guaranteeing universal digital rights for all children by 2014.”

Updating the wiring of schools to support high-speed Internet with sufficient bandwidth to support 21st-century learning.
Putting digital devices in the hands of all students.
Accelerating the adoption of digital curricula.
Investing in technology-rich schools of innovation to serve as models for the broader swath of public schools.
Providing teachers with the training and support they need to implement technology effectively in their classrooms.

These elements coincide with recommendations made by The Leading Education by Advancing Digital, or LEAD, commission.

“The plan will eliminate our community’s digital deserts through content, device empowerment, and ubiquitous wireless access,” said Carvalho.

Funds for the school district’s digital transformation will be provided by the 21st Century School General Obligation Bond Referendum approved by voters last November, which included $100 million for technology upgrades. A total of $82 million will be spent at school campuses including $38 million for projection systems, interactive technologies, and sound amplification systems. Another $44 million will be spent on upgrades to school networks.

Statistics show that three in 10 Americans or approximately 8 million households representing almost 15 million children are offline. The district’s efforts will not only help to bring students and their families online but will transform our classrooms through the provision of 21st century learning tools.

The district has already begun this process of digital convergence, and will be moving to digital learning environments with mobile technologies both district and student owned, digital content, cloud services, and web 2.0 tools.

A survey has been issued to assess the digital device needs of the student population. Pending the results of the survey, a Request for Information (RFI) for digital devices will be issued to identify devices that meet instructional needs and that offer the best value for the price.

The State Instructional Materials Categorical Program provides flexibility to purchase digital devices for students and will be used to fund this initiative beginning in fiscal year 2014-15. Student devices will be deployed in phases, with Phase 1 completed in the fall of 2013. Phase 2 and 3 are projected to be completed in August of 2014 and 2015, respectively. Upgrades will also be made to the district’s network center located at Information Technology Services.