Chicago is My Home

30
Oct

Chicago Public Schools Spends $7 Million on Social Networking

Author: Adam Fendelman, Category: Education

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CHICAGO – FirstClass software from Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Open Text will go live on Oct. 31 across the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system. The software is designed to link teachers and students via e-mail, social networking and online tools.

Open Text will oversee the implementation of the software on the CPS database. The school board budget reported the cost for the technology at $7 million.

FirstClass is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that’s designed to ease the burden of technology professionals within schools. Chicago students will receive access to the service on a “rolling basis” throughout the school year.

The program has been used in certain CPS schools for nine months. A technology coordinator and computer teacher at Agustin Lara School in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood has some concerns with its rollout.

“I am waiting to see all the bumps and cracks,” said Lauren Villwock, 23, in an interview with MidwestBusiness.com. The software will go live to approximately 600 schools in the district.

At a training session for the software, Villwock says half of the teachers could not log on and she was told that FirstClass was having a technical issue on their end. Teachers were locked out of the system for a couple hours because of the issue.

On the first day of school in 2007, the $60 million CPS instructional management program and academic communication tool (IMPACT) crashed due to user overload. Teachers use IMPACT to electronically track attendance.

Aside from her concerns, Villwock is encouraged by what FirstClass has to offer.
“The teacher-to-teacher networking is awesome,” she said. Teachers can install the program at home with all the same features. Villwock says access at her home will give her more free time during the school day to focus on students.

Though Villwock’s students will not be using the software for a couple years because they “are not at the level needed to be using it,” she says teachers are excited about its prospects.

Villwock says the collaboration tools are key for teachers and will allow them many different types of educational methods for group projects.

“Teachers can let creativity lead the way,” said Rachel O’Konis, a communications manager for information and technology services at CPS, in an interview with MidwestBusiness.com.

When asked about students such as those at Agustin Lara who are not at the level needed to use the software, O’Konis said CPS has trained a core team of teachers to use the software. These teachers will be responsible for training the other faculty members at school.

While the teachers will then integrate the system into their lesson plans, ultimately it will be up to the faculty to facilitate the use of the software by their students. Though the rollout is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, it’s not definitive when teachers and students will actually be using the system as a teaching tool.

The FirstClass program will have a social networking system built in that will be closely monitored by teachers. CPS currently blocks the use of MySpace and other popular social networking applications from use in their schools.

“We are having FirstClass listen in on the conversations for inappropriate material,” said O’Konis.

She says this is a “much more controlled environment” than outside networking sites. Teachers must approve a student’s comment before it is posted. Students will have some capability for peer-to-peer sharing on the network and will also be able to access the service from home.

CPS received $5.2 million in funding for FirstClass from the federal government’s Schools & Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund (also known as “E-Rate”). CPS will pay for the remaining $1.8 million in costs. In total, these sources comprise the overall $7 million figure.

The rollout will complete the transfer of teacher e-mail accounts and will lock them out of their old accounts. Teachers must use the FirstClass e-mail system beginning on Wednesday.

By Stephanie Huls
Staff Writer
MidwestBusiness.com

This article is being published here with permission.