In the fall of 2010, East Noble School Corporation began the monumental process of discussing a district-wide 1:1 initiative with the intent of dramatically changing the way instruction was delivered and learning took place in the district. This discussion began a fast-paced journey that lasted for ten months from a vision through full implementation.

The initial conversation with the Board of Education took place in October and was followed up by more detailed discussions in November and December. During this three month time period and for many months to come, the superintendent and building administrators played active roles in going out and promoting the vision at all of the ENSC buildings and with all stakeholders, such as PTO groups, the Chamber of Commerce, etc. In December, 2010, the board approved the 1:1 Initiative with the intent of full implementation by August of 2011 pending acceptable laptop pricing. From December through March of 2011, the East Noble Technology Department tested and solicited quotes for a variety of devices before finally deciding upon iPods for K-1 students, iPads for 2nd through 4th grade students, and Lenovo Thinkpad Edge laptops for grades 5-12. Devices were selected based on the needs of the learners at each level.

In January of 2011, six planning teams were created to focus on the main areas of need: Professional Development, Curriculum, Policies and Procedures, Distribution and Orientation, Public Relations, and an Options group. These committees--made up of administrators, teachers, technology staff, and parents--met from January through August of 2011. It was imperative that all stakeholders had input concerning decisions and that all areas worked together; because of this, many people served on more than one committee, with the technology director serving on all of them to provide continuity and clear communication. Much work was done in all areas, but a large amount of the focus centered on curriculum and professional development; the district made a conscious decision to move away from textbooks and toward digital content, making the curriculum focus vital. Additionally, it was important to provide teachers with the support they needed to be successful on the first day, so professional development was key. The Policies and Procedures committee also worked tirelessly to create the structures, processes, and regulations needed to ensure a successful implementation from distribution to day to day operations.

Additionally, infrastructure upgrades to the district's nine buildings began in January and these improvements were complete by July, with wireless access in all buildings before the students' first day. Currently, East Noble provides 565 MB of bandwidth for learning and daily operations. This bandwidth is provided by three ISPs to insure redundancy is available at least 99% of the time.

In order to provide teachers an opportunity to become comfortable with their devices, all ENSC teachers were given Lenovo X220 tablets in May of 2011; K-4 teachers also received their iPads. Focused, ongoing professional development began immediately, with sessions running in the summer, before school and after school, during the day or evenings--whenever the peer coaches who were tasked with preparing teachers could reach their audience. Additionally, many East Noble teachers were given the opportunity to visit other successful 1:1 initiatives. Some site visits included Evansville Vanderburgh (Indiana), Pascack Valley Regional School District (New Jersey), Mooresville Schools (North Carolina), Plymouth Middle School (Indiana), and North Davies (Indiana). These visitations provided valuable insight on which East Noble's 1:1 Initiative was based upon.

In June of 2011, East Noble held a "Red Carpet Day," where employee's children who were in grades 5-12 were able to pick up their assigned laptops. This initial group of students provided a "test" group for East Noble to see how the filtering system, student image, etc. worked, providing us the opportunity to modify our process and structures before rolling out the rest of the student laptops at the beginning of August, 2011. The first student day was August 15, and on that day, East Noble was up and running full steam ahead. By the end of August, all K-4 iPods and iPads were in place in elementary classrooms. In all, East Noble underwent a major network overhaul and deployed nearly 4,300 devices in just ten short months.