Laptop Loans in MVSD

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the need for at-home learning, MVSD piloted a laptop loan program in the spring of 2020. Given that MVSD is not a 1:to:1 school division, and we have not explored device loaning before, this was a big undertaking for us. Luckily, there are many great examples across the province from other school divisions who have offered programs like this for many years. Through my contacts at MAETL and ManACE I was able to work with our ICT and Programs & Planning teams to help craft a program that worked for our division.

Since the spring, our program has adapted to suit our individual school needs and has been a careful balance between providing devices for those enrolled in at-home learning while maintaining sufficient inventory for those learning face-to-face. We currently have three different loan groupings:

• year-long device loans for at-home students learning through the Westman Consortia or InformNet due to a medical accomodation
  • 21 devices loaned out
• semester-long device loans for our DRCSS students who are enrolled in a blended model
  • 31 devices loaned out
  • option to renew in second semester
• short-term device loans provided for any students (K-12) during a period of temporary remote learning
  • 137 devices loaned out

In preparation of the temporary period of remote learning in January, our technicians have been preparing devices ahead of the winter break so that students will have their device for the start of home-learning on January 4th. This means that our team of 5 will see the distribution of 137 devices, in 9 schools, in 5 communities, in 3 days. To help with the logistical component of this program we are using Office 365 Bookings (which was first used this year to assist our buildings with parent-teacher interviews).

Some features that I like about using Bookings:

• individual availability schedules can be designed for each team member and school
• families do their own Booking, freeing a team member from having to handle 137 individual phone calls
• time slots and buffer periods can be built in automatically to allow for appropriate Covid cleaning practices between guests
• families automatically get a reminder about their appointment sent to their email or device
• team members can still place an appointment manually for families who require this support

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Is your school or division 1:to:1? If so, do those devices travel between home and school with the learner?

What are some tips/tricks that make your program run smoothly?