Fortunately, in 2023, the community passed a bond to buy interactive panels, upgrade the entire network (a project the district completed that same year) and provide robust coaching through a third-party provider. Miller says that teacher training and professional development was a critical component when LISD issued a request for proposals with the help of True North Consulting Group.

“We felt that if we were going to do a project this big, which would touch every single classroom, it was necessary to write that PD into the RFP,” he says. “We don’t have enough people internally to train 3,000 teachers, so the best partner would be somebody who could help us with that.”

The district chose to work with longtime partner CDW, whose proposal included Newline panels, installation support from services partner Global Asset, and PD coordinated and delivered by Educational Collaborators throughout the 2024-2025 school year.

CDW K–12 Senior Education Strategist Wendy Jones says the company’s holistic capabilities made it a great fit: “It wasn’t just the interactive panels but the deployment, the PD, the communication — it was our ability to manage the whole package.”

To narrow down the options, LISD asked approximately 50 IT staffers, principals, teachers and other stakeholders to evaluate several demos. A smaller group then scored the RFP responses, winnowing the list down to CDW and another finalist. Both finalists sent their recommended panels to six LISD schools so teachers and principals could try them out firsthand.

The district prioritized educators’ involvement in the selection process, both to increase teacher buy-in and to ensure they would find the interactive flat-panels easy to use. Their input was invaluable, says CDW Client Executive John Rex.

“That was one of the best things Leander ISD did throughout the RFP process,” he says. “If teachers don’t feel comfortable and confident using the technology, it’s just another piece of hardware that sits in a classroom and doesn’t get used.”

The district chose 86-inch Newline Q Pro panels for the majority of its classrooms and learning spaces and the 65-inch model for smaller rooms. In addition to a seven-year warranty, the panels’ native Google certification was a plus, Miller says.

When CDW got the nod in April 2024, work quickly got underway. Removing all of the old projectors and installing thousands of new panels by the time teachers returned to campus in the fall required seamless coordination, says CDW’s Rex. LISD prioritized campuses for installation and provided blueprints and other information, allowing CDW to strategize the most efficient approach.

“We had weekly calls with all of the key stakeholders about the installation process,” Rex says. “That communication was one of the biggest reasons the project was successful.”

The upgrade has made an enormous difference for Miller’s team, which can now manage the panels remotely.

“We don’t have to go out and fix bulbs on projectors or fix screens that fall off the wall. For the teachers, they just work, especially since we upgraded our network and wireless to support these at the same time,” he says.

The percentage of teachers who agreed or strongly agreed at midyear that they feel comfortable using the panels in classrooms, up from 44% before training

Source: Educational Collaborators

With the panels installed, the PD could begin, equipping teachers with the skills, knowledge and confidence they needed to make the most of this new, interactive technology.

The goal was to show teachers how to operate the panels and empower them to integrate the panels across the SAMR model, which encompasses substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition, says LISD Digital Learning Specialist Madi Houston.

“We wanted to think about how this could redefine how we teach, how students learn and how they collaborate,” Houston says. “Trying to get to the deep end sooner, rather than letting people find their way there accidentally, was important to us.”

The bond paid for Educational Collaborators to provide 10 trainers and instructional coaches to support the district’s teachers for the entire school year. The bond also covered an education consultant, Chasity Baker, who coordinated the whole process — a task well beyond the bandwidth of internal teams, Howell says.

To start, Educational Collaborators spent two weeks delivering two onboarding sessions at each of the district’s schools, introducing teachers to key features and functions on the panels. Given the large number of teachers and their limited availability, Baker worked closely with Howell and campus principals to ensure everyone received this training.

Educational Collaborators then offered optional follow-up sessions on every campus, including one-on-one and team coaching, pop-up sessions and classroom visits. For many teachers, having a coach in the classroom was reassuring, Baker says.

“Class management is a big concern whenever you’re trying something new,” she says. “Having another adult in the room — and an adult who’s an expert on which buttons to push — helps to ensure there’s no downtime.”

Coaching also helped teachers leverage the full potential of the panels, such as the ability to cast and manage content from their computers.

“The interactive panel has a lot of different tools, and that brought something to the table that many teachers were interested in,” Houston says.

Because follow-up coaching was optional, Baker communicated its availability through newsletters, principals and other avenues. A small number of teachers became repeat attendees, seeking coaching every month to continually deepen their skills.

“The people who took advantage of the coaching saw more frequent use of the apps, and they had higher comfort with all of the functionality,” Baker says.

Typically, she says, PD for new technology rollouts is brief, virtual and delivered by a vendor supporting multiple other districts at the same time. By including PD in the bond, however, LISD had the resources to support teachers’ progress over a longer period.

“That was a structure I’ve never seen in any professional development or rollout of technology that I’ve been a part of,” Baker says. “By partnering with an education consulting team, CDW was able to provide much more frequent and robust training delivery models.”

Howell and her team say PD had the most impact when it was tailored to each audience, helping teachers see how the panels could be relevant to their curricula — for example, highlighting the integrated periodic table in a session for science teachers.

“If we can tie it to a campus focus — or even more specifically, to certain teams — that’s where we can make those connections and get buy-in for how it can be more purposeful for them,” says Digital Learning Specialist John Sandobal.

Coaches also encouraged teachers to incorporate the panels in ways that increased student engagement.

“We’ve always said, this is a student interactive panel. Our goal is to get you to have your students up there,” Sandobal says. “Now, the students are taking that to the next level with their learning, thinking critically about what they’re doing and communicating with their fellow students.”

For Miller, that engagement is the best measure of success.

“Before, students would be sitting there watching a projector, and it wasn’t interactive. Now, they’re using the panels and competing with their classmates on math games, and they’re excited about the topic,” he says. “That’s what I like to see.”