Fostering Personalized Learning with Towers.

See how the Kettle Moraine School District is creating learning environments that flex with their evolving classrooms.

“The flexible platform design [of Towers by PowerGistics] allows the classroom to flex and evolve with any future needs, making them a great investment.” Bob Boyd, CETL — Director of Technology, Kettle Moraine School District

KETTLE MORAINE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Students: 3,850 • Staff: 460
Operating 10 schools
Wales, Wisconsin

https://www.kmsd.edu/

Challenges

• Lack of available space presented a conflict for 1:1 device deployment
• Tangled cords and cart clutter caused students to misplace or damage their devices
• Time spent on device distribution wasn’t efficient and resulted in student bottle-necking at cart sites

Product Solution

Towers
Just-A-Stand

Located in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, the Kettle Moraine School District proudly operates 10 schools—6 of which are designated Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education. With over 3,800 students and 460 staff members district-wide, Kettle Moraine focuses on asserting itself as a “personalized learning school district” which means that having flexible classroom settings is imperative to helping them achieve this initiative.

Part of the implementation of its personalized learning initiative required the school to offer a 1:1 device deployment to its students. Bob Boyd, Director of Technology, shares how one of their key challenges revolved around assigning devices to students. “It was hard for kids to be assigned to one device. They were constantly struggling to get and put back devices properly; constantly mixing up devices and making it hard to manage the charging and tangled cords.” He also stated how the lack of available classroom space was a key issue for the schools that were previously using carts. “It just didn’t make sense to have such large amounts of space dedicated to something that was not functional, to begin with.”

“PowerGistics Towers has allowed us to easily assign and keep the devices stored and neatly organized with assigned shelves.” 

Primary pain points with the previous cart setup:

• Bottle-neck at the cart
• Devices get broken
• Tangled cords
• Waste of valuable space

Towers benefits for Kettle Moraine IT and faculty:

• Open concept provides ease of tracking & charging devices
• Initial device set up at the start of the year is simplified, Year-end inventory management time is reduced
• Streamlined process for deploying and managing devices
• Perfect length cords yield no tangled mess and better organization

Switching to PowerGistics

Making the switch to Towers by PowerGistics solved several key issues for the Director of Technology, Bob Boyd. The schools were able to streamline distribution by bringing in 2-4 Towers per classroom to help split deployment and optimize time savings. Each classroom varies in quantities and setup. “We have them in 70% of our elementary classrooms currently. Previously, our teachers had issues with students going all to the same place to distribute devices so we took advantage of the smaller Towers.” In these classrooms, teachers are able to spread the Tower placement to the four corners of the room or in any combination they see fit. “The flexible platform design allows the classroom to flex and evolve with any future needs, making them a great investment,” notes Mr. Boyd.

“Our model for assigned devices to each individual student has helped us save money with device repairs. Having PowerGistics Towers has allowed us to easily assign and keep the devices stored and neatly organized with assigned shelves.” Prior to implementing the Towers, the time it took for kids to find their device and put it back properly, with traditional carts, was far longer. Kettle Moraine staff would have to continually correct the problems with device distribution and returns. “The students get in a rhythm of the routine and the amount of time we save annually really adds up.”

The Kettle Moraine schools started with just a few units to pilot, “The response was great but we still needed a solution that was flexible for any application,” as wall mounting was only appropriate in some of their classroom environments. Their challenge was solved by utilizing Just-A-Stand, a free-standing Tower base that can be easily placed anywhere in the classroom, making use of vertical space to keep devices organized, compact, and easy to access. “The stand really expanded the use of the product” and increased its flexibility in all classroom types from elementary up through the high school.

PowerGistics’ smart, durable charging and storage solutions provide a small footprint and open concept for easy management in a wide range of classroom types. Towers are helping this school district recognize its goal of creating more fluid learning environments for its students and achieving its district’s vision of Learning Without Boundaries. Mr. Bob Boyd, the Kettle Moraine School District’s Director of Technology, was able to summarize his experience with Towers by PowerGistics in two words: “Flexible. Efficient.”

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