Project REAL did not just happen over night. The process to prepare for Project REAL took 3 years and began in 2008. Each step in the process was very purposeful and strategic. The planning began with one person and with each step added additional people to the planning group. In order to better understand how the District reached the place of implementing Project REAL, it is important to understand where the District's starting point. In the mid 1990's the Little Falls Schools embraced 1:1 program with fifth graders using the eMate. The eMate program had its successes and challenges. The very design of the device limited it's functionality to mainly word processing. Teachers used the device to capitalize on its word processing abilities. Times got tough for the District financially and millions of dollars had to be cut from the budget and the District moved into some very lean years financially. A referendum passed on its fifth attempt and the District began to see some hope for a better tomorrow. However, the damage had been done. The lean years meant hit the technology department hard and there was not money to keep the technology running efficiently. In the Spring of 2008, Superintendent Curt Tryggestad asked the board for permission to hire a District Technology Coordinator. The board agreed that this was a need and search began. The District was very excited to have Mark Diehl join them as the new District Technology Coordinator. As a former classroom teacher, Diehl understood the needs of the classroom and works to match that with the capabilities of the technology that exists. |