0:03 (Amy Bennett from Lightspeed Systems)

Today I’m talking with Anthony Padrnos from Osseo Area Schools. How are you, Anthony?\

0:08 (Anthony Padrnos from Osseo Area Schools)

I’m doing well, thank you.

0:10 (Amy Bennett)

How has this transition been for you guys?

0:12 (Anthony Padrnos)

You know, the transition has actually gone fairly well, given the way Minnesota had a transition. We had two weeks for planning on this.

0:22 (Anthony Padrnos)

So our governor closed schools completely down and gave our schools two weeks to get prepared and ready for that transition.

0:33 (Anthony Padrnos)

Teachers have had some experience with some remote teaching – not necessarily for this length of time – but have had at least had the opportunity to dabble into what that could look like, using our digital tools.

0:45 (Amy Bennett)

How has Relay (Lightspeed Filter) helped you with everything that you’re facing?

0:48 (Anthony Padrnos)

Yeah, Relay (Lightspeed Filter) has been a vital tool as we’ve been navigating distance learning. 1) For us to be able to ensure the technology that we’re providing has safe browsing opportunities for students, and they can navigate our tools and digital resources in a safer learning environment.

1:09 (Anthony Padrnos)

The second piece for us is that it’s been very critical for us to be able to pull regular statistics and data on just: what is our useage with our digital tools? Are student able to engage with the platforms we’ve laid out there?

1:19 (Anthony Padrnos)

And that teachers are trying to provide those rich learning resources and opportunities in the digital learning environment. So, those have been the two-most impactful ways we’ve been able to engage with Relay (Lightspeed Filter) at this time.

1:32 (Anthony Padrnos)

Um, both from the safety and security lens, off of our campus, as well as pulling those daily statistics on how well are we actually doing with our digital tools to engage students.

1:46 (Amy Bennett)

We’re seeing a lot of new interest in Relay (Lightspeed Filter) and Analytics (Lightspeed Analytics) because a lot of schools are facing just that: they need information that is really hard to get when devices are everywhere.

1:56 (Amy Bennett)

You’ve been using it for quite some time now – any surprises or interesting anecdotes from what you’re seeing?

2:02 (Anthony Padrnos)

You know, I don’t think there are any surprises. There are some things we were already learning through Relay Analytics (Lightspeed Analytics). Before COVID-19 struck, we were actually doing a deep dive in our elementary schools, trying to understand “What are the technology needs at the prek-5 level?” to really support what we were trying to do as a district.

2:24 (Anthony Padrnos)

And some of that work got amplified and moved a little quicker to really identify resources that we needed to support the elementary level. And so that’s how the Analytics tool has been really crucial for us, as we’ve been trying to shape and ramp up what we were doing at elementary, on a quicker timeline than we had anticipated.

2:45 (Amy Bennett)

The quicker timeline is also something I’m hearing a lot of, right. The shift to 1:1, the use of data, all of these things that we’re maybe a multi-year plan that are now a multi-month plan. How has your summer project list changed?

3:00 (Anthony Padrnos)

We had a focus on grades 3-5 devices coming in for next year, and that’s still in place. We’re bringing in a refresh of technology in grades 3-5, so now our process is thinking about how we do an exchange of devices. And what does collection and deployment look like moving into the future?

3:20 (Anthony Padrnos)

I think our greater conversations this summer are actually going to be around: what does the future of school hold for us? We don’t necessarily know how fall is going to transition, whether it’s still in the distance learning mode, or in some form of a hybrid mode where students are in some days, then out doing distance learning another day.

3:37 (Anthony Padrnos)

What we’re trying to take and prepare our system for is having our system be nimble. So, whether we’re in a physical face-to-face environment, we can transition into a remote learning space at any given point in time.

3:52 (Anthony Padrnos)

It doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be virus-related, it could just be that we have some sort of massive power outage or some kind of natural disaster that hits, or, you know, Minnesota is prone to having cold-weather days and snow days where we’re out several days at a time. And making sure we have a system that’s nimble enough with our technology resources, as well as a staff that’s adaptable enough to move in-and-out of, you know, physical face-to-face and remote learning.

4:20 (Amy Bennett)

If you could give other schools one piece of advice, what would it be?

4:24 (Anthony Padrnos)

I would say one of the best pieces of advice is: keep it simple. One of the things, you know, that we’ve tried to drive home with our teachers is (to not) introduce a bunch of new platforms or new tools. The more we can keep it simple to things that we know and can really support well, and that students can navigate easily because they’re familiar with them, it’s going to have a bigger bang for our buck and ability to stretch what we can do within our learning environment.

4:56 (Amy Bennett)

“Keep it simple” is great advice.

4:58 (Anthony Padrnos)

Yes.

4:59 (Amy Bennett)

Well thank you very much for taking the time to talk today, and I’m glad Relay (Lightspeed Filter) is able to help you with some of this, and give you that nimbleness, as you said, to be able to work on-campus, off-campus, wherever learning ends up happening now or next year.

5:16 (Anthony Padrnos)

Awesome, thank you!

5:19 (Amy Bennett)

Thank you, Anthony!