How Samsung Chromebooks democratize learning in a diverse school district.

1. samsung.com/education
Case Study: desert sands unified school district
Samsung Chromebooks Democratize
Learning in Diverse School District
OVERVIEW
Customer Need
The Desert Sands Unified School District has a
diverse student enrollment and wanted to ensure
that all students would have computing access
to acquire 21st century skills. The district also
needed the computing devices to administer
online assessment tests for the Common Core
State Standards Initiative. Given tight budgets
and limited IT staff, the devices needed to be
affordable and require minimal support.
Samsung Solution
Desert Sands chose to deploy Samsung
Chromebooks across the district. Over 17,000
Samsung Chromebooks have been supplied
to every 5th grade classroom, every 6th-11th
grade Language Arts classroom, and every high-
school math classroom. Over time, the district
plans to furnish every classroom with Samsung
Chromebooks so that every student will have 1:1
computing access.
Results
The Samsung Chromebooks have been
enthusiastically adopted by the students and
faculty. Students now have equal computer
access so they can build critical computer skills
like keyboarding and applications. In addition,
the district is able to administer the Common
Core online assessments with an affordable
infrastructure. The Chromebooks have also
proven to be extremely easy to set up and
manage for a small IT team.

2. Early on, the district’s technology
committee recognized the need to
provide greater computing access to
its students because a large majority
come from homes with limited financial
resources and cannot afford computing
devices like PCs and notebooks.
“77% of our students qualify for the
reduced lunch program, which indicates
they have very limited means to
access computers at home,” says Dr.
George Araya, Director of Instructional
Technology. “We wanted to provide all of
our students with the 21st
century skills
they would need to advance in higher
education and in the job market.”
Historically, each classroom had three
or four desktop PCs for shared use
and computer labs for technology
instruction. The high acquisition and
support costs of a traditional PC-based
(desktop or notebook) simply did not
allow for a one device per student (one-
to-one computing) model.
With the implementation of the Common
Core State Standards curriculum, the
State of California requires students to
take an online assessment test called
the CAASP (California Assessment of
Student Performance and Progress). The
online testing requirement further drove
the district’s need to provide students
with wider computer access.
“If all our students were going to be
testing online, they were going to need
to know how to use a computing device
and how to make it a part of their daily
routine – from keyboarding to online
research,” says Sally Adams, Technology
Facilitator for the district’s middle
schools. “So that drove the need to get
devices into the hands of students.”
However, with limited budget and
staff, the IT team needed a computing
device that was affordable and
easily manageable. “With one-to-
one computing, after the cost of
acquisition, the next big challenge is
service and support,” says Dr. Araya.
“With a traditional notebook or desktop
machine, we would have to deal with
long installation times, viruses, local
storage, and OS issues – we just didn’t
have the support staff to manage tens of
thousands of devices.”
THE Customer Need
Provide a Learning Platform for a Diverse Student Population
Students work together on classroom assignments with Samsung Chromebooks
The Customer
Desert Sands USD
Located in the Coachella valley in
California, the Desert Sands Unified
School District (USD) serves nearly
30,000 students. The district’s
mission is to ensure every student
develops the knowledge, skills
and motivation to succeed as a
productive, ethical, global citizen by
assuring equal access to learning.
Desert Sands offers comprehensive
educational programs and
services to a multi-ethnic
student population with wide
socioeconomic backgrounds and
cultural interests. In order to meet
the needs of a diverse community,
the district operates 20 elementary
schools, 7 middle schools, 4
traditional high schools, 2 alternate
high schools and an independent
study K-12 school for students that
are home schooled or need a non-
traditional learning path.
The district’s instructional
technology committee designs and
plans a technology platform that
ensures that all students, regardless
of their socioeconomic background,
have the same opportunities to
leverage technology resources for
academic success. The district has
a dedicated IT staff that installs and
manages its IT infrastructure and
instructional technologies.
“We wanted to provide
all of our students
with the 21st century
skills they would need
to advance in higher
education and in the
job market.”
-Dr. George Araya
Director of Instructional
Technology

3. After careful consideration, Desert
Sands chose Samsung Chromebooks
and has already outfitted 4th-12th
grade classrooms with over 17,000
Chromebooks. Samsung is the leading
manufacturer of Chromebooks and
builds many of the internal components
for higher quality control and better
reliability. “We chose Samsung
because it was one of the first to offer
Chromebooks years ago and had already
developed a reputation for reliability
during our pilots,” says Dr. Araya.
Samsung offers several models with
a range of screen sizes and hardware
configurations. The 11.6” models are
the perfect size for younger students
and weigh less than three pounds. The
13.3” model has a best-in-class Full HD
display that is perfect for middle and
high school student needs. They boot
up in less than 10 seconds and have up
to 8.5 hours of battery life for all day
computing in the classroom.
The Chrome OS updates automatically
so no device-level updates are needed.
And student assignments and files are
stored on the Google Cloud so there
are no backup and recovery hassles.
The Samsung Chromebooks include
Google Apps for Education, a robust
set of productivity tools including
email, calendar, documents, and more.
These tools are free to schools and are
built for the web so everyone can work
together across any device, anytime.
When students are at home, they can
access their class assignments through
a Chrome browser on a desktop PC,
tablet or even a smartphone.
For $30 per device, schools can utilize
a web-based console available from
Google to manage the entire device
fleet. The Chromebooks are also easy
to deploy and manage. According to
a recent IDC study,1
it takes less than
30 minutes to deploy a Chromebook
(vs. 2.5 hours for a traditional PC). The
study also shows that it takes only .23
hours of IT labor per year to manage a
Chromebook (vs. 2.68 hours per year
for a traditional PC).
These dramatic reductions – when
multiplied by tens of thousands of
devices, have a major impact on the IT
staffing levels and rollout schedules.
“We can deploy a classroom kit in
a matter of hours, not days,” says
Dr. Araya. “We manage everything
through the cloud and have just three
support technicians for the 17,000
Chromebooks,” says Dr. Araya.
The low acquisition costs and simplified
management helps the district
transition to a one-to-one computing
model. “Our Samsung Chromebooks
cost about $300 while a traditional
PC and monitor costs more than
$700. Multiply that by 17,000 and
it is very easy to go with Samsung
Chromebooks,” says Dr. Araya.
THE Samsung Solution
Samsung Chromebooks Democratize Learning
With Samsung Chromebooks, no student is left out of group activities
Quick Profile
As used by Desert Sands USD
Also available:
samsung chromebook 2
11.6” and 13.3”
OS: Chrome
SIZE: 11.6”, 13.3” diagonal
RESOLUTION: 1366 x 768,
1920 x 1080
BRIGHTNESS: 250nit
PROCESSOR: 1.79 GHz Exynos
Octa
WEIGHT: 2.65 lbs., 3.06 lbs.
BATTERY: up to 8.5 hours
OS: Chrome
SIZE: 11.6” diagonal
RESOLUTION: 1366 x 768
BRIGHTNESS: 200nit
PROCESSOR: 1.7 GHz Exynos
Dual
WEIGHT: 2.43 lbs.
BATTERY: up to 6.3 hours
samsung chromebook

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logos and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Screen images simulated. This case study is
for informational purposes only. Samsung makes no warranties, express or implied, in this case study. CASEST-COM-DESERTSANDS-APR15J
Learn more 1-866-SAM4BIZ | samsung.com/education | @SamsungBizUSA | youtube.com/samsungbizusa
Teachers enjoy increased student contribution with the use of Samsung Chromebooks
The Samsung Chromebooks have far
exceeded the district’s expectations.
“While the driver for the broad Samsung
Chromebooks rollout was facilitating the
CAASP online test, the real benefits have
been far more profound,” says Cyndi Furr,
Project Facilitator for High Schools.
Ms. Furr explains, “the entire learning
process has changed in the classroom.
For example, in the old way, a teacher
might get to call on a few students
during discussion and the rest of the kids
might have great ideas but may not get
a chance to engage or may be too shy
to raise their hand. But with Samsung
Chromebooks, students can post online
and the teacher can project the results.
Every student is now contributing to the
discussion and involved.”
Samsung Chromebooks have also
changed the way teachers and students
engage. “Some teachers were fearful
at first but now say it has transformed
their classroom,” says Kirsten Wright,
Technology Coordinator for Elementary
Schools. “The behavior issues have gone
away. Students want to be there and they
are engaged.”
The Chromebooks have stood up to
the wear and tear of the K-12 classroom
environment. “The Chromebooks have
been great – occasionally we have a
student who might have an issue and we
just swap it out with a spare and they are
up and running immediately since all of
their work is on the cloud,” says Ms. Furr.
The web-based Chromebook
Management Console enables a three
person IT support team to manage the
entire 17,000 device fleet. This works out
to an astounding 5,666 devices managed
per technician. “We have been extremely
happy with the reliability, affordability
and manageability of Samsung
Chromebooks and eventually plan on
completing the roll out of a one-to-one
computing model in the coming years,”
says Dr. Araya.
“With Samsung
Chromebooks,
students can post
online and the teacher
can project the
results. Every student
is now contributing
to the discussion and
involved.”
-Cyndi Furr
Project Facilitator for
High Schools
THE Results
Transformative for Teaching and Learning, Easy on IT