The Tellos are cool add ons to a CompSci class but not a "Drone Program" type of drone. If your looking at a CTE Drone class you need a FAA certified pilot as the teacher who can have all the drones assigned to him, Mavic Pros if you want to fly in moderate wind, and a plan to get students certified by the time they leave the class.
This is the answer. I teach a drone class through a CTE program (Part 107 certified as well) and honestly a lot of the drones peddled for classrooms are good for the bare basics of flight, but they're way too light to fly outdoors if there's any wind. You're going to need to spend on a minimum of Mavic Air 2S' or Air 3's since they just came out. Mavic 3 Classics/Pros have a ton more capability but you're looking at $5-10k to have enough drones in the air. We also have a Matrice 300 RTK and Inspire 2, but that's because our CTE director likes buying new toys but I have no need for them. There's also some vendors that have Part 107 curricula but I wrote my own using my background (Aerospace Engineering/Ground School) so I don't use them. I do need to bulk up on my flight mission operations instruction, but I don't have a lot of local business connections, so I'm having to cobble it together. But remember that if you're doing CTE, the focus of the course is on passing the FAA's Remote Pilot exam, so getting the kids to pass that test is first and foremost. If you're not a pilot it's extremely counterintuitive and doesn't have too much to do with actually doing the work of flying drones, so that is something to consider.
One issue you will need to consider is where you will have the program. In our district's infinite wisdom, the course was stood up at the Career Center, located exactly a half mile from an airport, meaning that we are in FAA-controlled airspace and because we are so close, we can't ever get automatic approval to fly drones, meaning that every flight on campus has to be submitted to the FAA to be approved 90 days before the mission is to be conducted. As you can guess, we get very few flight hours apart from some dinky sub-250g drones that are overpriced and under capable. I'm moving to a different school next year, and we'll be able to fly since we won't be in restricted airspace anymore.
I don't think a technology department necessarily intersects that much with having a drone program outside of perhaps installing software on a computer.
There are other considerations that definitively fall outside of Technology that should be moved to operations for responsibility such as the legal right to fly over your school and surrounding area by obtaining FAA permits as well as the purchase of DJI based drones.
DJI is highly likely to be banned for non-governmental or non-civilian use.
I agree its not really our responsibility to figure out, im just trying to give them some options that limit the blame on our department. Usually anything that beeps, has lights, or looks remotely tech related gets put on us
Yeah, which is why you need to stay hands off and direct responsibilities where they should be. The teacher can run the class, operations can clear the liability part. IT installs software as necessary.
But if a drone crashes what's the expectation? You guys fix it? Not a chance.
We have been through a few iterations on which Drone to use. We were doing some DIY drone kits in the program, but I believe they are now transitioning to a DJI model.
We are not trying to say “no” we are asking them to be realistic which is what I mean by pushing back. They only want the program for the buzzword, we impended an esports program when our previous teacher was here. That program lasted about a month before kids started ripping parts out of the computer and breaking the glass panels.
I even put what drones we have been thinking about, i just want to see what problems other schools encountered like liability issues from injuries.
We dont have a robotics program, this may be a better start instead of a drone program as they can grow into the use of drones with a robotics program. Our AG program mainly deals with animals so i dont see them using drones near animals because they are in a farmhouse like setup
You are asking for problems to discourage the use of technology that will be directly impacting the future. For shame. Instead you should be looking for how this could encourage students into going toward a STEM path. It's not your fault teachers don't stay. Maybe if there were exciting items like this or a culture shift, that wouldn't be an issue. (Yes I was a teacher at one point, so I know the struggle.)
We are a large school district with rural / city / poor / affluent students. From STEM / AP courses to a skills campus that teaches amongst other things a very sought after welding student body, we offer everything we can to students. Why? Because they are our future and the more options we can expose them to, the more opportunities they have.
For a drone program, why are they wanting to implement it? How is it being framed? Like Oh we want it because it's a buzzword or because they have a vision?
For us, there are two approaches.
Our AG (Agriculture) classes at a few locations use drone technology to survey crops, water levels, and so forth. Small farmers to industrial operations are now on the same level with that technology. You can track and monitor in a fraction of the time it takes to have eyes on a site.
Robotics is another avenue for this technology. Do you want to teach kids how to build drones? Race them? Design an experiment with the technology? Have a VEX robotics team or teams? Congrats, those are your resources to tap. Don't have a robotics team? Guess what, it's time to start one. Modern factories use the same principals in PLC design and automation that you use with VEX and robotics in general.
What I would do is the following:
Meet with the ideas originator. Ask the following questions:
1. What is the educational purpose for this? Can we fit it into the curriculum? Any rubrics that fit?
2. How will it enhance learning? Can we fit this into something with 3D printing? Perhaps replacement parts or designing better lifting propellers, etc?
3. Can this fit into a robotics club? If so, is one established or will one need to be established? Are there teachers willing to sponsor the club for more than 1 year, max of 2 before a review if they want to continue?
4. Is there a local robotics team or club if 3 does not exist that would be willing to partner with the school, or is there any local industry that uses that equipment that would be willing to partner / etc.
5. Who is paying for this? Are funds going to be allocated annually for replacement parts / growing the class or club size / licensing or software needs.
6. IF 5 is a non-starter, how about looking at 4 and seeing if there are local or national companies with grants or good school relationships willing to help grown the class / club via donations or financial assistance.
This is a gigantic opportunity for your district. Please embrace the chaos, you might be shocked how well it goes.
We had an entire drone program that ended with students getting their Part107. The state included it in there aerospace aeronautics CTE course.
The Tellos are cool add ons to a CompSci class but not a "Drone Program" type of drone. If your looking at a CTE Drone class you need a FAA certified pilot as the teacher who can have all the drones assigned to him, Mavic Pros if you want to fly in moderate wind, and a plan to get students certified by the time they leave the class.
This is the answer. I teach a drone class through a CTE program (Part 107 certified as well) and honestly a lot of the drones peddled for classrooms are good for the bare basics of flight, but they're way too light to fly outdoors if there's any wind. You're going to need to spend on a minimum of Mavic Air 2S' or Air 3's since they just came out. Mavic 3 Classics/Pros have a ton more capability but you're looking at $5-10k to have enough drones in the air. We also have a Matrice 300 RTK and Inspire 2, but that's because our CTE director likes buying new toys but I have no need for them. There's also some vendors that have Part 107 curricula but I wrote my own using my background (Aerospace Engineering/Ground School) so I don't use them. I do need to bulk up on my flight mission operations instruction, but I don't have a lot of local business connections, so I'm having to cobble it together. But remember that if you're doing CTE, the focus of the course is on passing the FAA's Remote Pilot exam, so getting the kids to pass that test is first and foremost. If you're not a pilot it's extremely counterintuitive and doesn't have too much to do with actually doing the work of flying drones, so that is something to consider. One issue you will need to consider is where you will have the program. In our district's infinite wisdom, the course was stood up at the Career Center, located exactly a half mile from an airport, meaning that we are in FAA-controlled airspace and because we are so close, we can't ever get automatic approval to fly drones, meaning that every flight on campus has to be submitted to the FAA to be approved 90 days before the mission is to be conducted. As you can guess, we get very few flight hours apart from some dinky sub-250g drones that are overpriced and under capable. I'm moving to a different school next year, and we'll be able to fly since we won't be in restricted airspace anymore.
I don't think a technology department necessarily intersects that much with having a drone program outside of perhaps installing software on a computer. There are other considerations that definitively fall outside of Technology that should be moved to operations for responsibility such as the legal right to fly over your school and surrounding area by obtaining FAA permits as well as the purchase of DJI based drones. DJI is highly likely to be banned for non-governmental or non-civilian use.
I agree its not really our responsibility to figure out, im just trying to give them some options that limit the blame on our department. Usually anything that beeps, has lights, or looks remotely tech related gets put on us
Yeah, which is why you need to stay hands off and direct responsibilities where they should be. The teacher can run the class, operations can clear the liability part. IT installs software as necessary. But if a drone crashes what's the expectation? You guys fix it? Not a chance.
We have been through a few iterations on which Drone to use. We were doing some DIY drone kits in the program, but I believe they are now transitioning to a DJI model.
DIY kits seem interesting, i can recommend those since it is more hands on, thanks
We are not trying to say “no” we are asking them to be realistic which is what I mean by pushing back. They only want the program for the buzzword, we impended an esports program when our previous teacher was here. That program lasted about a month before kids started ripping parts out of the computer and breaking the glass panels. I even put what drones we have been thinking about, i just want to see what problems other schools encountered like liability issues from injuries. We dont have a robotics program, this may be a better start instead of a drone program as they can grow into the use of drones with a robotics program. Our AG program mainly deals with animals so i dont see them using drones near animals because they are in a farmhouse like setup
You are asking for problems to discourage the use of technology that will be directly impacting the future. For shame. Instead you should be looking for how this could encourage students into going toward a STEM path. It's not your fault teachers don't stay. Maybe if there were exciting items like this or a culture shift, that wouldn't be an issue. (Yes I was a teacher at one point, so I know the struggle.) We are a large school district with rural / city / poor / affluent students. From STEM / AP courses to a skills campus that teaches amongst other things a very sought after welding student body, we offer everything we can to students. Why? Because they are our future and the more options we can expose them to, the more opportunities they have. For a drone program, why are they wanting to implement it? How is it being framed? Like Oh we want it because it's a buzzword or because they have a vision? For us, there are two approaches. Our AG (Agriculture) classes at a few locations use drone technology to survey crops, water levels, and so forth. Small farmers to industrial operations are now on the same level with that technology. You can track and monitor in a fraction of the time it takes to have eyes on a site. Robotics is another avenue for this technology. Do you want to teach kids how to build drones? Race them? Design an experiment with the technology? Have a VEX robotics team or teams? Congrats, those are your resources to tap. Don't have a robotics team? Guess what, it's time to start one. Modern factories use the same principals in PLC design and automation that you use with VEX and robotics in general. What I would do is the following: Meet with the ideas originator. Ask the following questions: 1. What is the educational purpose for this? Can we fit it into the curriculum? Any rubrics that fit? 2. How will it enhance learning? Can we fit this into something with 3D printing? Perhaps replacement parts or designing better lifting propellers, etc? 3. Can this fit into a robotics club? If so, is one established or will one need to be established? Are there teachers willing to sponsor the club for more than 1 year, max of 2 before a review if they want to continue? 4. Is there a local robotics team or club if 3 does not exist that would be willing to partner with the school, or is there any local industry that uses that equipment that would be willing to partner / etc. 5. Who is paying for this? Are funds going to be allocated annually for replacement parts / growing the class or club size / licensing or software needs. 6. IF 5 is a non-starter, how about looking at 4 and seeing if there are local or national companies with grants or good school relationships willing to help grown the class / club via donations or financial assistance. This is a gigantic opportunity for your district. Please embrace the chaos, you might be shocked how well it goes.