School started for us on Monday. It was a busy day with new laptops and docking stations connected to the ActivBoards. It went quite well for the first time having teachers use them in the wild world of a realtime classroom.
Some of the new technology advancements that we start the year with are:
- New teacher and student laptops
- Wireless campus
- New assessment labs (3)
- New web based technology service request option
- New email and collaboration systems
It was a pretty smooth transition to Sharepoint and Outlook 2007. We actually rolled them out the last 2 weeks of the school year in May, but with a summer of non use I did a technology institute on both for 2 1/2 hours on Friday with great turnout. As we move forward I have created a tutorial course in our Angel Web learning system for the teachers and staff to get help when they need it. I will also use it to teach different initiatives that we put in place during the year.
The wireless install went very well and the testing also went better than I had hoped as I was able to work with our best network technician at the main school offices to troubleshoot any issues. Along with the wireless we had 3 rooms revamped to become assessment labs, intensive learning labs and a graphic design lab. These labs are getting up to speed as we work through the first week of school.
The new laptops and desktops for the labs are part of our equitable learning, technology refresh program that is replacing old technology every 4 to 5 years. As a school with older technology we were part of Phase 1. You can see the difference in the students using laptops at their desks versus a limited amount of desktops at a fixed location. This is going to make the learning process more fluid and interesting. It opens the teaching possibilities for a classroom immensely.
Lastly, we have another option for getting service requests to me to help the teachers. This method is web based, does not require the teacher to go to the phone to call a service desk and is faster in response from their input to me receiving the request. I look forward to seeing improved service from Help!
And away we go into a new school year!
Technology, Outlook, Collaboration, Education
