JULY 29, 2010 ISSUE
The Gift of 21st Century Technology
Students To Enter Global Community Via Laptops, Wi-Fi, New Technology
Supt. Marty Hemric discusses technology with IT facilitator Laura Carson (left) and IT specialist Nancy Zeiss, two women who have been instrumental in implementing new technology at the high school, notably with the Pioneer IT laptop program.
An intricate networking system links the building’s many technologies.When the doors of the new Watauga High School swing open on August 11, students will not only be walking into a new building, they will also be steps away from becoming a connected member of the global community.
Each student at Watauga High School—all 1,420 of them—will receive a laptop starting in fall 2010 that they can use at school and take home for independent study; the computers will only have to be returned each summer for maintenance. And the laptops are only the beginning—students will punch their ticket to the globe through a host of other 21st century tech, such as wireless internet and interactive whiteboards in all classrooms, Smart Suite software and Cloud Computing. Watauga County Schools Supt. Dr. Marty Hemric labels the move to 21st century technology as Education 3.0.
Laptops—The One-To-One Transformation
“We call it the ‘one-to-one transformation’ because it’s a new way to go to school,” said Scarlet Davis, assistant superintendent of Watauga County Schools. “All students will receive a laptop—it’s comprehensive. If you are a student at Watauga High School, you’re getting one.”
And if you’re a teacher at Watauga High School, you’re getting one, too. According to Davis, the 110 teachers at the high school will each receive a laptop, along with some administrative personnel, translating into a total of 1,550 laptops.
To connect each of the laptops to the global community, North Carolina is providing free internet access to all 115 school districts in the state. North Carolina is one of the first states to provide that service, according to Davis.
In March, the Watauga County Board of Commissioners voted to allocate $1,804,909.52 to buy 1,550 laptops, which will be supplied by Computer Software Innovations of Easley, S.C. The laptops will be the Dell E5400 model, and each will come with a four-year warranty and accidental damage insurance.
The laptops will replace the 14 computer labs originally planned for the new school.
It is important to remember, however, that the one-to-one idea only works in an efficacious classroom setting, said Davis.
“Our teachers are our most valuable resource. We want to make sure we place our main focus on teachers and students and not just the equipment,” said Davis. “These devices are useless if we don’t have good teachers and engaged students.”
Education 3.0—Shifting To a New Norm
Hemric, who is passionate about giving local students the skills they need to succeed in the 21st century, said that the new model of schooling could be looked at as Education 3.0. He said Education 1.0 was the traditional way of learning. Then, educators found that group work, computer labs and blogs engaged students more, and the move was made to Education 2.0. Now, the 21st century is here and learning must stress global awareness, civic literacy, health literacy, media literacy, access to human capital and financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy, while instilling creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving and communication and collaboration: Education 3.0.
“The sit and click mentality of Education 2.0 is fading,” added Hemric. In the 21st century in Watauga County Schools, students will be able to not only learn about China, for instance, they will also be able to communicate through video and internet with students in China. “We are increasing the capacity to access human capital,” said Hemric.
“We are shifting to a new norm,” continued Hemric, “with an increased experiential-based process that students are involved in. We will emphasize teamwork, collaboration and creativity.”
Smart Suite, Cloud Computing and School Fusion—A New Way To Go To School
No longer limited by textbooks, students will begin their discovery process through laptops and Smart Suite software, a dynamic technology that will transform how a classroom works. Four revolutionary software programs are featured in Smart Suite. The first two programs are notebook software for students and teachers. “They are virtual notebooks, like a virtual Trapper Keeper,” said Davis. “Everything they need will be there and accessible.”
The third program is called Student Response and involves an interactive whiteboard at the front of the classroom that a teacher can write on. What the teacher writes is then virtually sent to each student’s laptop. If the teacher decides to give a quiz, then they can write multiple choice answers below the question on the board, which then appears on each laptop and students can then use remote devices to pick the correct answers by pointing the device toward the whiteboard.
The fourth program is called Smart Sync, a management tool. Utilizing the wireless internet docking stations installed in each room in the new high school, Smart Sync contains the schedule of every student and teacher in a database. At the beginning of each class, students and teachers will log on to Smart Sync; teachers will then decide, through the program, which internet sites to block and which to allow during that specific class period. When students sit down for class and turn on their laptops, the teacher-chosen internet settings will already be in place, and students will have to accept the restrictions to join the class, which doubles as a way to monitor tardiness and attendance. What’s more, the teachers’ computers, through Smart Sync, will display thumbnails of each student’s computer screen. If the teacher wishes to show other students what a particular student is doing on his/her laptop, then they can click on the thumbnail and the student’s screenshot will appear on the whiteboard for others to see.
Watauga County Schools are also designing and implementing Cloud Computing for use by all county students. With Cloud Computing, all software—Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite, InDesign Creative Suite, Flash, Photoshop, etc.—is placed on a digital server located at the high school. Instead of buying a Microsoft Office Suite for each new laptop, for instance, Cloud Computing allows the school to buy much less—say 500 Microsoft Office Suites—and students, as long as they have internet access, can login to the “Cloud” remotely or onsite and access the software. The thinking is that all 1,420 students won’t be using Microsoft Office all at once, meaning they can share use of the software through the Cloud.
Several components of the Global Learning Community have already been completed, including the installation of digital projectors in each classroom at the high school and the implementation of a new website and content management system named School Fusion. School Fusion offers many interactive features for communications, data management, networking, creative design in learning and provides diverse opportunities for the sharing of learning and ideas within the school and globally.
Looking Ahead—More To Come
Watauga County Schools has an aggressive and proactive plan laid out for the next few years that includes installing 200 interactive whiteboards in kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms by next month, installing wireless infrastructure in all pre-kindergarten through 8th grade classrooms by August 2011 and purchasing laptops for grades 6th through 8th by August 2012. The schedule underscores the school system’s desire to implement global learning community initiatives in the right order: “I think of it like a three-level pyramid, with infrastructure on the bottom, professional development for teachers and staff in the middle and then equipment on top,” said Hemric. “We’re not just buying equipment and handing it off—we’re training folks and creating infrastructure that will support it first.”
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