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June 1, 2002
Elementary School Grant Promotes Real Change
By Honey Berg
The Moreland School District has a shared vision for technology. The Superintendent, Director of Information Technology, and Board of Trustees are powerful supporters of this vision. The district believes that the Internet will be the source of all technology programs and application, and with this in mind, we have begun the migration towards Thin Client - Fat Server systems*.
We believe that this is the most cost effective and time efficient way to approach technology in schools. At the current time we have six Sun Ray computer labs operational in the district. These labs do not require the intense technical support that our PC and Mac labs require. Should technical troubles occur, it is usually a server problem, not a hardware problem. This means that the technicians can basically solve the problem from the district office rather than journey to a school.
Moreland School District's partnership with Sun Microsystems has had a significant effect on how we use technology in our schools. The Sun Ray hardware enables teachers to look at technology in the classroom in an entirely different manner. The focus of putting children on "programs" has changed to a focus on integrating technology into the program. The computer is no longer a stand-alone piece of equipment, but is becoming a tool to integrated instruction. Additionally, having teachers use data to guide instruction has become easier through the use of this technology.
Today's teachers are very comfortable using computers to expose children to programs. However the Thin Client - Fat Server approach forces teachers to rethink how they will use technology. They have had to design new ways to use technology as a tool within the regular program. Although it has not been an easy transition for many teachers, it has been an important one, requiring support and focus from administration. School-wide in-service training for teachers, time spent discussing projects, and modeling have been extremely powerful techniques helping to support this change. It is exciting to see the shift in focus that has begun to happen, and to observe the creative ways in which teachers are now using technology. Some very exciting and meaningful learning experiences have been the result of this change.
As principal of Payne Elementary School, one of Sun's Open Gateways Grant recipients, I was delighted to see this new approach to the use of technology take effect. It was exciting to see some of the creative ways many teachers used the new SunRay lab.
- The California Language Arts Standards include letter writing as part of the second grade curriculum. In response to this standard, one teacher developed a partnership with another Sun grant school in Broomfield, Colorado, and had her class use e-mail to correspond with other students. Thus the technology provided a means for developing a real-life way to approach the core curriculum.
- A third grade class, learning how to write reports, used animals as their focus. The children used search engines to find sites where they could learn more about their animals, and they found pictures to include in their final word-processed reports.
- However, the most exciting integration I witnessed was our students' use of technology in their ROPE (Rite of Passage Experience) project. Every fifth and eighth grade student in the Moreland School District is responsible for completing a ROPE project. To complete it, students must choose a topic of interest, research that topic, interview someone who is knowledgeable about the topic, write a report, create a presentation, and give that presentation to a panel of judges. Technology became an extremely valuable tool for every fifth-grade student at Payne School. They did a great deal of research online, most of the letters and reports were word-processed, and many children chose to use the Presentation Software from Star Office to create their final project. This was a powerful example of using technology as an integrated part of the curriculum.
Sun's focus on integration and powerful teaching supports the goals of the Moreland School District. It has been wonderful working with a company that isn't focused solely on their hardware, but instead thinks ahead to the best use of that hardware. Some of the major changes that have occurred through this partnership include: a focus on best teaching practices, teacher training in the area of integration, planning opportunities to develop lessons that use technology to further understanding of concepts being taught, and time to share ideas and successes. This focus is expanding the ways in which children are exposed to technology, giving them the opportunity to use it in a real world situation.
* Thin client/fat server technology allows programs and data to be stored on a server and downloaded to individual student computers. Student computers do not contain applications or files, which allows schools and districts to extend the life of older computers.
Email: Honey Berg
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