The Garwood Public Schools have always been committed to infusing technology into all aspects of instructional programs. With the introduction and use of technology, students will not only reach the mandated educational technology literacy skills, but will exceed those and learn to use information technology effectively not only in the classroom, but in their every day life outside the school environment. An important area will be the use of technology tools and the ability to determine which of those will assist in problem solving and decision making within a safe and responsible environment.
Access to educational technology remains high on the list of priorities. Staff, students and community members will be able to avail themselves of all the resources the district can compile and disseminate through classroom instruction and the website. For those without computer access, all information will always be available in our computer lab and local library, both of which are housed within Lincoln School. To support this infusion, teachers will continue to receive professional development in areas of educational technology across the core content areas. Communication between home, school and community has been made easier with the use of email and the district website; however, keeping others informed who do not have technology readily accessible will be done through an automated system of telephone communication.
III. TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
A.
The Garwood Public School District consists of 2 adjoining schools on a single site. All classrooms have two networked multimedia computers and a few classrooms have three or more. The current network backbone is capable of connecting four computers in each classroom and our long term goal is "one to one" computing. All classrooms have high-speed internet access from Comcast. The mail system is the web-based system MDaemon Pro 11.0 through Alt-N Technologies. Administrative functions such as attendance, grade books, report cards, and NJSmart are part of our web-based Realtime paperless electronic database system. The Child Study Team and Special Education teachers use Realtime's web-based Special Education module for IEP's, reports, and correspondence. Server based instructional databases such as Scholastic's Read180 Enterprise, Type to Learn 4, and the Wiggleworks network supplement classroom software.
The District's minimum hardware standard is a Pentium class multimedia computer with a 2.4GHZ processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 40 Gigabyte hard-drive. Our current anticipated hardware lifecycle is approximately six years as defined by the Supervisor of Curriculum and the Technology Coordinator.
The appropriate software used for curricular support is determined directly from the curriculum goals and objectives. As the curriculum is modified new software must be selected to support the revised goals and objectives. The hardware minimum system requirements for the software selected by the curriculum committee will directly affect the anticipated lifecycle of the technology hardware inventory.
Classroom computers are considered obsolete when they can no longer effectively run the software required to support the curriculum at any grade level. Computers that may not meet the minimum system requirements of a particular grade level may be redeployed to other areas until it fails to meet the minimum standard.
The Lincoln School computer lab features 27 Pentium 2.8 MHZ multimedia computers with 512 MB of RAM, CD/DVD burners, and a 17" CRT monitor. All stations run the Windows XP Professional SP3 operating system and Microsoft Office 2003. The desktop of the teacher's workstation is projected onto an eight foot screen and has the capability to showcase DVD's and VCR tapes in a "theater like" setting with full surround sound. The teacher station features NetOp's Vision 6.9 classroom management system for security, monitoring, and broadcasting demonstrations to the lab workstations.
First through fifth grade classrooms have Core 2 Duo Pentium 3.0 computers with dual output video cards. Each classroom has a ceiling mounted projector, sound system, large projection screen, and wireless remote. A first grade and fourth grade classrooms also have a SMARTboard.
Our middle school social studies, LAL, health, and science classrooms have Core 2 Duo Pentium 3.0 computers with dual output video cards. These classrooms have ceiling mounted projectors, a sound system, SMARTboard, VCR/DVD capability and wireless remote. The science and social studies rooms also have document cameras.
The cafeteria has a ceiling mounted Infocus LP840 HDTV compatible projection system with an Electrol motorized screen and sound system. The presenter's station has inputs for a laptop and independent VCR/DVD capability. This room is used for presentations to groups of up to 177 students and is also be used for professional development, board meetings, right to know lectures, Cybersafety meetings, PTA assembly's, etc.
| Instructional Classrooms | Media Center | Comp Labs | Admin Offices |
Number of rooms | 34 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
Number of Computers | 67 | 7 | 43 | 16 |
Percentage of rooms with internet | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Ratio of Students to Instructional Computers | 3.58 to 1 |
Ratio of Instructional to Administrative Computers | 7.4 to 1 |
Students from first through third grade have "locked down" access rights through Active Directory and are prevented from making any configuration changes to their workstations. Students from fifth through eighth grade have individual logins with roaming profiles and a centralized home folder for each student. These students are permitted to modify their workspace, desktop backgrounds, and icons within the framework of our Acceptable Use Policy.
In the twenty-first century children must be prepared to live and work in a more globally connected world. Technology continues to play an increasingly vital role in our daily lives and continues to evolve at an amazing rate. In order to ensure our students are prepared for life and work in a rapidly changing world we have actively redesigned and implemented a more effective technology education program as stated in strand 8.2 of the NJ Core Content Standards.
The Garwood Public Schools are actively redesigning and implementing more effective technology education programs to ensure our students are prepared for life and work in a rapidly changing world. The cornerstone of this initiative is our technology education lab.
Our technology lab builds foundational knowledge and problem-solving skills that students need for competitive strength in the workforce. Working in teams, students learn technical competencies and creative talents to model solutions to various real-world problems using technology.
The Technology Lab provides hands on instruction using "modules" in the following areas of study;
Aerodynamics Exploring Mechanisms
Animation Flight Simulation
Automation and Robotics Fluid Power
Computer Aided Design Lasers and Fiber Optics
Controls and Sensors Plastics
Engineering and Stress Analysis Video Production
Each module is a computer workstation complete with required hardware, software and associated equipment required to teach a class of twenty-four students the fundamentals of each concept. There are a total of twelve modules and students are assigned in pairs to each module.
The TechLab server, which doubles as a teacher's workstation, has NetOp's Vision classroom monitoring system.
Download the full 2010 - 2013 Technology Plan
2010 - 2013 Garwood Tech Plan
