Sunday, March 31, 2013
Watertown's Liam Walsh shares his experience at Boston College High School, where students are being required to have tablet computers.
Now, more than ever, schools are beginning to make the switch from paperback books to glass screens, yellow pencils to rubber styluses. As a student who is in the midst of this technological turmoil, I would like to shed light on this increasingly relevant topic. My high school, Boston College High School, just this year mandated that all sophomores and below were required to have an iPad for class. However, they condoned and even encouraged iPad usage, along with other tablets, for upperclassmen. And my school is not the only one. Even the Watertown school system has begun to make the switch, with the introduction of iPad carts and personalized emails sponsored by Google. But is this move an intelligent idea, or just an extraneous …
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The donation will be used to buy Google Chromebooks for the school.
A $10,00 donation from the Watertown Education Foundation will allow school officials to buy a set of Google Chromebook laptops for the middle school. Monday night, the School Committee officially accepted the gift from Watertown Education Foundation president Amy Donohue. The Chromebooks will be used in a pilot program at the middle school. "The goal of the program is to determine if Chromebooks and Google apps work well in the schools," Donohue said. Chromebooks are small laptop computers that store information on "the cloud," which uses remote computer servers connected to the laptops though the Internet to store and access files and information. School Committee Chairwoman Eileen Hsu-Balzer thanked the WEF for the gift. "I echo the …
Monday, January 14, 2013
The iPads will be used in the elementary schools in a program to test how they can be used in the classroom.
The Watertown Education Foundation donated a set of iPads to be used in Watertown elementary schools. This was just one donations accepted by the School Committee last week. The iPads, worth $4,198, will be used in elementary school classrooms. Teachers must make a proposal to use the tablets, said Assistant Superintendent Darilyn Donovan. "Teachers with a real desire to incorporate (the iPads) into teaching will have the opportunity to use them," Donovan said. "Teachers put together a proposal for what they are looking for as outcomes and will collect data (to measure the outcome)." Other students in the Watertown Public Schools district already use iPads in class. At Watertown High School some teachers have been participating in a pilot…
Monday, March 26, 2012
Students would bring a tablet or handheld device to school, but in the meantime the schools are replacing their laptops and buying their own tech devices.
School officials have $158,000 in the budget for next school year to keep computers, tablets and other devices up to date, but in the future the schools may be cutting the tech budget by having students bring their own portable technology to school. When George Skuse, the district’s systems administrator, made his presentation to the Budget and Finance subcommittee he said he would need about $270,000 to replace laptop computers, tablets (such as iPads), handheld devices (such as iPod Touch) and other items, such as overhead projectors and electronic white boards. In the next 3 to 5 years, however, he said he could see Watertown becoming a “bring your own” device district, where students would bring a tablet or handheld device from home. …
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Using technology and new teaching methods, they want students to do more hands-on learning guided by their teachers.
Monday night, School officials laid out a vision for the future they would like to build in the Watertown Public Schools, including classrooms where students collaborate, have access to technology and where teachers and students receive support. Officials presented their wish list for next year and the coming five years in four areas during the meeting of the Budget and Finance and Curriculum subcommittees. Watertown’s schools must meet the state curriculum frameworks, said Interim Superintendent Jean Fitzgerald. School officials hope students do that using more project-based learning and also develop communication skills, enhance creativity and teach them to collaborate and think critically. Toni Carlson, the education technology …
Jane Evans
8:16 pm on Friday, March 8, 2013
Fiscal no brainer! more ›