Nora's Blog

1. Approx. how many machines does your school have?

There are about 105 computers in the Elementary school, this includes those for classroom use (student or teacher) and administrators.
2.where are they located?

The bulk of these computers are in the 2 labs, which each have 21 student computers and one teacher computer. The labs also each have 2 printers (1 laser jet and 1 colour ink jet) and a flat bed scanner. The 2 main smartboards are here (the other is portable and stored in the A/V room) and are constantly used by the IT teachers.

The 2 teacher workrooms have 5 computers and a printer (laser jet). The printer in the lab on the first floor is also connected to 3 other computers on this floor ( one in the SEN room, the ESL room and the curriculum advisor’s office; NB the C.A’s office has its own printer but it’s not very reliable).

There is 1 computer in each classroom, however since not every class has a projector or smartboard, these are mainly used by the teacher to take attendance, update Edline or for early finishers to work on a research project or play an educational game.

Each grade centre is set up with a desktop PC, projector and screen. These are used in assemblies and by teachers to show short videos without the hassle of having to book the A/V room.

So far there are only 3 classrooms that are set-up with a projector and screen, but the school is aiming to add to that number. However, we do have portable projectors and screens available to be used in classrooms, all we have to do is put in a request to the IT department to check them out in our name. I don’t think any of the teachers actually know about this though, as everyone I asked hadn’t heard this before I mentioned it!

The library hosts 12 computers, not counting the 3 used by the librarians.

The remaining computers are in the various offices in the building.

3.what types of machines are they?

Desktop PCs, the older models unfortunately still have cathode ray monitors.
4.do you know if they are on a replacement cycle?

Apparently they are! If a machine is beyond simple repairs, it’s replaced immediately. The computers in the computer labs are replaced every 2 years and the old ones distributed to the class rooms.
5.are teachers assigned their own computers?

Each teacher has a computer in their classroom and is free to use any of the ones in the workrooms or the library.
6.does your school offer / support laptops for students? for teachers?

The school provides laptops for administrators and some teachers, for example the music teacher and the film course teacher have been provided with iPads, but this is in the High School. In Elementary it’s mainly the admin. staff who are provided with hardware.

Students are not provided with laptops.
7.what kind of software do computers at your school run?

The OS is either Windows XP or Vista, depending on the age of the computer. All have Microsoft Office installed (2007), as well as adobe reader and the basic Windows programs (media player etc).
8.what is your school network coverage like?

As we’ve experienced in class, it can be very slow at times! Also because we’re in an area with a lot of construction work we have suffered incidences of having cables cut by diggers while installing pipes and so on. When this happens the school tends to run off dongles!

As a general rule though, the network is reliable. It’s available and running more often than not, but of course we only take notice of when it’s down, not when it’s doing what it’s supposed to.

All PCs are connected to the web via LAN but wireless internet is available throughout the building although some rooms have better connection than others.

9. How do you request IT support?

IT support is readily available just by calling the IT office extension number-each building has its own IT crowd to answer our calls for help. Most of us have ‘our IT guy’s personal number as well so we can get in touch with him even if he’s out ‘on call’ and not in the office.

10.How do you develop and maintain your technology skills?

Mainly through workshops during staff development days or at the start of the academic year before the students arrive. Last year the school sent some of us to the AUC to attend a two-day introduction to Web 2.0 tools.

11.How is Instructional Technology supported?

We have a support team for our CSM (Edline) who are on call to help with any issues that may arise, such as report card comments not being received or grades disappearing. For example after a teacher lost the comments for her entire class we realised that when using a MAC, comments are not saved.