Technology

Since 1990, the Mariemont Schools have been recognized for leadership in integrating technology into the learning process. The critical issue addressed by educators in our schools is how do we use this technology to expand a student’s knowledge base, to develop technical and research skills, to provide the students with opportunities to explore, to reason, to synthesize, and to analyze information. In addition, the school’s duty is to see that all students are comfortable with today’s technology and be ready to use tomorrow’s rapidly changing technology. Our students use computers to communicate and present information.

The district is committed to keeping Mariemont students on the cutting edge of technology and the learning process. Over the past three years the district has sought input from community and staff. We have in place a technology plan that will bring the world into our classrooms. The district is implementing its plan at an expeditious, yet meaningful pace. The district is coordinating funds, permanent improvement levy dollars, PTA/PTO contributions, grant monies and state funds to accomplish our technology mission. The Mariemont School Foundation has agreed to support technology in our schools.

By Dr. Gerald F. Harris

We are in the midst of a technology revolution taking place here and now. Realizing that revolution is going on, educators are attempting "to ride the wave." We are adapting the teaching/learning process to best enhance schooling for youth. While we cannot control the forces of this technological revolution, just as the average French citizen could not control the forces unleashed in the French Revolution, we are able to maximize potential for positive change while limiting disruption.

The Mariemont City School District is committed to preparing students to become productive citizens by helping them to grow and to develop into self-directed learners, competent goal-setters, and individuals who have the self-confidence to become all that they can become. Our mission is to ensure that technology becomes an integral part of the learning experience within our educational community and a catalyst for active, collaborative, lifelong learning. Tom Shessler, Technology Coordinator, is coordinating district technology initiatives.

To accomplish this mission, it is necessary to provide adequate facilities not only for the use of students, but also for professional development of the district staff. State of Ohio initiatives are helping the district complete the process of wiring all classrooms in the district (SchoolNet) and installing hardware in K-4 classrooms (SchoolNet Plus). When completed, the network will provide each classroom with direct access to all parts of the district as well as the outside world. The district network will operate the Novell 4.1 NetWare, controlling a network of Windows based workstations.

By now we've all heard news reports about the growing importance of the Internet in today's world. When people talk about bringing technology into schools, the Internet is almost always the first thing mentioned. Each new development in technology brings with it a period of fascination in which there is a tendency to worship the tool and not the task. While the media has devoted most of it's attention to the wonders of the World Wide Web and the rapidly expanding resources available there; little has been written about the real benefits of technology as tools for learning. It's important that we move beyond fascination with the tools themselves and focus on what really matters-information and how students can use it to strengthen the learning process.

As we implement plans for technology in the Mariemont City Schools, we are watching the changing information landscape-software packages, productivity tools to manage information, video conferencing, multimedia resources, distance learning opportunities, and, yes, the Internet. But that's only a fragment of the story. As the volume and forms of information available continue to expand, it becomes more important for students to develop information literacy skills which incorporate a transparent use of technology.

Surviving in this changing environment requires students to master the art of questioning. Questions are the heart of making meaning of information. Technology can provide many ways to enhance the transformation of raw information into knowledge. Many excellent tools to aid in the manipulation, calculation and interpretation of data are available.

Our long-range vision will bring students additional contacts with resources beyond the walls of the school. Videoconferencing with outside experts, closer connections between the home and school, and a wider variety of media for students to display what they have learned, are all part of that vision. But it is what students are ultimately able to do with that information that will measure the degree to which we have been successful.

How will we prepare students for this information-based world? Teachers and administrators are actively exploring the technologies that are most appropriate for the variety of learning styles of our students. Instructional strategies are being reviewed to take best advantage of emergent technologies. In all of this, the transparent use of technology to help students learn to more effectively manage the information explosion is our goal. Work has already begun on developing a K-12 sequence of skills for students and installation of the necessary hardware and wiring are all moving ahead.

An expanding world of information does not necessarily guarantee the expansion of understanding and knowledge. Our commitment is to provide students with the skills necessary to become engaged learners who are able to make the move into an information based society and economy.

The United States Labor Department recently underscored the importance of developing these skills in a recent projection of labor trends for the next twenty years.They project that 8 of every 10 jobs created in the next ten years will be from the information intensive sector of the economy. Sixty percent of jobs currently being created require information skills held by only twenty percent of the workforce. Our commitment is to expanding that twenty percent.

In early November 1997 the excitement mounted at the high school as a new computer lab was being installed. Unlike previous labs at the high school, this one brings not only access to CD Roms, E-mail and the Internet, but includes capabilities to manipulate information gathered into word processing documents, spread sheets, databases and multimedia presentations. When the lab opened, the excitement was obvious among the students.

The lab includes twenty high powered computers, a laser printer and a color scanner. Arts classes and school publications are already making use of the expanded possibilities for graphics. A desktop publishing program is loaded on some of the machines there and is connected on the school’s network to another work station in the publications office. Students are now set to make use of professional quality tools in the production of publications for the building.