Technology At Ashford School
Overview
Technology has been integrated into the
Ashford School for many years. We established the first lab
in 1992 at the same time as the most recent school addition
although we had Apple IIe's in the classrooms long before that
time.
Ashford School is committed to expanding
the presence of technology throughout the building. Funding
has always been the limiting factor and we have obtained funds
from many sources over the years. The approach has been that
although we have never gotten the funds for big steps forward,
we continue to take many tiny steps. These tiny steps have added
up over the past decade to some impressive leaps.
Now we have 6 computer labs including a
Macintosh lab for grades K-6, 3 portable iBook Mac Labs for
grades 6-8, a Macintosh Lab for Junior High Math and a PC lab
for Technology Education.
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Rolling out new computers in the computer lab. Summer 2006 |
Additionally we have 2-6 Macintosh computers
in every classroom. This has become possible because of continued
support through the budget process, grants, and many, many donations
from both business and private individuals over the years. We
have received equipment donations from SNET, Connecticut Association
of Boards of Education, New Yorker Magazine, Pfizer, Dunkin
Donuts and E.O. Smith High School, Aztec Lighting as well as
many Ashford residents. Many of these computers are legacy equipment
and can not run current software but through in-house staff
efforts at repair, we have managed to salvage many computers
from other's discards.
The school was partially networked in 1998
with 10baseT Ethernet. We are running an Mac OSX network. This
was accomplished with partial funding from a Connecticut State
infrastructure grant. We have expanded the network as funding
has become available and now have all classrooms networked.
We continue to apply for additional infrastructure funding to
allow for completion of the network,
We have also participated in the Universal
Service Fund program getting refunds for our expenditures in
the area of telecommunications. Starting in 2005 we are connected
to the Internet via a high speed connection and the Connecticut
Education network (CEN).
Along with the increase in technology hardware
in Ashford School, we have been successful in obtaining grant
money to help with teacher training. Technology training is
an ongoing, never ending process as each year new, faster and
better technologies are being developed.
Over the years we have viewed technology
as a tool for educating students. Students use computers to
learn writing, math, design, science and social studies. Scattered
throughout this site are examples of some technology projects
designed to teach not only computer literacy but also other
curriculum goals.
