Technology has the power to improve teaching and learning like never before. Forsyth County Schools is dedicated to improving student achievement through technology-enriched learning opportunities. Our vision is to use classroom technology to engage students in asking questions and choosing tools to facilitate real world problem solving.
Our school district decided to use technology, not just to do the same things more efficiently, but to create a “state of the art” collaborative classroom. We have installed interactive whiteboards in all of our classrooms across the district. The classroom package includes the interactive whiteboard, a ceiling mounted projector and integrated sound and video system. We are truly excited about the transformation of our classrooms with this new technology and the ability of this technology to support and extend many different teaching and learning styles.
The interactive whiteboard creates a classroom environment which encourages collaboration among teachers as they create lessons, and among students as they work together to problem-solve using a variety of resources. Teachers using web-based streaming audio and video applications that run in real-time through the new interactive system. It’s having a tremendous impact on keeping our students more engaged.
To support the school system's technology initiatives, Instructional Technology Specialists are assigned to each school to work with teachers to model teaching and learning strategies for technology integration. Teachers participate in on-going professional development to experiment, initiate, and create new models of teaching and learning for dynamic and changing curricula.
Through the Technology Integration for Performance Standards (TIPS) course, teachers receive intensive instruction in standards-based unit design with an emphasis on technology integration using the myriad of resources available, classroom technology management strategies, and professional productivity skills.
Each classroom has access to a wealth of technology resources. A classroom visit reveals:
- Teachers and students collaborating on learning through the use of interactive whiteboard technology.
- Learners accessing appropriate software to help accelerate comprehension in math and language arts. In addition, the school's network provides access to a wealth of productivity resources like word processing, presentation tools and connection to the media center holdings from anywhere in the school.
- Students produce and broadcast the morning announcements each day over the school's two-way video distribution system.
- Students accessing the Internet via high-speed connection and teachers communicating within the school, district, community and the world via email.
- All classroom computers are part of the school network and all schools are connected to a high-speed fiber optic network.
Our teachers can do more project-based learning through our capacity to host electronic portfolios for every student. We can now easily track progress through student work products, rather than relying solely on pen and paper tests. And teachers throughout the district can now share resources, activities, and assessments through an online repository of learning tools. The bottom line teachers are designing higher quality work for students, and we’re achieving greater student engagement and improved scholastic performance.
Although no district in the nation has attempted to blend online education with the traditional classroom on this scale, we believe our 21st century classroom is not an alternative way to do school, but the very future of education itself.
Please check out our schools' web pages for more information on classroom technology and feel free to contact me if you have any questions at (770) 887-2461 Ext. 202220 or send an email to me at bmitchell@forsyth.k12.ga.us
Bailey Mitchell, Chief Technology and Information Officer
