New Albany Schools view technology as an opportunity for every student. We believe exposing students to technology can open doors in their future for jobs they never knew existed. Because of this belief we have made a tremendous investment in placing technology in the hands of every student. We are a 1 to 1 school district from 3rd grade to 12th grade. Every student in these grades has an iPad. In kindergarten through 2nd grade we have one iPad for every 2 students so they can collaborate together using the technology. Students in grades 6-12 take their iPads home everyday.
Each of our teachers has been provided with a Macbook Air, iPad, and Apple TV in their classroom. They have the ability to provide learning on the device with Canvas, Mastery Connect, and apps like Explain Everything. Our teachers are innovative and work daily to provide learning experiences for their students that were not possible without the technology.
As a district we have developed a technology literacy plan with the goal of having students exit New Albany High School with the skills needed to compete in a global economy. In K-2 we focus on teaching students to type. We would like them to exit 2nd grade being able to type 20 words per minute which is ambitious but possible. In grades 3-5 we want to introduce them to the basics of computer hardware and software like the Microsoft Office suite, Apple’s Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, and finally Google’s Docs, Sheets, and Slides. For our middle school students it is important that we ramp up their understanding of coding and how it impacts their lives. We use resources like code.org and khanacademy.org to help them become proficient in HTML, Java Script, SQL Queries, Internet basics, and Cryptography. Once students make it to high school we would like them to be ready for our digital media course which offers Photoshop, Garageband, and Final Cut Pro instruction. We also want them to have the foundation to be able to take our iOS app development course which is offered in conjunction with Northeast MS Community College for dual enrollment credit. It is our goal that the students who are interested are able to exit high school with an iOS app in the Apple App store.
From a hardware standpoint we have 1 Gig of upload and download capability. We have 274 xirrus arrays including one array in every classroom. We have approximately 2,400 iPads, 200 macbook air laptops, and 170 Apple TV’s. Every classroom has either a projector or a 65” 4k television. We are currently expanding our wide area network to 10Gbps. It is our desire to be the school district that every other district in our area models their technology department after.
