Guardian Angels School Technology Program
Technology Philosophy
We believe the Christian application of technology is an effective and necessary tool, capable of enhancing the ability of our students, staff, and parents to communicate and to make our students productive members of society. Our students can use technology to maximize access to information, enhance problem solving skills, and develop effective communication skills in the information age.
Technology is incorporated into the the general curriculum with computer time spent working on various projects related to student studies. Our school is "connected" both internally and externally as we offer all computers on the network access to high speed internet, printing to a number of color and black and white printers, and access to a secure student file server. In addition, each classroom has network, television and telephone connections.
Computer Lab
Guardian Angels has a state-of-the-art computer lab featuring 30 PCs with LCD flat screen monitors and an instructor monitor capable of projecting the teacher's work on a screen for student instruction. The computers are all part of our school-wide network and as such, can access our high-speed internet connection as well as a variety of real-world programs including Microsoft Office, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, KidPix and a variety of other programs. Students are also taught how to safely and responsibly navigate sites on the internet and links to learning resources are made available to students at home and other locations using an innovative program that filters out inappropriate content. New in 2007 is the Rosetta Stone Language program for our middle school students. This immersion-based program allows our older students to build upon the Spanish language skills that they have been learning since Kindergarten.
Mobile Computer Lab
In addition to the regular computer lab mentioned above, an additional 30 Thinkpad notebook computers are available to our students through our Mobile Computer Lab. This lab allows classes to utilize the notebook computers in virtually any classroom in the school for projects and classroom work. Programs widely used in the business and education world are available to students on the notebook computers including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. In addition, these notebook computers are part of our school-wide network so students are able to use the vast resources provided by the World-Wide-Web in classroom projects.
Television Studio and Classroom Projectors
New in 2007 is our television studio featuring GATV! Each morning at Guardian Angels starts with student-produced videos starring our very own Guardian Angels student body! Students learn to operate real television cameras and produce the video announcements and other programming using state-of-the-art equipment and software. Each morning, shortly after the bell rings, the video announcement which includes the daily scripture reading, pledge of allegiance, school lunch menu, daily birthdays and other pertinent information is sent out to our network of ceiling mounted projectors in each classroom. We also utilize our television studio to produce other programming used in the school and parish. In addition, every classroom projector can be connected to a teacher computer or student laptop to make presentations to the class. We also have cable television provided to each classroom for current event programming and breaking news presentations. In addition, each classroom features a DVD/VCR and speaker system for viewing educational programming.
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