Technology Committee

Technology Plan

Technology currently in use includes:

· District-wide,795 computers are connected using Windows 2003 network environment. All classrooms are equipped with one or more desktop computers for use by individual teachers and their students. District-wide, 12 computer laboratories, each equipped with 5 to 26 desktop computers, are available for instruction. At the high school/junior high school, three laboratories, managed by the business department, are devoted to instruction in computer applications. Two laboratories, managed by the technology department, are devoted to teacher-led instruction, and one lab, consisting of 18 computers, is designated as a walk-in-lab. In addition, a PC-based mobile lab with 22 laptops is available for use by classes on the Fairfield campus, and three mobile labs with eight laptops each are available at Albion, Benton, and Clinton Elementary Schools. All school buildings are connected using fiber through Time Warner to connect each building and provide internet. Primary use of this network is to manage student information and to provide hardware and software for educational activities.

 

 In addition, there are 450 seventh and eighth grade student and staff Ibook laptops. In the high school all teachers, guidance, and administration have been provided Macbook laptop. The laptops are part of the State of Maine MLTI (Maine Learning Technology Innovative) program. One of the distircts goals is to provide one to one laptop computing if properly funded by the State of Maine MLTI program.

 

Administrators and clerical staff also make use of Microsoft Office and other financial management software for accounting, budgeting, and inventory.

 

The District-wide student/computer ratio is 2.05 to 1.(need to recalculate)

 

· Currently, 22 classrooms in the high school and junior high school are equipped with SMART board technology.

· The ATM ( Asynchronous Transfer Mode ) classroom allows District students to access courses from other districts. It has also been used for an author book talk, staff development, and adult education classes. The ATM bandwidth supports access to the Internet on the Fairfield campus.

· All high school/junior high school teacher workrooms, district offices, and classrooms have telephones, which connect both to the central console in the Network Operations Center and directly to the outside. A district goal is to provide each building with new VOIP  systems to add functionality and interconnectivity between buildings.

· MSAD #49 has adopted MSLN.net. Through MSLN (Maine School And Library Network) .net, teachers and students can conduct research and participate in joint projects with other users on the Internet.

· The District maintains two TV production labs for creating and broadcasting internal and external productions on an internal cable network and the local community TV station.

· The District maintains 32 video cameras on the Lawrence campus to monitor activities in and around the buildings. The data images are stored digitally for 22 days and are reviewed as the need arises.

To achieve the goals of this plan and meet the Maine Learning Results, the District must continue to provide Internet access, WAN (wide area network) capabilities, communication devices, servers network, routers, switches and network infrastructure, and equipment with the capabilities to function at a level that supports the educational and administrative functions. The top priority is maintenance and logical replacement of existing hardware, software, and infrastructure. New equipment will be added as necessary to meet state and federally-funded mandates including one-to-one computing.