Technology Committee
We are looking for parents, teachers and administrators in the Winslow community to be a part of the exciting Tech.2.0 initiative by joining our Technology Committee, which will oversee the development of our new technology plan.
If you are interested, please contact the Director of Educational Technology via e-mail at serenbto@winslow-schools.com
Free Software
PC Magazine recently came out with an excellent article that highlighted some of the open-source software available to computer users. You can access the article by clicking here. Some of our favorites include:
Web Browsers
Firefox
Safari (from the folks who brought you iTunes)
Office Applications
OpenOffice
NeoOffice (OpenOffice for the Mac)
Photo Applications
Picassa (Google's forray into photo editing software is excellent. It can organize and edit your photos and create slideshows and movies)
GIMP (A photoshop-like photo editing software)
Anti-Virus
AVG Free Edition
PDF Creator
Foxit Reader (Not only is this a great PDF reader, but it can also convert any document to pdf format)
E-Mail
Google (Hands down, the easiest way to access your e-mail from the web)
Music
iTunes (The leader in music, video and podcast downloads)
Tech.2.0 Initiative
The Technology Department at Winslow Township Public Schools is beginning a new initiative to update our technology resources to create a 21st Century learning environment. We are calling this initiative Tech.2.0 to reflect on the strong technology foundation we have built and are using to develop our vision for the future of our schools.
21st Century Learning
We believe that a 21st Century classroom is one that prepares our students to compete in a global economy. Through the use of technology as a classroom tool, we want our students to develop the skills that will help them collaborate with others, solve complex problems, adapt to new surroundings and to think creatively. These are the traits that colleges and businesses want their future students and employees to have, and with our Tech.2.0 initiative, we plan to give it to them.
Classroom for the Future
Many people talk about creating a classroom of the future. We have learned that as soon as you develop a vision as to what that classroom looks like, technologies either change or become obsolete. Our goal is not to create a classroom of the future, but rather a classroom for the future. A classroom for the future is not dependent on a specific piece of hardware or software in student instruction. The classroom that we want to create will be able to adapt to new technologies as they become available. We have to remember that technology is just a tool. In creating a classroom for the future, we want to focus on the process by which we use these tools. |
