UPDATE: Meeting Date and Time

 

Our next meeting will be held on October 20, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. at Tivoli's Restaurant. Anyone interested in the Committee is welcome to attend. 

 

Information on the Dailard Foundation Technology Committee

 

 

I. Statement of Purpose

 

The Dailard Foundation Technology Committee was created for the purpose of providing technology to assist in the education of Dailard Elementary School students. The Committee uses funds provided by school fundraisers to purchase equipment, software and maintenance to facilitate learning at the school.

 

II.  History

 

Within the past few years, the Technology Committee has been actively working on upgrading the computer infrastructure used by the students and teachers at Dailard. We purchased an Apple Macintosh computer running Mac OS X Server to allow students and teachers to save and share files. The server is accessible from any computer at the school that is connected to the school's high speed wired and wireless network.  During the 2005-2006 school year, the Committee purchased 8 IBM ThinkCentre Personal Computers running Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Office. The students can use the computers to access the Internet and prepare reports and presentations. This "mini-lab" is located in the 300 Building and is used by 4th and 5th grade classes. At the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, the Committee added a new HP laser printer to the mini-lab.

 

During the 2006-2007 school year, the Committee conducted a survey of the teachers and determined that the top technology need at the school was an updated computer lab. Due to the generosity of the Dailard parents and community, the Committee was able to update the computer lab by the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. The main computer lab is now equipped with 20 new iMac computers for the students (and one new iMac computer for the lab teaching aide). These modern computers have Internet access, Microsoft Office for Mac, and are fully equipped for editing digital photographs, movies, and similar content. The Committee has also purchased digital still cameras and a color laser printer for use by students, teachers, and staff. 

In the spring of 2008, the Technology Committee launched a new Web site for the school that it makes it easier for teachers, staff, the principal, and parent volunteers to add information directly to the relevant pages of the Web site. We hope that this will be useful in many ways, including allowing the students to access homework assignments and education resources from home, and keeping the Dailard community informed on current events. Special thanks to Committee Member and Webmaster Peter de Tagyos for developing the software for the site and to Committee Member Alfred Baldwin for hosting the site!

Using the generous donations from the Dailard community, we provide a MacBook notebook computer in EVERY classroom for use in presenting innovative educational materials to every student. These computers are connected directly to the video projectors provided in every classroom. This combination allows the teacher to display to the students a variety of materials, from paper documents viewed by a document video camera, computer-generated content such as Powerpoint presentations, digital photographs & movies, and educational videos streamed from educational Web sites directly over the Internet. Any combination of these materials can be displayed at the same time. The PTF Technology Committee will also pay for access charges for the Internet educational Web Sites. 

III.  Current Projects

We are completing the distribution of the new Macbook notebook computers in September 2008.

This years' agenda will include continuing to work on making better use of the existing technology infrastructure (server, main computer lab, mini-lab, classroom computers, and Internet resources) to improve the learning experience for the students and to assist the teachers in their educational goals. We are looking for innovative software that will provide a genuine benefit in enhancing the student's learning.

We need your help!

The Committee would like to invite interested parents to join and get involved. We usually meet on the the second Wednesday of the month at 6:00 p.m. at Tivoli's Restaurant in the Keil's Shopping Center. We also communicate by e-mail and through a private Google discussion group. If you can spare a small amount of time and would like to help, then please join us!