There is an increasing swell of activity among our faculty as we move closer to the roll out of our 1:1 iPad program next school year!
If you have not yet heard, all of our 9th and 10th grade students in 2016-17 will be provided an iPad for use in their classes and at home during the school year for the remainder of their time at Valley Christian High School. (Over the two years following that, the incoming freshmen will receive iPads so that all Valley students will have an iPad in 2018-19.)
What is the current status of iValley? Here are some of the highlights:
- All juniors and seniors continue to use iPads in their Bible classes. These iPads are housed in a charging cart for use in the classroom.
- This last summer, school-wide wi-fi was installed on our campus for use by school-issued devices. The same safeguards and filters currently in place for our school apply to the wi-fi network.
- Twelve classrooms are being updated to allow for iPad instruction. Each classroom update includes a projection system and an Apple TV.
- All teachers are being trained on an online learning management system called Moodle, and are building a variety of features in Moodle for each of their classes. As teachers are ready, they are asking students to access Moodle for class activities such as sharing thoughts on forums, taking online quizzes, and responding to resources posted on Moodle by the teacher. While Moodle activities are only accessible for students, graded assignments on Moodle synchronize to RenWeb and are viewable by parents.
- The Teacher Tech Team, comprised of 22 teachers, is meeting weekly to receive training on iPad use in the classroom by researching appropriate iPad resources and sharing best practices in the classroom. Fifteen of these teachers have just received a school-issued iPad and are specifically preparing for the use of iPads in 9th and 10th grade classes next school year.
- A second iPad cart has been purchased for teacher and student use this school year.
We are currently four months into the technology plan developed with input from parents, teachers, administrators, and Board members, and given approval last year by the Board of Directors.
While the ripple effect of current technology is impacting some of the methods we use to carry out our mission, the mission remains the same-to see that students know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, live like Him, and prepare academically, physically, socially, and spiritually, so they are enabled to make a difference in the world!