Technology
Name of School: Rehoboth Christian School
Location: Rehoboth, NM
Program Objectives: (1) to improve students’ accessibility to technology in school and at their homes, (2) to promote technology use in the integration of curriculum, and (3) to make effective use of the school’s current technology
Summary of Program:
At Rehoboth Christian School, two obstacles we face are the vast distances between school and many students’ homes and the unequal access to computer technology among students of various economic situations. Our goal is to provide all students with equal access to technology in order to enhance new educational program initiatives. A new technology system, funded by a $110,000 grant from three leading technology companies, is helping us overcome these obstacles. The grant award includes funds for hardware, software, and training for teachers.
Many of our low-income and rural students do not have Internet connection, a computer, or even regular phone service at home. We are overcoming these barriers by connecting homes directly with the school network through a thin-client system.
This thin-client system works through the use of high-powered centralized servers. The network gives students access at school and at home to programs and applications, homework assignments, and ongoing projects. It enables them to collaborate with peers and teachers. The system also allows parents to communicate easily with staff and check on assignments, grades, and the school calendar. Our hope is that students’ learning will no longer be compromised by their distance from school or their family’s inability to afford a computer.
Using the funds from the grant co-sponsored by Citrix Systems, Inc., National Semiconductor Corporation, and Wyse Technology, Inc., we have installed three new Citrix servers at school, which provide students with access to school programs, personal files, and shared files. Students can run programs without having them individually installed on the computers they are using. This arrangement allows students and staff to run any program they use at school from any computer.
Rehoboth has put in place a network made up of 40 eight-year-old Macintosh computers, 40 Wyse thin-client terminals, 32 Compaq laptops on 2 mobile carts, 15 Pentium II computers, and 8 Compaq Pentium IV computers. Students and staff have access to all these computers through personal login names and passwords. Even though we are using a wide range of computers that vary in terms of age and platform, each machine works seamlessly on the network. The interface that students see and the speed at which programs run are identical on every machine on campus.
Our goal is to achieve a one-to-one student-to-computer ratio at home and a one-to-two student-to-computer ratio at school in order to bridge the “digital divide” that often contributes to the poor academic performance of low-income students. This goal would have been cost prohibitive if we had tried to accomplish it using all new hardware. However, by implementing a thin-client Citrix system, with the innovative use of older computers in students’ homes, we are well on the way to achieving our goal.
We believe that giving at-risk students opportunities to use cutting-edge technology helps prepare them for higher education and careers by teaching practical skills. We hope that through regular use of the new thin-client network, every student can develop the level of technology literacy required for success in today’s academic and professional worlds.
Technology Integration and Accessibility 6.5