technologies to improve instruction and level of instruction across classrooms,” he learning for the twenty-first century says. “The results are better curricula, more according to Steve Price, CSD Technology time to teach those curricula, and the Staff Developer. active participation of students in their own learning.” The district was so pleased with the success of the HUB, it migrated its public website to Student Engagement with Social Media Office SharePoint Server 2007 as well. The Leads to Active Learning website has a modern and consistent Colonial is using the HUB to encourage appearance throughout its pages, video students to be active participants in the content, and dynamic components—such as process of education. Teachers add wikis, a calendar from which visitors can choose blogs, and discussion groups to their the groups of events they want to see. The courses without concern that external website also is integrated with the learning users will breach classroom security. These management portion of the HUB. components meet the district’s security needs by being fully contained within the Benefits HUB so only registered students, as The school district uses the HUB to help identified by Active Directory Domain boost curricula quality, turn students into Services, can participate. active learners, and increase test scores. “Students don’t think of using social media Teachers Enhance Curricula, Gain as work—it’s their life, and they see it as Instructional Time fun,” says Boegly. “We can use social Teachers now share best practices and media fully because we’re doing it in a curricula across classrooms and even across controlled environment and we can target schools; enjoy streamlined online its use for each course. Without tools like interactions with students; and gain free this, twenty-first century learners cannot time formerly spent on administrative truly be active participants in their tasks—which they can now apply to learning. instruction. “The HUB proved to be a vehicle for “The system implements an automated collaboration, inspired shared leadership, provisioning process each night that and going above and beyond. All these updates course enrollment and creates factors contributed to this significant sections as new courses are built in the increase,” he adds. student information system,” says Michael Cavallaro, CSD Network Supervisor. ”Teachers do not need to manage student enrollment in their sections anymore.” The benefits show up in the classroom, according to Boegly. “Our teachers continue to work together on curricula development, integrating technology in new ways and ultimately contributing to a uniformly high
technologies to improve instruction and learning for the twenty-first century according to Steve Price, CSD Technology Staff Developer. The district was so pleased with the success of the HUB, it migrated its public website to Office SharePoint Server 2007 as well. The website has a modern and consistent appearance throughout its pages, video content, and dynamic components—such as a calendar from which visitors can choose the groups of events they want to see. The website also is integrated with the learning management portion of the HUB. Benefits The school district uses the HUB to help boost curricula quality, turn students into active learners, and increase test scores. Teachers Enhance Curricula, Gain Instructional Time Teachers now share best practices and curricula across classrooms and even across schools; enjoy streamlined online interactions with students; and gain free time formerly spent on administrative tasks—which they can now apply to instruction. “The system implements an automated provisioning process each night that updates course enrollment and creates sections as new courses are built in the student information system,” says Michael Cavallaro, CSD Network Supervisor. ”Teachers do not need to manage student enrollment in their sections anymore.” The benefits show up in the classroom, according to Boegly. “Our teachers continue to work together on curricula development, integrating technology in new ways and ultimately contributing to a uniformly high level of instruction across classrooms,” he says. “The results are better curricula, more time to teach those curricula, and the active participation of students in their own learning.” Student Engagement with Social Media Leads to Active Learning Colonial is using the HUB to encourage students to be active participants in the process of education. Teachers add wikis, blogs, and discussion groups to their courses without concern that external users will breach classroom security. These components meet the district’s security needs by being fully contained within the HUB so only registered students, as identified by Active Directory Domain Services, can participate. “Students don’t think of using social media as work—it’s their life, and they see it as fun,” says Boegly. “We can use social media fully because we’re doing it in a controlled environment and we can target its use for each course. Without tools like this, twenty-first century learners cannot truly be active participants in their learning. “The HUB proved to be a vehicle for collaboration, inspired shared leadership, and going above and beyond. All these factors contributed to this significant increase,” he adds.