The Mesa Unified School District will pilot an online program - Student MPS Connect - that includes e-mail, calendar, documents and spreadsheet programs in the fall.
The governing board learned about the plans during a study session Tuesday.
One advantage to the program, staff said, is students will be able to upload homework to teachers directly, decreasing the chances of spreading computer viruses. The program is Google based.
Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies will hold the trial in the fall, with plans to roll out to all secondary schools as soon as teachers and students can be trained.
aanye1 posted at 1:17 pm on Tue, Jun 1, 2010.
@n2mark: This isn't a replacement for the classroom, but a tool for students (and teachers) once they step outside of the classroom. Students will be able to keep their essays, group projects, assignment calendars, student portfolios, college prep, etc. all in one place.
As Tookie says below, it saves a bit of paper, and it also eliminates the excuse of "sorry, my printer broke, can I turn it in tomorrow?" I don't mean that in a heavy-handed way... When I was in school it actually happened to me a number of times--I'd bring my work to school on a bad floppy--so I would have loved to be able to email my paper to the teacher instead.
I am the first person to agree that technology cannot be a replacement for solid educational fundamentals, but I think technology can be a great tool to reinforce those fundamentals. This is something that can be done very inexpensively, too... So kids can receive some powerful new tools even in a year full of budget cuts. I'm excited for this.
Tookie88 posted at 9:25 am on Tue, Jun 1, 2010.
For starters, most of the schools in Mesa have been put on a paper "diet" which means that we can no longer afford to xerox homework sheets for students...I think this is a great alternative to wasting paper...I'm all for technology replacing waste. I am also all for textbooks being available online so kids don't have to carry heavy textbooks around....we need to move into the 21st century people and not live like it is 1950.
n2mark posted at 11:07 am on Mon, May 31, 2010.
We are dumbing down our students. When I moved here in the late 70's - Az education was top notch - Mesa was an area people wanted their children to be educated also. Now - forget education here. I'm so glad I have grown children. My daughter is going to move out of Mesa before her child attends school.
Sad, so very sad this state does not care about education unless you have the MONEY!
n2mark posted at 9:24 am on Mon, May 31, 2010.
Whatever happened to classroom education?