JACKSONVILLE —
District technology is an important factor in education at Jacksonville Independent School District, Technology Director Hedda Alexander said. She gave a report on how much work has been done on the technology side of learning and administration since just the last few months to the school’s board of trustees Monday evening.
“We change so much every year,” Alexander said. “We installed our fiber area network in December, 2000, and that was when we developed a wide area network.”
At this point Alexander said the district claims around 2,000 computers among all campuses with 325 laptops on the way. About 400 of these computers are lab computers to be replaced every three years, the rest are replaced every five.
“Last year each cost nearly $700 with a three-year warranty and on-site service,” she said.
The on-site service is worth it, she said, and since August the technology department has submitted 1,217 work orders. These aren’t just for computers, Alexander added, but for all applicable technology. To date around 1,039 have been completed.
“We have people in the district every day looking at equipment with issues,” Alexander said.
It’s not just computers being looked at in the district; JISD boasts a number of technological gadgets ranging in size and complexity from interactive pads known as Mobis and interactive white boards to LCD projectors and the virtual server currently operating for the district.
Press Relations Representative Marc McCloud said the virtual servers are part of the district’s efforts to centralize equipment and maintenance as much as possible.
“The servers used to be all over the district,” McCloud said.
Alexander said bulky server machines, over 20 of them, used to be scattered about JISD. Now the majority of them are concentrated onto a virtual server which saves the district space and close to $20,000 in energy costs each year.
All these gadgets together have a marked effect on student learning, Alexander said. She relayed the story of a middle school teacher and a student who formerly failed to do homework.
“He wanted to use the Mobi,” Alexander said of the student. “She told him he needed to do his homework in order to use the Mobi and so he began to do it. It brought his grade from failing to passing. It’s an incentive.”
Superintendent Dr. Joe Wardell said he believes the district’s use of various computers and other machines has opened new avenues for the students.
“The amount of information available for our kids or teachers to use is now unlimited,” Wardell said. “We live in a world where our kids have used technology since birth. In connecting with them, we have to have this technology available.”
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Related Photos
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JISD Technology Director Hedda Alexander, left, explains some of the benefits of the new switch/server cabinet located at the JISD Technology Support Center while Systems Administrator Carla Terry demonstrates the unit. Courtesy photo
Discussion
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