— Project will boost computer use by teachers and students —
(OSOYOOS TIMES — Jan. 31, 2007) —
A chance meeting between a retired South Okanagan teacher and a senior director with Statistics Canada has led to a windfall of computers that's giving a major boost to teacher and student computing in the region.
As a result of the chance meeting aboard a B.C.-to-Ontario flight in 2005, more than 140 of the 170 teachers in Okanagan-Similkameen School District 53 received free laptop computers last week, thanks to StatsCan.
At the same time, an aging computer lab at South Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver received an upgrade with the addition of more than 40 Pentium-4 desktop computers from the federal statistics agency.
Nearly every teacher at Osoyoos' elementary and secondary schools received one of the free laptop computers last week as part of the project.
Everyone involved thinks the initiative will pave the way for more and better computing by teachers and, as a result, by students too.
It all began in June 2005 when retired teacher Enid Baker flew east and sat beside StatsCan director Jerry Page. After agreeing that it's difficult for small school districts to find the money for technology upgrades, Page suggested that Baker get someone in the local School District to get in touch with him, in case his federal agency had surplus computers to donate after the May 2006 national census.
Baker put SD 53 Computer Technician Scott Hesselgrave in touch with Page and the result, after more than a year, was the recent StatsCan donation of laptops and desktop computers. Although the laptops are a few years old, they have all the programs needed for current computing and will still be good for at least a couple of years.
The B.C. Teachers' Federation President for SD 53, Ritchie Kendrick, gives credit to the School District's leadership for its decision to distribute the laptops free to any teacher who wanted one.
He and Hesselgrave both say with the recent extension of wireless access in all of the District's schools, the laptops can be used anywhere in a school, and will help many teachers become more comfortable with using computers and many software programs.
The teachers are quite appreciative of the opportunity to have and use these laptops, Kendrick says.
Osoyoos Elementary School Principal Bo Macfarlane says it's a wonderful project that values teachers by helping them to raise their level of proficiency with computers.
Macfarlane stresses that the results of this move will also improve the education of students.
Hesselgrave and SD 53 Assistant Superintendent Jim Insley note that the School District is now embarking on a plan to improve the network infrastructure for computers throughout the District.
And Kendrick says a District Learning Technology Advisory Committee has been established to look at a number of ways to improve the use of computers in schools.
