Convertible laptops provided to two grades at ORHS as part of Access Oak Ridge

 

Convertible laptops were provided to 9th-grade and 10th-grade students at Oak Ridge High School in October as part of Oak Ridge Schools’ digital initiative, which is known as Access Oak Ridge.

The roll-out to the two grades at ORHS was launched the week of October 17.

“Through our Access Oak Ridge digital one-to-one initiative, our vision is to empower all Oak Ridge students with equitable access to digital learning opportunities; to innovate, design, collaborate, and ultimately succeed in local and global communities of the future,” a press release said. “This initiative is geared toward increasing opportunities for creativity and out-of-the-box problem solving. In a 1:1 environment, teachers can serve as collaborative facilitators in an atmosphere of timely information gathering and authentic problem-based learning.”

The student laptops or portable devices are also in use or being rolled out in other nearby school districts, including in Anderson County and Clinton. They’ve previously been distributed to students in some other grade levels in Oak Ridge, starting with some students in the city’s two middle schools.

Oak Ridge Schools said the initiative brings “student-centered inquiry to classrooms through access to a vast array of learning content that is up-to-date and not attainable through the limitations of printed texts.

“We are working continuously to also add our printed resources as soft copies on student devices, specifically adding as many as we can in downloaded file formats that are available even when students are not in a WiFi zone. For this purpose, the district has created textbook folders on the home screen of every issued device. The folder contains digital content for a wide variety of subject areas. As this collection grows, the files are automatically updated to student devices when individuals are logged into the school network.

“We believe putting the right tools for technology in the hands of students enables them to explore content with greater depth and breadth, and allows for new learning tasks that were previously inconceivable. Providing a digital device for every student levels the playing field and offers opportunities to access a wealth of global information that is not locally accessible.

See previous stories on the 1:1 initiative here.

 

This press release was submitted by Holly Cross.