Oak Ridge Today

Digital transformation: Rollout of convertible laptops starts at Robertsville

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Robertsville Middle School

Robertsville Middle School is pictured above in this file photo.

 

The digital transformation at Oak Ridge Schools starts Tuesday with the rollout of convertible laptops at Robertsville Middle School, officials said. It will continue Thursday at Jefferson Middle School.

“This is an exciting day for Oak Ridge Schools,” officials said in a press release. It marks the “first step in the digital transformation that will impact teaching and learning in our 21st century classrooms,” the release said.

“We aim to close the digital divide and ensure access to powerful technology tools for all Oak Ridge Schools students,” the press release said.

Here are some specific plans: [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Schools seeks to become top STEM district in country

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Bruce Borchers Introduces Discovery Education

Oak Ridge Schools Superintendent Bruce Borchers introduces Discovery Education to members of the PTA Council on Thursday, April 10. (Photos by Sara Wise)

Superintendent: ‘It’s a big deal nationally’

Oak Ridge Schools is attempting to become the premier district in the nation for science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, education. Superintendent Bruce Borchers has a $3.4 million plan to make that happen using Microsoft Surface tablets and Discovery Education. The money will be spent over a five-year period.

Borchers calls the needed changes a “digital transformation” that will, he hopes, bring a tablet to every student in the school system. This is especially important in Oak Ridge, a district with a free and reduced lunch rate of more than 50 percent. The digital transformation would allow every student in the district to have the same educational opportunities, regardless of income.

The first of three steps toward transformation is to create a technological infrastructure capable of handling all the tablets. Those improvements have a $1 million price tag that the Oak Ridge Board of Education and the city have already approved. Borchers hopes for the upgrades to be completed before students return to school in the fall. The upgrades are projected to last until at least 2022. [Read more…]