District Earns Technology Grant

Gulf District Schools recently took a giant leap into cyberspace.

The district was recently notified that it will receive a $750,000 technology grant in federal dollars passed through the state as part of the Enhanced Education Through Technology (EETT) program.

Gulf District Schools were one of just 11 districts in the state to receive a grant and was the smallest district to earn the grant dollars.

"It is a competitive grant and everybody has a right to it," said Sara Joe Wooten, supervisor for curriculum in the district. "We are very fortunate to have gotten this grant for technology, especially with what is happening to budgets these days."

On the surface, the district will make a haul on equipment alone.

The grant will fund:

* 200 laptops;

* 16 smart boards;

* 16 LCD projectors;

* 2 digital microscopes;

* 2 servers, one for each high school in the county;

* 16 digital cameras;

* 16 video cameras:

* 50 versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

But the grant goes well beyond equipment to instructing teachers how to use it and teach the core curriculum at the high school level at which the grant is aimed.

The grant will fund staff development for 16 instructors, including plans and tools to evaluate how technology is used in the schools.

Each high school will send a team to the University of South Florida's Master Digital Institute training in late July, the training to take place at the University of West Florida.

Roughly $90,000 of the total grant funds will be used to offset the costs of that training, including travel, lodging, meals, texts, etc.

The University of South Florida will also evaluate the progress of the program, for which another $30,000 is earmarked.

"All teachers will be given a baseline on how technology is used in their schools and at the end of the program they will evaluate the skills and progress that has been gained," Wooten said.

The grant also includes funds to bring those teachers who attended the institute training to come back together for five days this summer to discuss ideas on how to administer the grant.

There will funds to bring those same teachers together in the summer of 2009 to discuss the progress during the school year and how the grant has helped.

The program will focus on using technology in teaching the core curriculum.

For example, students in math class might study the importance of the Pythagorem Theorem, while real-world applications might arise as part of science class. A social studies class might study the impact on the theorem in history.

Students in those respective classes will collaborate on essential questions and seeking answers to provide a broader picture on the evolution of the theorem.

Students will also use what is known as the Independent Investigative Model program to pick projects, aim for a goal, organize research and produce a product, say a PowerPoint presentation on a play or poem.

"We are going to do postings onto our website," Wooten said. "We are also going to have a technology fair. The two high schools will get together and show the best of the best."

Parent participation will be an essential ingredient to the various programs.

A parent night will be scheduled during which parents will come to the schools and students will show them how to do things on the computer and what the students have accomplished.

As Wooten noted, there are a good percentage of parents who are not as computer savvy as children. This will be a chance to bridge some of that gap.

"We want parents to be involved in that," Wooten said.

"This grant could not have come at a better time with budgets and everything. This is a wonderful grant for us."