By ALICIA LEONARD
For about an hour before the Walton County School Board met on the afternoon of Sept. 16, they heard about new technology being implemented for students and staff across the district.
Internet Technology Director Henry Martin outlined many new advances that are being put into place in the district.
Some of those include over 700 wireless access points the district saved over $20,000 on with help of staff working in the evenings, rather than using contractors, Martin said. “The work did not interfere with student time either. I’m really proud of the work our staff did on this,” he said.
Along with making gains in being prepared for students to “bring your own device” that seems to be in the forefront of student usage these days, students and staff will be able to store items in the cloud under Office 365. The Enrollment for Education program is made possible by Microsoft, and will allow students and staff to access work and information from anywhere they have Internet access, including many of the software’s best known and most used programs.
He said the district would also be able to enjoy district-wide storage and email storage, as well as anti-virus coverage at a discount through the plan.
All district computers are undergoing updates from Windows XP to Windows 7, and desktop imaging being installed will save the district money in man hours and time used by staff.
“What I used to have to come to do in person, such as here in the media room, can be done from a computer and it will save hours in staff time,” Martin said of the desktop imaging programs.
Martin said that although many students he recently saw in another district used their phones to work on in the classroom, the district will still have to supply those students without a device, one to work on when the district does implement the “bring your own device” idea.
“Most students feel most comfortable using a device they already know. I was surprised to see many using phones on a recent trip,” he added of the recent improvements, “We’re getting there. We’ve already come a long way.”
