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lakeland elementary
August 2014
Lakeland Elementary School Developing Online “Digital Ecosystem” for Student Learning
Special to THE VIEW 38002
More than half of the
teaching staff at Lakeland
Elementary School have
completed summer training
sessions introducing teachers
to new online collaboration
tools, the completion and
submission of online district
and school documents, and
new streamlined procedures
for website and calendar creation and updating. Sessions
also touch on building online
student portfolios and opportunities for using student e‐
mail for assignment creation
and submission. Most of the
teachers who have not trained
already are signed up for a
second round of sessions next
week. It’s all part of a concerted effort to improve instructional and administrative
efficiency in
Lakeland
School System through the
use of collaborative technology.
Lakeland School System
Instructional Technology
Specialist Wanda Terral has
organized and led the sessions. Terral’s extensive
knowledge and experience
helping teachers use platforms like Google Apps for
Education have allowed the
new school system to quickly
establish technology procedures and plans. LSS leaders
hope the sessions will allow
teachers to begin implementing new, efficient technology
processes on the first day students return to school.
“Once the teachers and
students get the hang of it,
they will be able to work together virtually on documents, presentations and projects with Google Apps collaboration tools,” Terral explains. “Teachers of the same
grade--level are already building digital curricula using
Google Drive. Students and
parents will eventually be
able to access the folders and
files online.”
The digital collaboration
platform also will allow for
greater ease in completing
administrative tasks. LSS superintendent Dr. Ted Horrell
has worked with Terral to
make sure the majority of
forms and documentation are
submitted, approved, and
documented online though
the school system’s secure
internal network.
“Teachers will only have
one site to access, one login
to remember, and one process to follow for most of their
required documentation. The
hope is that saving time on
paperwork will allow them to
spend more time planning,
collaborating, and teaching,”
Horrell stated.
Teachers who have completed the training already
have given the online platform, what some enthusiasts
call a “digital ecosystem,”
rave reviews.
“I love the collaborative
editing teachers can do with a
shared document. It will be
great when developing a
grade--‐level project,” said
LES teacher Patty Rumburg.
Rumburg was also excited
about new calendar options
that will allow her to easily
share appropriate items from
her master calendar on her
Lakeland’s
Young
Scientists
Get Their
STEM On
A student at
Camp Invention
MORPHED! uses
u p c y c l e d
electronics
to
build an epic,
insect-themed
pinball machine.
L a k e l a n d
Elementary hosts
the science and
technology camp
each summer.
school website and with parents who subscribe to her calendar.
“It’s very efficient for our
busy teacher calendars that
are crowded with meetings,
conferences, evaluations, student work assignments, and
to--‐do lists. Keeping it all together will leave more time for
teaching and less time worrying about missing a deadline.”
A donation by the LES
PTA of 150 Google Chromebooks for student use will
allow more students to take
advantage of the new resources and move the school
Photo courtesy of LES.
closer to its goal of having
one digital device per student.
Horrell notes that the emphasis on digital creation and
completion of assignments
corresponds with state and
system goals for improving
typing proficiency among
elementar