As technology is now becoming integrated into the daily parts of our lives, Xavier is hoping to integrate it into the school as well. Several students already bring in electronic devices and use them as a notebook for class but they lack the capability to connect to the internet and the students still need to carry textbooks around with them so they still have full backpacks. This program is not only intended to increase education but to strengthen the relationships between students and teachers. To find out more about the upcoming plan we interviewed four leading members on it.

The first person we had the pleasure of speaking with was Mr. Ivan Bailey. He is the Director of Technology and is one of the leading members of the new program. We were able to ask him a few questions and receive his take on Xavier’s future technology. One of the first things Mr. Bailey talked to us about was that this future technology will be windows based because the school has already been using windows and windows is a better software for productivity.

 Mr. Bailey also said that the school will support a larger wifi server that has a bigger pipeline than what we have now (which would be able to support 900 plus devices at any given time). A pipeline is an internet connection that can support all of the Xavier students and teachers. Next he told us about the many different tools that the students will be able to utilize from this program. Those things are Blackboard Learn, One Note, and Internet researching. One of the most important things that Mr. Bailey introduced us to was the idea of e-books on each student’s’ device. This would DRAMATICALLY cut down on students backpack space. With all these features introduced, there are a few complications that are still being worked out. Those features were cost that is reasonable, for all books to be available as e-books, and what type of device will each student be using. Mr. Bailey said “This is a work in progress”.

Later we started talking with Mr. Donahue. We asked him what the ultimate goal of this plan was and he said, “For all students to have a device”. Mr. Donahue said the device will be windows based and a tablet/laptop device. Mr. Donahue also talked about using One Note and note taking and using e-books. The only problem with the e-books is making sure all the books are available online.A final point that Mr. Donahue added was the use of a blog type feature on Blackboard so the teachers and students could be in contact rather than just in the classroom. Brother Brian also was talking with us and one of use first point was about teachers helping other teachers learning the new features on Blackboard. Brother added that another problem with the e-books was that the AP and college type books are the hardest to find on a digital copy. One of Brother’s final points was that they have been looking at different devices over time and are trying to find the device that will suit the student best.

The last person we went to was Mrs. Cormier. She is the Technology Integration Specialist at Xavier High School. She said there is going to be a big wi-fi able to support all the students devices. This would be accomplished the use of a pipeline which Mrs. Cormier said would be the reason why so many people could log on. Some problems with the project she said are price, which device, and what do if a device is broken. One of the last things that Mrs. Cormier told us was that with the idea of the e-books there are different type of books such as interactive or PDF formats with could affect availability and price.

So this is the scoop on what we have for the possible plan for next years technology. This new plans will hopefully help academically to the student but also expand a class outside the realms of the ordinary classroom. Remember to stay connected with  the Kestrel for any other updates on this topic.