Literacy has traditionally centered on reading and writing. The Information Age, however, requires an expanded definition of literacy that includes movies, television, the Internet, computers and other new technologies. In the 21st Century, a truly literate person has to be comfortable using all of the media through which we tell stories and share information.
Valley Christian Schools is focused on media literacy; the ability to access, understand, analyze, evaluate and create media messages on television, the Internet and other technologies. To that end we have equipped our teachers and classrooms with the tools necessary to teach media literacy.
Access: Knowing how to search for and find relevant information, whether online or on a library shelf.
Our campus has dedicated T1 internet access. We utilize a Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server© that accelerates web surfing and filters content using SurfControl©.
In addition to books, our High School Media Center is equipped with over 30 wireless laptops that students use to do research projects on the internet, type papers using Microsoft Word and turn in assignments electronically. Wireless Internet access is available across the entire Jr/Sr High campus. Students with their own laptop can sign up in the Media Center to get online anywhere on campus.
Understand: Knowing how to decode and make sense of the way information is presented, whether reading text or "reading" the multimedia content of a webpage.
Every classroom in the Junior/Senior High School has a ceiling mounted projector installed allowing teachers to prepare lectures on PowerPoint, show on-demand movies from Discovery Education™ and unitedstreaming.com, and teach directly from many educational websites.
Analyze: Examining the content to ascertain purpose, point of view, validity and reliability.
In our Jr/Sr High all teachers have been provided with InterWrite SchoolPads. This Bluetooth™ wireless pad gives the teacher the ability to teach from anywhere in the classroom. Teachers engage students by letting them use a SchoolPad to illustrate a problem, and inspire students by turning lessons into experiences. Teachers go to current event websites and using the tablet draw right on the page.
Evaluate: Determining the value of the content for yourself and for others
Each classroom has Comcast© cable television and a vcr/dvd player. Teachers integrate current news events into daily lessons. By showing and then discussing live television, teachers are able to help students understand and evaluate what they have just seen.
Create: Producing your own media messages, from letters to signs to videos to web pages.
Both our Elementary and Jr/Sr High campus have state of the art computer labs with the latest in softwareand hardware. Our Elementary students learn the fundementals of computers and keyboarding, while our Jr/Sr High students learn to create everything from spreadsheets and letters to corporate logo’s and websites.
Grades 1-12 use the PowerSchool student information. Parents can access secure student information 24/7 online, including real-time attendance information, track grades and detailed assignment descriptions, school bulletins, and even personal messages from the teacher. PowerSchool can send electronic progress reports to parents on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. A link to the teachers email is provided allowing easy communication with teachers.
Students take responsibility for their own learning
Today's generation of tech smart students grew up with technology. Technology is part of their everyday environment, It's no surprise many students are eager to use technology to help manage their own education progress.
PowerSchool's anywhere, anytime student access lets students take responsibility for their own learning. Upon enrollment, PowerSchool creates an account for each student. Students can log on to a secure server and get up-to-date access to new assignments, and school announcements. And students can easily communicate with teachers about areas they need to improve.
Students stay on top of assignments, parents are able to particpate more fully in their student's progress, and teachers can use their gradebook to make decisions on what information they want to share with parents and students.
Teachers can quickly see the big picture for each of their students and spot trends in key data that may affect student outcomes. Transparency of data reduces surprises for all participants. Teachers and parents are better prepared for discussions about student progress.
The Jr/Sr High utilizes Turnitin.com© for plagiarism prevention. Recognized worldwide as the standard in online plagiarism prevention, Turnitin helps teachers and students take full advantage of the internet's educational potential.
Used by thousands of institutions in over eighty countries, Turnitin’s comprehensive plagiarism prevention system lets us quickly and effectively check all of our students’ work in a fraction of the time necessary to scan a few suspect papers using a search engine.
Every paper submitted is returned in the form of a customized Originality Report. Results are based on exhaustive searches of billions of pages from both current and archived instances of the internet, millions of student papers previously submitted to Turnitin, and commercial databases of journal articles and periodicals.
Valley Christian Schools is committed to integrating technology in learning. To that end we are working toward a 1:1 laptop initiative. Every student using their own laptop on campus. We have installed data projectors in all Elementary classrooms, and have an ongoing commitment to train our teachers in the use of new technologies. We’re always looking for ways to improve the learning environment.
For further information regarding our Campus Technologies, please contact our Manager of Information Technologies, Eric Raasch at eraasch@dublinvcc.org