Daviess County Public Schools teachers earned nearly $140,00 worth of new computers for their schools by attending a two-day workshop hosted by the Kentucky Dataseam Initiative Inc. Teachers developed project-based lesson plans they can bring into the classroom this year and created a video using the computers.
This is part of an ongoing program that has earned the district over $400,000 worth of technology over the last several years. Teachers and technical personnel at the school are looking for new ways to engage students with hands-on learning and skills geared toward 21st Century careers.
Additionally, these computers become part of a network of 22,000 computer processors on the DataseamGrid. This statewide computing resource supports important drug discovery work at the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center.
Superintendent Owens Saylor said, “The training offers significant value for our teachers and we are honored to support cancer research work being done in Kentucky.”
Fifty-five DCPS teachers spent two days developing lesson plans, student assignments and using the computers to create projects that can be used in their classrooms this fall. In addition to becoming more comfortable with the equipment, teachers developed strategies to make learning more interesting and relevant for today’s students.
“I learned so much about how to use the computer, but the real value was that I got to work directly with my classroom content,” said Melissa Jarboe, an Advanced Placement English literature teacher at Apollo High School. “I can take what I learned and created during the workshop directly into my classroom this fall.”
Chris Renfrow, a psychology teacher at Daviess County High School, agreed with his colleague. “Dataseam offers a new gateway into the ever-changing technological society into which our students are venturing by allowing the students a new and exciting medium for learning,” he said. “It is also a win-win by utilizing the machines to enhance research at the University of Louisville.”
“Being able to use our own content made the lessons relevant and meaningful,” added Jenny Day, a primary teacher at Audubon Elementary School.
The DCPS technical staff also attended Apple Certification classes this summer to ensure they continually update their skills to maintain and manage the large number of computers in the district. Brian Payne, Tim Hicks, Jason Cunningham and Billy Johnson learned the latest industry standard techniques to install, troubleshoot and support computers to accelerate learning for the students.
Brian Gupton, Dataseam CEO, stated, “The training both the Daviess County Public Schools technology team and its educators have undertaken is key to Kentucky creating its next-generation workforce. The members of the Kentucky General Assembly and Daviess County Public Schools have been great partners to have in the Dataseam program.”
