Technology

...looking back at the 2003-2004 school year

Journalism Class Captures NETA Award

The Seward High School journalism class received second place in the Class Project Web Design Contest sponsored by the Nebraska Educational Technology Association (NETA). Three members of the journalism class, along with sponsor Tom Pallas, traveled to Omaha on April 29 to receive the award at the annual NETA Conference held at the 72nd Street Holiday Inn. The contest included designing a web site as a class project along with written articles and graphics. The web site design for the Seward High School newspaper (The Buzz) was created by Ben Kamprath. All members of the journalism class then contributed written articles for each of the monthly issues. The journalism class publishes a monthly school newspaper from August through May, which is found on the school web site. Each student is responsible for writing at least one article for each publication and may include graphics with their articles. The web site was judged by NETA's professional technology educators for its creative design and development of its articles and graphics. This is the second consecutive year that the journalism class has been honored for its online school newspaper.

The publication of an on-line school newspaper gives students the opportunity to learn valuable computer skills, valuable writing skills, along with the personal skills needed to gather their information and construct their written articles. "This years journalism students have done an excellent job of using their writing skills to develop quality articles for the newspaper. It has been a pleasure to work with these students and see them rewarded for their hard work and artistic skills," commented journalism instructor Tom Pallas.

The Buzz online button in the left column will take you directly to the site.

PowerSchool

During the 2003-2004 school year, the Administrative Team and Technology Coordinator researched possible replacements to our student administrative system (SASI). The goal of this replacement was to implement an automated lunch system and add a parent link to student data (i.e. grades, attendance and lunch balance). Grants were sought to ease transition costs.

After multiple calls to and from vendors, we chose PowerSchool. Through a Stars Schools federal grant ($35,000), Seward received the software and two years of support without cost to the district. A Seward Foundation grant ($10,000) was also obtained for the purchase of hardware to support the switch. A big thanks to the Foundation for this assistance!

Training for administration, teachers, office staff and lunch personnel took place during the August in-service sessions. Parent training will take place in January of 2005.

A+ Advanced Learning System

The Seward Alternative Education Center personnel, along with the Technology Coordinator and Curriculum Director, researched and purchased software and equipment to enhance their curriculum offerings.  The software comes from American Education Corporation and allows students to use laptops connected to the A+ server to complete courses needed for graduation requirements.

SOCS

Seward Public Schools continues to utilize the Simplified Online Communication Solution (SOCS) system to update patrons on activities happening in our district. Current articles related to the district, along with calendars of activities and lunch menus can be found on the site. SOCS visitors are able to sign up for “email updates” so that they are informed when new and exciting articles are placed on the site. Sponsors are being sought to support the site. If you are interested in being a sponsor and having your ad on the main page, contact Ann Lyon (alyon00@connectseward.org).

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