𝒜 𝒟𝐼𝒢𝐼𝒯𝒜𝐿 𝒮𝒯𝑅𝒜𝒯𝐸𝒢𝒴, 𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐒!

𝒞𝒰𝑅𝑅𝐸𝒩𝒯 𝒮𝐼𝒯𝒰𝒜𝒯𝐼𝒪𝒩 
𝒜𝒯 
𝒮𝒯. 𝐿𝒰𝒞𝒴'𝒮 𝒫𝑅𝐼𝑀𝒜𝑅𝒴 

 

At. St. Lucy's we pride ourselves in being a school which promotes the use of technology. As a matter of fact we were one of the first schools to have an online graduation during the Covid19 pandemic. Through the acquisition of a Zoom license and a YouTube channel we were able to stream online live.

There is no structured professional learning community, however, communication, which is a valuable part of a Digital Strategy, is currently done through emailing and WhatsApp. We also use the OPENEMIS database for Managing Information Systems where we record daily teacher and student attendances, report to parents the progress of their children and store personal information about staff and students. The school's roll is also recorded in this database.

Additionally each teacher has a laptop and incorporates online resources with their daily lessons. Occasionally, there are training sessions to demonstrate how to use new or updated software. Teachers often use these sessions to provide feedback and share best practices with the use of the technology.

On plant there are access points in every classroom to support a fence to fence initiative.  Due to reliable WIFI facilities teachers show animated stories, educational videos and communicate with each other from the comfort of their classrooms. Parents are encouraged to invest in devices for their children who are allowed to bring their devices to school so that they can complete assignments, access full assembly activities,  manipulate live interactive worksheets, play educational games, watch informative videos and complete assessments through the use of Teachermade.com.

There is also a suite of tablets and laptops which are used for weekly Information Technology lessons. To further support lessons several televisions were acquired and projectors as well. Less fortunate students still can acquire devices by contract so that they too can participate in activities which require technology.

A DIGITAL STRATEGY  

After examining what measures St. Lucy's Primary already has in place for technology integration and the vision, a more structured digital strategy is suitable and useful at this time as opposed to a technology plan. The three pillars can be examined and a strategy further developed to better cover them.

It can only be beneficial to have:

1. A robust Professional Learning Community where teachers can share websites and critique each others work and provide support through collaboration and professional dialogue.

2. A budget which includes plans to procure additional or updated hardware and software for all areas, and routers and access points.

3. Sponsorship to help acquire technologies.

4. Online assessment tools that correct for staff so they are freed up to do other duties.

5. Methods of monitoring the proper use of technology and quality of the equipment so that challenges can quickly be addressed.

 

More structured digital leadership with stringent monitoring and meaningful evaluation would definitely prove advantageous to the school. Technology applications and programmes can be monitored for changes and efficiency so that investments are more direct. This would reduce over expenditure. Additionally, the use and care of devices can be outlined explicitly.  Internet safety, copyright legislation, the Computer Misuse Act and other such policies and rules can be outlined.