Technology
Noblesville Schools Technology Department
Department Overview
The Technology Department helps improve student achievement and academic growth by integrating technology into the curriculum to increase academic opportunities. The department works closely with the Department of Learning to enhance the curriculum and to increase the future-ready skills of all students and staff members. The department’s goal is to ensure that every school has the infrastructure to support learning with technology.
The Noblesville Schools Technology Department is responsible for the infrastructural maintenance and support of all things technology for the district’s 10 school buildings, administration offices, maintenance building, community and transportation centers.
The technology team maintains network infrastructure, all user devices, numerous user systems as well as the student information system, PowerSchool. The Technology Department also supports more than 13,000 users across the district with day to day technology problems.
An Integrated Approach to Building Digital Literacy and Citizenship
By embedding technology in the curriculum, we offer students authentic, real-world ways to seek knowledge, problem solve, create content, and analyze data. Technology in Noblesville Schools is purposefully integrated across each curricular area. Each component of technology, whether it be hardware or software, devices or apps, is utilized in a developmentally appropriate way to enhance teaching and learning. The emphasis is making students more self-aware and cognizant consumers of information, as well as emphasizing the role of becoming more thoughtful and skillful creators of digital content. The district instructional coaches collaborate with teachers on a regular basis, providing timely professional developmental, and co-leads innovative, tech-based initiatives alongside faculty members.
What Does Technology Look Like in our Classrooms?
In the primary grades, our technology enhanced classrooms foster the early stages of technological fluency as kindergarten, first and second graders listen to reading, practice math remediation, animate plays, and demonstrate knowledge of foundational coding concepts through iOS apps. Students learn the basics of how to operate and care for their devices and grow in their understanding of technology's appropriate use. Chromebooks and MacBook laptops are introduced alongside iPads in third, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms, where students learn to type and harness the collaborative power of Google Apps for Education (G-Suite), creating and editing documents, composing research publications, blogging reflections, and designing presentations. The students engage in digital citizenship coursework throughout the year as they grapple with such challenges as digital footprint maintenance, conscientious social media use, and consumption versus creation during screen time.
In secondary classrooms, students migrate to a mix of Windows and MacBook computers alongside iPads as they explore Microsoft Office, OS X apps and dive deeper into Google Drive, Chrome, and G-Suite. Students are enrolled in Canvas courses, or digital classrooms that exist within the school's learning management system, where students communicate with their teachers and peers, submit work online, take quick quizzes, access project rubrics/directions, and host discussions on relevant topics. Students become more proficient with their email etiquette and continue the digital citizenry curriculum by evaluating proper usage of personal mobile devices, applying criteria for reliable research resources, analyzing/interpreting data, and responsibly balancing fun gaming experiences with educationally enriching opportunities. The implementation of various apps and the deployment of different devices dependent on a student's level promote technological literacy and a growth mindset. Each student graduates with a solid foundation from which to construct a continually improving knowledge of online learning and agility with technology.
Sincerely,
Andrew Swickheimer
Director of Technology
Noblesville Schools