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Eagan High School Technology
USINFO | 2014-01-08 11:20
Eagan High School stresses technology in education, a commitment set down by former principal Dr. Wilson and shown in the school's motto: "Technology-enhanced education with a human touch." When the school opened, it became the first fully networked high school in the nation. Six hundred computers were sold at a discount by Apple Computer, which publicized EHS worldwide as a "demonstration school." Every room was equipped with a television, which received satellite broadcasts as well as programs from the school's television studio. Now, EHS has replaced those televisions with LAN projectors that any teacher can connect to wirelessly while connected to the school's network.
Departmental fundraising allowed for the construction of a fully operational television studio within the school. The main purpose of the studio was the ability to loan out the equipment for student or community projects, but the construction of the studio also allowed the school to create a weekly television series called "Eagan AM." It is aired every Thursday morning during PAWS, a homeroom-like activity that takes place each morning, and can be viewed online at CatCast - the school's video-sharing platform.
Despite the fact that Eagan AM only uses and has one studio, they still announce that they are broadcasting from "Studio 1A", like the NBC news show "Today."
In 1999, the school helped test the use of fingerprint scans for checking out books in the library—making it one of the first schools in the nation to use biometric data for school services. They have since discontinued this method of checkout and now use student/faculty ID cards instead.
In 2002, EHS became one of the first high schools in the nation to require students to register for classes online. The school uses Infinite Campus, a student/teacher communication and grading service to do this.
Today, the building has wireless WiFi internet access throughout the school for student, faculty, and guest use. Teachers use MacBooks to wirelessly transmit attendance and grades to Infinite Campus, an online student/teacher communication platform. This information can be accessed through individual Infinite Campus accounts made available for students and parents. The school has ten computer labs, all running on Mac OS X. Every school computer is also equipped with the full Adobe Publishing and Creative suites, the Microsoft Office 2008 or 2011 suite, and the Apple iWork suite. There are two different kinds of labs the school utilizes: stationary and mobile computer labs. The stationary labs consist of 40 iMacs each, allowing students to get online and collaborate on projects. The mobile labs consist of 30-40 MacBooks each and can be wheeled around from classroom to classroom on carts.
In 2011, District 196 rolled out a new tool to its schools: Google Apps. This Google Apps platform gave students and faculty access to collaborative educational tools such as Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Slides. Most teachers at EHS currently use this platform to grade student assignments and monitor student collaboration activities. Many students there now prefer using Google Docs as an alternative to Microsoft Word or Pages, as they can work with other students more easily online. Because of the positive feedback District 196 has received from its students about Google Apps, it plans to keep using it as an educational tool.
In 2012, EHS's health department began using iPad 2's in the classroom. In each health classroom, there are 40 iPads available for student use; students use them to read articles selected by their teachers, take tests and quizzes using Quia, an online testing platform, and watch videos pertaining to the subject matter they are currently studying. Eagan is the first high school in District 196 to implement the iPad in the classroom.
Departmental fundraising allowed for the construction of a fully operational television studio within the school. The main purpose of the studio was the ability to loan out the equipment for student or community projects, but the construction of the studio also allowed the school to create a weekly television series called "Eagan AM." It is aired every Thursday morning during PAWS, a homeroom-like activity that takes place each morning, and can be viewed online at CatCast - the school's video-sharing platform.
Despite the fact that Eagan AM only uses and has one studio, they still announce that they are broadcasting from "Studio 1A", like the NBC news show "Today."
In 1999, the school helped test the use of fingerprint scans for checking out books in the library—making it one of the first schools in the nation to use biometric data for school services. They have since discontinued this method of checkout and now use student/faculty ID cards instead.
In 2002, EHS became one of the first high schools in the nation to require students to register for classes online. The school uses Infinite Campus, a student/teacher communication and grading service to do this.
Today, the building has wireless WiFi internet access throughout the school for student, faculty, and guest use. Teachers use MacBooks to wirelessly transmit attendance and grades to Infinite Campus, an online student/teacher communication platform. This information can be accessed through individual Infinite Campus accounts made available for students and parents. The school has ten computer labs, all running on Mac OS X. Every school computer is also equipped with the full Adobe Publishing and Creative suites, the Microsoft Office 2008 or 2011 suite, and the Apple iWork suite. There are two different kinds of labs the school utilizes: stationary and mobile computer labs. The stationary labs consist of 40 iMacs each, allowing students to get online and collaborate on projects. The mobile labs consist of 30-40 MacBooks each and can be wheeled around from classroom to classroom on carts.
In 2011, District 196 rolled out a new tool to its schools: Google Apps. This Google Apps platform gave students and faculty access to collaborative educational tools such as Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Slides. Most teachers at EHS currently use this platform to grade student assignments and monitor student collaboration activities. Many students there now prefer using Google Docs as an alternative to Microsoft Word or Pages, as they can work with other students more easily online. Because of the positive feedback District 196 has received from its students about Google Apps, it plans to keep using it as an educational tool.
In 2012, EHS's health department began using iPad 2's in the classroom. In each health classroom, there are 40 iPads available for student use; students use them to read articles selected by their teachers, take tests and quizzes using Quia, an online testing platform, and watch videos pertaining to the subject matter they are currently studying. Eagan is the first high school in District 196 to implement the iPad in the classroom.
