Electronic Report Cards Six Years Later

Reports cards were emailed to parents for the first time in 2013 after final exams.  You can reminisce by reading the blog post here.  At that time, the technology office was just starting a long term process of reducing physical paper mailings and creating a more efficient process for getting grades out to parents.  Since then, the school has not only streamlined report cards, but also the application process, enrollment, re-enrollment, health forms, and more have gone to being mostly paperless.

Design Software Available in Computer Lab

Students at Blair Academy have many opportunities to use design software in their classroom work.  In the open computer lab in the Chiang Center, students have access to the same design software used in their classes.  For example, the technology team installs on these computers and manages licenses for Inkscape and Adobe Creative Cloud.  The large screens aid students with layout that might be more challenging on their smaller laptop screens.

Annual Account Creation

During the summer months at Blair, the technology team creates accounts on several systems for incoming students, faculty, and parents.  These accounts all need usernames, passwords, and levels of access on our secure systems, including the school website, the grading platforms, and email.  The team also disables and deletes accounts for departing members of the Blair community.  This work has just been completed, and the new school year is ready to begin!

Summer Computer Set-up

The technology office team is hard at work this summer setting up computers for the new school year.  Above, User Support Specialist Mr. Kemp sets up computers with the aid of our summer intern.

Roughly 20% of the computers on campus will be brand new for the 2018-2019 school year, including laptops for faculty, desktops for academic spaces, and both laptops and desktops for office staff.  Macs, PCs, and Chromebooks are all utilized across campus.

Technology Aids Collaboration Among Department Members

Blair's faculty members often collaborate together, using shared materials to help enhance teaching and learning.  Technology has made this easier for some departments.  For example, the History Department maintains a website that includes links to primary source material so faculty can use these to enhance their lessons.  According to Language Department Chair, Ms. Lang, whose department members have access to a collaborative workgroup folder, "We use it all the time and it has been a great way to share resources, weekly plans, and meeting agendas."

edACCESS 2018 at Blair

For four days in June, Blair’s technology office hosted the 2018 edACCESS Conference.  During the conference more than 50 attendees from more than 20 different schools participated in focus groups on timely topics and issues.  Head of School Chris Fortunato ran a focus group on the challenges of creating new technology spaces and how Blair advanced the vision for the Chiang Center. Mr. Garrant held workshops on robotics and Blair’s maker space. Reuben Loewy, a scholar committed to teaching Internet studies worldwide, delivered a keynote address on digital citizenship and how to encourage teachers and students to engage in a positive way online.

EdACCESS is a nonprofit organization committed to providing support and networking opportunities for smaller schools. For more information on edACCESS and its annual conference, visit www.edaccess.org.

Open Computer Lab Space for Students

In the Chiang Center for Innovation and Collaboration students can visit the open computer lab space on the mezzanine level, near the cafe.  The lab is intended to be a place in which students have access to design software used in their classes.  Students can design objects on these computers for printing at a later time when they are in the maker space, located on the ground floor of the same building.  It is also a place for students to be able to use computers with large screens for general academic work.  This may be helpful for students who want to use a larger screen for some work than is available on their laptops.